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Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: H James Morris who wrote (43028)	2/28/1999 9:58:00 AM
From: Cap_Loss_Cfwd	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

''The competition can watch Amazon and learn,'' says Kate Delhagen, director of online retail strategies for Forrester Research Inc. But ''that's a totally different experience than the kind of DNA transfer that has been happening between Drugstore and Amazon.'' The only DNA transfer I am aware of is the involuntary one I and my fellow shorts have received from Bezos and his crony analysts "To make sure it can fill prescriptions as promised --within three to five days--drugstore.com turned to RxAmerica. The Fort Worth mail-order pharmacy handles 25,000 orders a week by mail and says it has the capacity to quadruple its business. The partnership with RxAmerica also gives drugstore .com lower wholesale prices on drugs." As postal workers and junkies the world over eagerly await the first shipments from drugstore.com, I have been considering the following question. Why would anyone buy prescriptions or shampoo over the net when virtually every urban American has a pharmacy within one mile and in many cases there is one in the local grocery store? It cannot be convenience since the transaction effort (mailing in prescriptions, etc.) seems to be even higher than with a traditional pharmacy and three to five days is poor turnaround. For disabled people I believe many brick and morter pharmacies offer delivery. It cannot be cost since the transaction costs (with shipping) must be just as high. I also wonder what kind of qualified pharmacist would want to fill prescriptions from a computer screen in a Bezos-type sweatshop environment and what kind of filling/shipping error rate will occur. It is one thing to get the wrong book, but quite another to get the wrong blood-pressure medicine. I frankly see this move as one of desperation. It must have been the purple-haired guys in Amazon shipping that saw the synergy between music and drugs.

To: H James Morris who wrote (43028)	2/28/1999 11:15:00 AM
From: Joana Tides	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

WOW HJM! Now that's what I call a positive article; so this launch of Drugstore.com on AMAZON comes with the expertise of the artists and marketers of the Giant of Online Shopping behind it, developing it for launch for quite awhile. THIS IS BIG. re: the BW article: What I don't understand, though, is what the problems could be for the shipping of acute medicines as referred to, unless it means absorbing lower profit margins with less retail item sundry supplies and impulse item sales of cosmetics, etc. perhaps. But the precedent or profits in the mailorder prescription business has already been established and I've never seen it mentioned anywhere in news yet. Elderly people I know use the 800# call-in pharmacy at AARP and get whatever medicine they need overnight on the next day. I do believe the price of the shipping is factored into the cost so it all is reported as medical expense on the tax return (correct me if I'm wrong). Knowing many old folks, I have never heard of anyone to complain about AARP's service, availability, speed of delivery, or shipping charges. All are delighted with the ease, speed, and convenience of it. So to simplify - no reason why would a phoned in order would be any more difficult to fill than an order executed from email. Guessing it would be yet more cost efficient (email forms aren't chatty). To simplify further - AARP has already accomplished the intro of familiarity to (older and younger generations by association) of receiving these most important medicines by remote mail order (first phone, now internet). No one will be afraid of receiving prescriptions this way, I would guess; the concept is familiar. The only limitation imposed by drugstore.com that aarp does not is that at present it appears credit cards are the only accepted form of payment. AARP allows payment by bank debit or even will send a bill and accept a check once the account is established. Many people for whatever reason (especially those who are struggling with huge expenses accompanying illness and disability) - either do not have access to or would prefer not to use a credit card. In the future I hope to see Drugstore.com expanding the payment options to include (at least) a wire debit from the bank account - as being less exclusive to these people as customers, so many of whom would use this mailorder service for more serious reasons than chosen convenience. At www6.drugstore.com (FAQs) this and other basic information about the site can be reviewed. Good luck to all, Joana