Amazon Pharmacy (AMZN) is testing a new delivery method. Customers in College Station, Texas can now get their prescriptions via drone if they prefer. Yahoo Finance’s Josh Schafer, Madison Mills and Alexandra Canals discuss why this could make a difference for retail pharmacies.
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video transcript
– Amazon Pharmacy is now doing drone delivery. So the way it works is that you can get medications. They are delivered in 60 minutes or less. Currently they are testing it in College Station, Texas. Some college football fans like me may think of Texas A&M, so maybe some college students or that larger campus area are enjoying this facility.
But really, what’s very interesting here, guys, is to think about the capabilities of Amazon, to think that you can have a recipe delivered straight to you, that’s just the power of Amazon, and I think that’s something that only Amazon can do. Like only a company can do. Ali, we were talking earlier this week about Rite Aid’s bankruptcy filing and how some of these pharmacies haven’t been able to innovate at the level of a company like Amazon. Rite Aid will never bring your prescriptions to you with a drone.
– Yeah, and when we were talking about it, we were saying how convenience is such an important thing for consumers, Rite Aid is also closing a lot of stores. If I’m a Rite Aid consumer and I need my medication, but I’m traveling and I can’t easily get to Rite Aid, that would be a concern. And here, with drones, very convenient for the consumer, literally comes to your door. And they’re doing it with regular products, right? Or were they thinking about doing so?
– But I believe they’re also doing drone delivery beyond prescriptions, yes.
– Okay, because that’s something I would be interested in too.
– Absolutely. And a big cost-cutter for the company, right? Think about the labor costs they will be able to cut. I know, Josh, you love to get out of the house, but I think Ali and I are probably on the same page.
– If you have a prescription, you probably need it. Would you really trust a robot to bring it to you? I’m not there yet. I doubt it.
– But it’s done in less than an hour, right?
– He is mad.
– If you’re really sick, if you have the flu–
– I think it’s a good thing. that’s a good point. You can hold on, and it can come on really fast.
– And I will also say that a few months ago I was very sick, and I needed a prescription. I went to my local Duane Reade. I went there for the first time. My doctor called about a half hour before they closed and the pharmacist told me, I’m sorry. We can’t give this to you. We’re closing in half an hour.
And I said, I’m sick with a 104 degree fever. And he said, OK, you’ll just have to wait until tomorrow. And I would have liked the Amazon drone delivery service, because then I could get my medicine.
– You just get out of your bag, grab it, run back in.
– I know. No one wants to go to any type of pharmacy when you are not sick. So I don’t know. I am involved in this. I know you have doubts.
– I love stopping by the store. I can’t wait to stop at a store on the way home and pick something up, you know? I don’t trust robots.
– Ok.
– That is because? Are they going to survey your house?
– Yeah, you don’t want them near your house. And then, what if they lose your stuff?
Source: finance.yahoo.com
