Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-08-12
CHARGES FOR SAME
DRUG VARY WIDELY
! |ND|STR|CT STORES
Star Reporter'visit Thirteen
| Pharmacies, With Inter-
F esting Results.

The cost Of being sick is never low.
But the expense connected with the
purchase Of medicines alone may be
neighborhood and its corner drug store.
The price of medicine depends not upon
the medicine itself, but upon the drug
gist, as an investigation made by The
Star has disclosed.
A reputable physician was asked to
write two prescriptions, one for eye
treatment, the other remedy for heavy
cold or influenza, neither of them rare
nor expensive. A reporter. bearing the
prescriptions, visited thirteen drug
stores in Washington, and at each one
asked the price charged for filling the
prescriptions
For the same medicine it was found
that three stores charged the same max
the minimum-S0 cents-while the eight
remaining stores charged prices vary
ing between the maximum and the min
imum.
Reasons for Fluetuatfng Prices.
Now there are many reasons for this
difference Of price. Some stores have
heavier overhead expenses than others.
and this must be made up in the higher
prices charged for the same commodity.
Others with more than one store buy
drugs in larger quantity than others,
thereby getting them cheaper. And the
quality Of medicine varies as does the
quality Of every other commodity on
the market A reputable druggist, it is
stated. may sell a medicine Of lower
grade than his competitor, though both
medicines contain identical ingredients.
The lower quality, obviously, brings the
lower price
Nevertheless, it is interesting to note
how the price ranges for the same pre-
scription.
Northwest and Downtown.
Starting in the northwest, the re-
porter visited drug store, where the
price charged for "A" prescription,
"B" prescription, the cold remedy, IS
cents. Two blocks away another drug
store quoted prices on the "a" and
"B'' prescriptions, respectively, at SO
and IS cents. ten cents less.
From this point the reporter head
corners Of the city, where the drug
gist charged 40 cents for the "A" pre-
scription, SO cents for the "B' pre-
scription, a difference Of IS cents in the
prices quoted at the first store. Two
blocks away from this drug store
downtown. prices quoted were IS
cents for the "a" prescription and IS
cents for "B" prescription, an increase
of 10 cents over the last store visited.
For the sake of proving a, theory,
the reporter headed again into the
northwest. stopping this time in a
district not far from the first one
visited. Here the price jumped again.
cents and "B" prescription being rs
cents. these prices being identical
with the first ones found.
Near the District line in a fashionable
neighborhood. another drug store charg-
ed nearly the maximum price for the
for ''B." From this point the reporter
went to Georgetown and chose a drug
store near loading point for street
cars. The price hit the sky again, so
cents charged for "a" IS cents charged
for "a" But believing there would be
three blocks away was visited and the
price dropped again. IA costing IS
cents. ''B'' costing so cents.
The next jump was a long one-to
lower Pennsylvania avenue-where "a"
brought 40 cents and "B'' so cents, the
same total price charged by the drug
store IN the downtown section, but the
individual prescriptions costing more in
one instance and less in another.
Low Prices in Southeast.
Over in Southeast Washington the
druggists charged less than anywhere
else. for the first store visited quoted
the prescription at 80 cents for "A'' and
SO cents for "B," the total cost being
IS cents less than that charged in the
first store visited in the northwest Sec
ton.
But prices are not staple here, eth
er, and one block away a drug store
charged IS cents for "a" and so cents
for "B'-an increase of copfs IN
the total price. The first store Wis
tied in northeast charged the prices
quoted by the first one visited in
southeast-30 cents for "A" and so
cents for b." but the second store
visited in northeast took the wind
out of the reporters sail and left him
stranded without clue-for here the
price jumped again, those quoted be-
SPECIAL NOTICES.