
Men Are Paying Sixfold Markups to Feel Cool About Buying Generic Viagra - prostoalex
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-22/generic-viagra-online-sellers-may-not-offer-a-great-deal
======
arcticbull
Kudos to Hims and Roman. Their branding and comms strategy are on point, and
they've tapped into a longstanding insecurity for men. I can't help but feel
like this is applying the same sales strategy used often in women's beauty
products -- pointing out flaws then selling you a solution -- but with an
added premium for discretion and 'hiding your shame.' Then consolidating all
your 'shameful' purchases into a one-stop shop by selling hair-loss products?
Genius.

I mean, where else are you going to go? Fess up to your doctor? Stand in line
at Walgreens? Some shady site on the dark web?

~~~
jds375
There are some potential downsides with the model that they are using with
respect to the client-doctor relationship. See here for some more details:
[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/02/technology/for-him-for-
he...](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/02/technology/for-him-for-hers-get-
roman.html)

------
koolba
> Hims charges $28.50 for a monthly supply of finasteride, plus a $5 fee for
> an online physician visit. The drug can be had for half the price elsewhere.

Good luck finding a doctor to write you a scrip elsewhere for $5. Assuming
you’re on the common high deductible plan you’re looking at $100+ for a 5-min
appointment unless you can mention it in passing to during your annual
checkup.

Can you take the scrip from these online pharmacies to your local one and get
the $.15/pill pricing?

~~~
jonathanjaeger
Costco online costs about $35-$40 PER YEAR for finasteride and it comes in
just as bland a packaging as anyone else would send. I can't speak to the
other products Hims sells. Hims is cheaper than CVS for generic finasteride
but is 10x more expensive than Costco online.

~~~
romwell
The same can be said about many things Costco sells.

And yet people are willingly paying about $100/year for Amazon Prime to buy
things from Amazon at a higher price.

Not understanding why people would prefer to do that is a big part in how
companies like Sears died.

~~~
snazz
Why _do_ people prefer to do that? I’m genuinely curious as I’ve significantly
reduced my Amazon usage besides for buying niche programming books (otherwise
I hit my local bookstore and a physical retailer for everything else).

~~~
sokoloff
Because I don’t have to _drive_ to Costco for things I buy on Amazon (or EBay
or Aliexpress or Zappos or...)

With kids, an overall busy schedule, and more free money than free time, I’d
much rather pay a few bucks and wait a day or two. Click, click, click, it’s
fast and easy.

~~~
snazz
Sorry, that was unclear. I agree with you wholeheartedly about the advantages
of buying things online and getting them delivered; I should have asked why
people stand the Amazon tax when there’s so many other options at better
prices and equally convenient (including Costco’s online delivery service).

------
gleenn
The value prop is not having to have an in-person doctor visit or pay a huge
copay to get access to the drug. The per-pill cost is only the tip of the
iceberg in terms of cost, especially if you don’t actually want that much of
the drug.

------
mangoleaf
They are making their margin from the fancy marketing, AND from not having to
talk with their doc about it. It is called the shame coefficient. Clearly
prices can be had for significantly less as seen in a comparison site [1]

[1] vqRN : [http://vqrn.com/Compare-Pharmacies-
Viagra.html](http://vqrn.com/Compare-Pharmacies-Viagra.html)

------
erikig
If Veblen Goods are the expensive objects of conspicuous consumption, what
will we call the expensive objects of inconspicuous consumption?

~~~
arcticbull
"Male enhancements" haha

------
glenra
I wonder if this article was inspired by a Blink Health press release? The
article positions them as the obvious one to switch to if you still want
automatic ordering/delivery and don't want to bother with in-person coupons or
a doctor's visit: According to the article:

> "Blink Health, a drug-discount startup that pitches low prices on generic
> drugs, recently added a men’s health telemedicine offering that undercuts
> Hims and Roman, charging $6.95 for 10 sildenafil pills and $8.95 for a
> month’s supply of finasteride."

Except...I just went through their order form for finasteride and noticed that
in addition to the charge for the pills there is also a 9.95/month
"subscription fee", making the full price (after a first-month discount)
"$18.90 per month with auto-refill."

Which is still a BIT cheaper than the other services, but not THAT much
cheaper.

------
elissawilliams
All the medicines are not making side effects on the body. But few medicines
are making the side effects due to the patient’s body health conditions. But
the doctor must aware of the medicine power and patient health condition. My
small suggestion is prevention is better than cure. So be care full...before
taking the medicine. Men can buy generic Viagra online from a well-known
online pharmacy name as Assertmeds.com. This pharmacy gives two-fold
advantages to its customers i.e. they get top quality medication at a
reasonable price. For more details, you can visit:
[https://www.assertmeds.com/generic-
viagra.html](https://www.assertmeds.com/generic-viagra.html)

------
glenra
The framing of this article is weird. Keeps.com charges $25/month for
finasteride; if we look that up on GoodRx it is ONE THIRD the regular retail
price at CVS or Target or Rite-Aid or Walgreens. True, it's more than the
secret with-special-coupon price nobody knows about, but since most people do
pay the original overinflated retail price, those who patronize these services
_are saving money_. They're perhaps not saving the most money they possibly
could if they checked the GoodRx rankings every month, printed out those
special coupons and stood in line...but that sounds like a lot of work.

------
draw_down
I don't think it's about "feeling cool", come on. I think the advantage is
that you can do it all online without having to go to a doctor and discuss
your erection problems in person.

