Connect to a Better Experience

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It’s the day after Thanksgiving as I write this, and, yesterday I had connections with family and friends who put their phones away for a few hours, and truly engaged with each other – good food and great fun!

It seems a little odd, doesn’t it, that the connection we talk about now is about the speed and quality of our internet and wifi, not so much about our relationships. And experience is not so much about knowledge and capabilities as it is about fun and entertainment.

I guess this is the current way of things, and we’ll all be fine, but there are some trouble spots, and I deal with one in particular almost every day – online retail.

Buying online is actually a good way to buy many things, especially if they are ‘known’ items – things like books, music, household items, and many other things that don’t need to be tried on, don’t have expiration dates, and come from trusted sources – these things are easily and dependably purchased online.

But I deal with medicines and supplements, items you put in or on your body, in order to improve your health or condition. And I have many a horror story from customers who purchased supplements online, only to regret that they did.

The problems with purchasing supplements and other health-oriented items online start with the nature of the connection and the experience.

First, you are not being taken care of by a person online. You are dealing with an algorithm, a piece of math that can’t see you, and doesn’t even have the ability to care about you. Its sole purpose is to sell you something, whether or not it’s what you really need.

An algorithm can’t look at you, cannot hear you, and depends upon you to provide all pertinent information. It rarely, if ever, asks follow-up questions the way a human will, and is as likely as not to overlook things that may be important to you, such as taste, the size of a pill, its configuration (tablet, gel cap, liquid), safety considerations for all members of your household, potential allergic reactions, etc.

Figuring out the right products for improved health is not like buying a book or music. It can take a lot of time. I’ll bet you have experience with the huge amounts of time it takes to research your problem, find an online retailer, enter all the information and then wade through all the suggestions you get back because the algorithm throws a ton at you, hoping something will stick.

Compare that experience to coming into Medicine World, asking for me, telling me what’s going on and what you think you need, and then having me, based on years of experience and a wealth of product knowledge, pick out the right product for you – a good product – probably in less than 5 minutes (although I am happy to spend as much time with you as you need).

The biggest problem of buying online, though, rises to the level of outright danger, as far as I am concerned: the quality of the products you may get.

This is especially a problem if you are ‘re-filling’ something from an unknown online source – something that you originally purchased from a reputable bricks-and-mortar retailer.

The internet is awash in unsavory sellers of supplements thrown together using sub-standard ingredients. Pollution, poor manufacturing processes, and even blatant substitution of cheap and useless ingredients happens all the time. There may be little if anything of benefit in the products you by online, but you won’t know it until it’s too late.

You also rarely know if the products you bought online were stored properly or are fresh. Something that should be kept cool or refrigerated may spend months in a hot shipping container or storage locker. It’s also very easy to change a label to show a later, but fake, expiration date.

For the reasons above, and others, most of my suppliers won’t sell to online-only retailers. They prefer to deal with experienced professionals who will uphold the standards and practices that keep both you, and their businesses, healthy.

The bottom line is that you may think you are getting what you want at a good price when you buy supplements and medications online, but it could cost you.

If you make a connection with us at Medicine World (and that connection is very easy to make) you will get the benefit of years of experience in both traditional pharmacy and holistic health practices. And you will get the best possible products for your needs and budget. Come see us!