Shop like a pharmacist: Don't buy Advil

As always, this is a good rule to follow, but you have to be careful to watch out.

The last time I bought some Tylenol, I went to a local pharmacy and scanned the shelves for the price/count combination.

The name brand Tylenol was a 100 tablet container. Sitting adjacent to it was the generic Tylenol store brand. Exact same physical size container. Twenty five cents less price as marked on the shelf.

Looking more closely, the identical physical size container of generic contained 50 tablets (of identical tablet size to the 100 tablet name brand Tylenol).

The end result, due to the price mis-match, is that the name brand was actually nearly half the cost of the generic (because one got 2x the pills for 25 additional cents).

I've noticed this effect in grocery stores as well. Often the lowest unit cost item is the middle of three sizes. The small container is larger unit cost because the packaging contributes a larger percentage of the total price. The large "bulk" container (which should be lowest unit cost) often is not. The only valid reason I have deduced for why is the stores trying to take advantage of people who "grab the bulk size because it's cheaper" without actually looking at the true costs.

I'm usually a brand-name food and medicine buyer, for one particular reason: reputation.

Tylenol is an excellent example. It's such a valuable brand that the manufacturer has an incentive to provide a quality product. In the past, J&J has done an excellent job of this. But even they have slipped. For a while in the recent past, J&J was forced to recall quite a number of products.

But still, in my probably grossly uninformed opinion, generics are generally a "commodity" business. Where else to manufacture a product like that but China? And I'm tired of reading about harmful Chinese products, e.g. [0]. China is like the USA was about 100 years ago, the wild wild West.

I don't mean to single out China. I'm leery of the entire third world. E.g. [1] given the state of sanitation in India, do I want them manufacturing my medicine? They have been called out on this in the recent past. [2]

To paraphrase Clint: You've got to ask yourself a question. "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya?

[0] http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/726160-dog-treats-made-in-ch...

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/15/world/asia/poor-sanitation...

[2] http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/15/world/asia/medicines-made-...

Brand-Names have such a hold in the US that it's often quite difficult to find out what the chemical (or 'generic') name for a drug really is, even using Google. This is a problem for them overseas because the brand-names often differ from country to country while the chemical name remains the same. Many people in the US often don't even realise that Tylenol is the same thing as Panadol or acetaminophen. (Such an ugly word, acetaminopen, that I'm surprised the other common generic name, paracetamol, hasn't won over.)

In most other countries, the generic name is used more commonly and Brand-Names are used as an option. Thus a client can say to herself, "Now, which brand of paracetamol will I buy? The 'Tylenol' brand at $10 a hundred, the 'Panadol' brand at $9.50 a hundred, or the local pack at $5?

Or even, "I see they're out of my preferred brand, 'Tylenol', so I'd better grab the 'Panadol' brand instead."

I was surprised to see that this is relatively unknown in the US. I think it's common knowledge here in Canada.

Generally, it is the pharmacy chains that sell their own, branded generic medication at the stores. These products have higher margins and lower prices, so it is in everyone's best interest that they are promoted. The generic is located on the shelf right beside the major-label brand name, so price comparison is a no-brainer. But I suppose having the knowledge that the ingredients are identical precludes making that choice.

It depends. I used to take a lot of ibuprofen (generic Advil), and I found that generic ibuprofen is often wax coated, probably because it's cheaper. Real Advil is sugar coated and much easier to swallow.