Watch out for "Pharmacies" and their pricing schemes.

[Date Masamune]

Eyes a little dry due to heat and dust I popped in to one of these small ones. 

Did not have what I wanted really but was offered a 10ml vial of Natear, 200 baht.

The kind you have to snip the tip off to open, not particularly medicinal, should be inexpensive?

Balked at the price for a moment, told the man I would think about and left.

Not the slightest smile of courtesy from the "pharmacist" side.

I'm sorry for wasting their time.

 

Directly across street 7-11 had same for 105 baht.

Not even in the pharmacy section a first aid item available 24 hours.

7-11 stores mark everything up for convenience, what is the real price 75 baht?

The staggering greed and opportunism is something I can never get over here, not a positive aspect I would imagine for most of short-term visitors either.

 

 

[OneEyedPie]

You just saved yourself 95 baht, OP.  I'm a glass half full type of person which saves me getting upset over 30 baht.

[PingRoundTheWorld]

If you go to bigger/chain pharmacies the prices are significantly lower than the smaller ones who make up the price as they look at you (and surely would give a Thai half of that price). Learned the hard way which pharmacies to go to and which to avoid.

[OneEyedPie]

4 minutes ago, PingRoundTheWorld said:

Learned the hard way which pharmacies to go to and which to avoid.

And not just pharmacies.  My wife approached a stall the other day for a bag of her favourite flour-type snacks with nothing priced up and was quoted 100 baht per bag but she knows that they're 50 baht elsewhere for which she promptly walked away.  We put it down to me being with her.  Creative pricing in action no less.

[Puchaiyank]

Was buying a sleep aid for 80 baht per box for months...last time went to numerous pharmacies...large and small...no longer available...but can buy the new product for 600 baht for 15 tabs...

 

If I paid that I definitely would not sleep good...????

[eyecatcher]

Small insignificant pharmacies very often set up by a newly graduated student dont get custom so they play the "low season" card......lets increase the price of everything to make up for our lack of business acumen and customers.

I reckon the failure of pharmacies is higher than beer bars.

[lordblackader]

I was quoted 650 baht for generic antibiotics by the pharmacy in Pantip - went and saw Dr. Smith at his pharmacy at the Chiang Mai Gate and paid 60.

 

Some pharmacies here take one look at your white skin and immediately mark everything up by staggering amounts. Thieves isn't quite the right word -  most thieves actually have some respect. 

 

Best bet is to know your local pharmacy - I'm friendly with my current local pharmacy in San Na Meng - nice guy and no silly business when it comes to pricing.  

[elektrified]

Oh for crying out loud, it's a free market. If you don't like the prices at one pharmacy, go to another. Don't like the prices there - try another or call around. Simple.

[Date Masamune]

3 hours ago, elektrified said:

Oh for crying out loud, it's a free market. If you don't like the prices at one pharmacy, go to another. Don't like the prices there - try another or call around. Simple.

Not so simple, a market can't be free unless it has transparency.

Where is value added here?

lordblackasddder was quoted 10 times fair price this is pure racism and greed.

[Nowisee]

They'd rather go out of business than price things fairly.  

 

[Inn Between]

On 5/6/2019 at 1:25 AM, lordblackader said:

I was quoted 650 baht for generic antibiotics by the pharmacy in Pantip - went and saw Dr. Smith at his pharmacy at the Chiang Mai Gate and paid 60.

 That's so much of a price difference that I might start to wonder if the 60 baht tablets were a useless Chinese replica of the real stuff. 

[BritManToo]

On 5/6/2019 at 12:25 PM, lordblackader said:

I was quoted 650 baht for generic antibiotics by the pharmacy in Pantip - went and saw Dr. Smith at his pharmacy at the Chiang Mai Gate and paid 60.

30bht at the Makro pharmacy on the superhighway.

[utalkin2me]

When the little guys who are making peanuts raise a price a little it is utter outrage. 

 

When corporations rape and pillage everyone nobody says a word. 

[impulse]

On 5/5/2019 at 3:22 AM, Date Masamune said:

Balked at the price for a moment, told the man I would think about and left.

Not the slightest smile of courtesy from the "pharmacist" side.

I'm sorry for wasting their time.

 

Unlike back home where all prices must be clearly marked and everyone pays the same clearly marked price, there are often 2 prices in Thailand- as in many parts of the world.

 

One for people who negotiate and another for people who don't.

 

Sadly, our nanny governments didn't prepare us for life outside their protective policies.  So we get our clocks cleaned when faced with a culture where negotiating skills start developing as soon as a kid is old enough to talk.

 

The correct answer, BTW, is "Can you do any better on the price?"  Of course the pharmacist was disappointed.  He was ready for some wheelin' and dealin'.  I've seen Chinese folks pour tea and spend an entire afternoon negotiating over $2.  It's not about the $2.  It's a social thing.  We talk about last Sunday's football game.  They negotiate prices.  It's how relationships are formed and developed.

 

Edited May 9, 2019 by impulse

[1FinickyOne]

On 5/5/2019 at 3:22 PM, Date Masamune said:

staggering greed

Thankfully you don't have to deal with banks anywhere in the world... 

[impulse]

On 5/5/2019 at 4:00 AM, OneEyedPie said:

And not just pharmacies.  My wife approached a stall the other day for a bag of her favourite flour-type snacks with nothing priced up and was quoted 100 baht per bag but she knows that they're 50 baht elsewhere for which she promptly walked away.  We put it down to me being with her.  Creative pricing in action no less.

 

Of course it's because you were there.  That put your wife into a weaker bargaining position.  Welcome to retail trade in non-nanny state markets.  

 

[OneEyedPie]

24 minutes ago, impulse said:

Of course it's because you were there.  That put your wife into a weaker bargaining position.  Welcome to retail trade in non-nanny state markets.  

We weren't offended or inconvenienced in the slightest.  We walked away and continued our shopping expedition and a day later my wife locates her snack at 50 baht.  Free will, free market and we all lived to see the following day.  Isn't life grand.

[Nowisee]

12 hours ago, impulse said:

 

Unlike back home where all prices must be clearly marked and everyone pays the same clearly marked price, there are often 2 prices in Thailand- as in many parts of the world.

 

One for people who negotiate and another for people who don't.

 

Sadly, our nanny governments didn't prepare us for life outside their protective policies.  So we get our clocks cleaned when faced with a culture where negotiating skills start developing as soon as a kid is old enough to talk.

 

The correct answer, BTW, is "Can you do any better on the price?"  Of course the pharmacist was disappointed.  He was ready for some wheelin' and dealin'.  I've seen Chinese folks pour tea and spend an entire afternoon negotiating over $2.  It's not about the $2.  It's a social thing.  We talk about last Sunday's football game.  They negotiate prices.  It's how relationships are formed and developed.

 

 

This is mostly true in Vietnam (one of my favorite places to negotiate and buy things.  They get fired up and will go across the city to get you what you want), Laos (Lovely people, I don't bother negotiating, pay full price, as they clearly need the money way more than I do), Kuala Lumpur (the local Indians are soon helpful) and the Philippines (it's just fun).

 

In thailand many would rather go out of business than cut the price, especially for a farang.  They just sit and say no.      
After you've lived here for a while, you know where the fair prices are and where to buy.  Let the greedy lose their business, they deserve to.  

Edited May 10, 2019 by Nowisee