The adderall shortage has hit me hard over the last year, but I finally found a pharmacy that is able to fill my script every month. I occasionally try other pharmacies closer to me and they tell me they are still in back order for months. The one that has it consistently is a super small mom-and-pop shop and even major pharmacies like CVS have been out for ages. How do some pharmacies get it all the time and others don’t?
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There’s a ton of variables. I’ve worked in both. At the large chain, they can order every day, but they go through a LOT more. They usually order through their corporate first, then have 1-2 backup wholesalers that they’re discouraged from using often by corporate. The government sets restrictions on the supply chain for narcotics, so they can hit their limits faster. Many huge chains order a ton of meds and store them in warehouses to distribute later on. This can alleviate some short term shortages.
Ma & Pop stores don’t have big warehouses to deal with shortages, so they’re more at the whim of the market and can be hit harder with shortages. Wholesalers will generally allocate short stock to their largest accounts, so Ma & Pops lose out there too. They can usually order every day and can use as many wholesalers as they wish. This variety in wholesalers can lead to them finding things the big chains can’t sometimes. When I worked at the big chain, we had 2 sources to order from. When I was at the Ma & Pop, we had 5 or 6.
That’s not very ELI5 though.
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