[Greater-Baltimore] James Pharmacy

[melissaariccobono at gmail.com]

Hello everyone,

I'm wondering who uses James Pharmacy. My family and I use them, and I just
received a text saying on September first they will begin charging $3.99 for
each Script Talk label requested. They say this is necessary due to
increased cost of maintenance and materials. They are calling this a service
charge.

I know that in January, 2025, the bill we helped advocate for stating all
pharmacies will need to provide accessible prescription labels will go into
effect. So I'm guessing that in January this charge will not be legal.
Something tells me it may not even be legal in September. Seems as if just
because we happen not to be able to read a medication bottle does not mean
we should be charged in order to receive the information in a way we can
access it when everyone else gets that information for free. 

So, I wanted to bring this to the attention of others who might use James
Pharmacy, and also try to figure out what we can do to educate them about
the law. Also, a part of me does feel for them if costs are truly increasing
that much. They are a community pharmacy, which is why I like to use them.
They were offering Script Talk before many other pharmacies in this area
were. It's not as if they have a large parent company who can come in and
help absorb increased cost. It does seem though, that if they had a service
charge of 25 or 50 cents on each prescription they sold, even just for a
little while, they could raise the money they would need without putting the
burden on only the blind customers. If they stated that money would be used
for general pharmacy and technology upkeep, I would pay it gladly, and not
bat an eye, and I think others would as well. I'm sure there are other
things they could do, or maybe even other resources such as grants available
to them as a small business that could pay for these increased costs. I
don't want to run them out of business by any means. On the other hand, I
would be tempted to take my business elsewhere instead of paying $3.99 for
each label I request. That seems quite high to me.

What are other's thoughts. How can we work together to educate and give
feedback as customers? Please let me know. You can reply to this message if
you want to keep your comments on the list for all to see, or you can
contact me directly.

MelissaARiccobono at gmail.com <mailto:MelissaARiccobono at gmail.com> 

Thanks,

Melissa