https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/01/why_are_thousands_of_pharmacies_closing.html
Why are Thousands of Pharmacies Closing?
American Thinker, by James Stansbury
Posted By: DW626, 1/26/2024 5:32:35 AM
About five years ago the only pharmacy in my small town in rural Virginia closed. A year or so later a second county drugstore failed. Soon the owner of the last remaining drugstore in the county was unable to make a profit and had to sell. (These last two managed to reopen at a later date.) I was unaware the loss of our drugstores was a nationwide trend until reading an article by Karen Kerrigan, president and CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council. She reported that mom-and-pop drugstores in rural areas were particularly hard hit, leaving about 630 rural communities with no pharmacy by 2018.
Here's a hint. They just killed 17 million people.
There's that. Also note the downturn started after Trump was elected. The pharmacy chains were sure Killary would get in and drug sales would continue to climb, if not skyrocket. President Trump was not part of their long-term business plan.
They never thought she would lose
Trump made insulin so cheap. I dont know how that worked but it must have cut the insurance part out that was driving up the price and the consumer was getting a super fair price.
Also, there's been a continuous trend to automate the medicine dispensation machine. The liability that pharmacists have is immense, and mistakes still happen.
Amazon and CVS (IIRC, or another pharmacy) have been partnering to use algorithmic pharmacists. With Artificial Intelligence, I have no doubt that this trend is accelerating. I take great pity on people in pharmacy school, who sought it as a "last refuge" career in the modern economy.