Starting next month, memory care residents must provide their own incontinence wear. The corporate switch was to have each resident have an individual account with the former supplier. That changes billing from wholesale to retail plus shipping.
The two-hour meeting ended with free shipping, by all individual orders being shipped in one monthly shipment. A standing order, designed to never run out of product, is controlled by a phone call to skip a shipment when a surplus builds up.
Wipes, tabbed briefs for night, and underwear pull ups for day, were priced by the case. A case was estimated to last 12, 6, and 3 weeks, respectively for my wife. A surplus would be a full case on hand (for any product) at the time of the regular shipment. [Full cases are needed to span the time (one to three months) between regular scheduled shipments. This is not a monthly order system.]
I made two Healthy Kin online orders prior to the above meeting. The first was for all three items. The second order was just for pull ups.
Healthy Kin Concordance
Attends wipes $20.95 $30.00
Attends stretch briefs, large/X large $48.95 $62.73
Attends underwear pull ups, X large $35.95 $43.55
Total product first shipment $105.85 $136.28
Shipping on $100 order 10% free
Sales tax none 8%
Ordering as needed scheduled
Shipping time 2 day monthly
This works out to be about a $30 fee to have a never-run-out service versus one that requires each order to be over a $100 for the most expensive size of incontinence wear. The fee would be much less for smaller people. A better perspective on the service fee can be obtained by comparing the price of individual items and the number needed per month from other sources.
Compare Per item in over $100 Order Healthy Kin Concordance
Attends wipes $0.04 $0.06
Attends stretch briefs, large/X large $0.56 $0.71
Attends underwear pull ups, X large $0.71* $0.84
* $0.82 single case order
Shipping Is a major expense. It was $10.95 on a Healthy Kin $105.85 order (10%) and $9.95 on a $35.95 order (28%). Concordance offered free monthly shipping. The cost is built into their retail price as it is with local stores.
A comparative summary follows from three local stores and several online sources. It is followed by the details of this summary.
This limited number of companies and products presents some idea of the options to be chosen from. The choice must include lowest price for a suitable product and delivered in a convenient service.
THE SUMMARY
THE SUMMARY
Lowest Price L/XL and XL
From a store: Tabbed Brief Walmart Assurance $0.53
Pull Up Walmart Depend $0.71
Online: Tabbed Brief Walmart Assurance $0.50
Pull Up Healthy Kin Attends $0.69
Over $100 Online
Tabbed Brief Healthy Kin Attends $0.55
Pull Up Healthy Kin Attends $0.69
Never-Run-Out Service, with Scheduled Delivery
Tabbed Brief Concordance Attends $0.71
Pull Up Concordance Attends $0.84
Subscription Service with Discount
Tabbed Brief Amazon Attends $0.67
Pull Up Amazon Attends $0.74
Subscription Service with Discount
Tabbed Brief Amazon Attends $0.67
Pull Up Amazon Attends $0.74
You must either pay someone to run a never-run-out service or enlist a responsible person to make periodic purchases. Provision Living had such a person who saved residents considerable money and provided the flexibility to always have product available without concerning the person paying the rent. All companies have a convenient reorder service.
THE DETAILS
I picked out three local stores near Cedarhurst at Columbia. The first two are about a mile away. Pack price is the shelf price. The comparative single item price includes 8% sales tax.
L/XL Tabbed Briefs for Night Time Wear
Store Description Pricing
Kilgore Depend, 16 count Pack $!8.99 Each $1.28
Adjustable Underwear
Walmart Assurance, 32 count Pack $15.74 Each $0.49
Stretch Brief
XL Underwear Pull Up for Day Time Wear
Store Description Pricing
Kilgore Depend, 17 count Pack $18.99 Each $1.21
Fit-Flex
Schnucks Depend, 15 count Pack $13.99 Each $1.01
Fit-Flex 26 count Pack $19.99 Each $0.83
TopCare, 16 count Pack $11.99 Each $0.81
Walmart Depend, 38 count Pack $24.87 Each $0.71
Walmart store pricing is equal to the order I made online to Healthy Kin. The problem with stores is that the product you need may be out of stock in the store at the time you visit it. Also the exact same product may be in more than one package, such as Depend Fit-Flex.
 |
| Old and New Package |
A curious observation is that Depend supports stores rather than competes with them. This, I think, is the reason Depend has shelf space in all three stores. Also all three stores have different counts in their basic pack. This confuses the issue of their absorbance capacity; lower count used to mean higher absorbance capacity.
All three stores have a way to deliver:
Kilgore $5.00 each order.
Schnucks Uses Instacart.com for $3.99 each delivery.
Walmart Ships directly to your address for free if the order is over $35.
This brings us to online shopping with an expected free two-day delivery, except for Concordance with scheduled monthly deliveries that prevent running out of product.
L/XL Tabbed Stretch Briefs for Night Time Wear
Company Description Pricing
Concordance Attends, 96 count Order $62.73 Each $0.71
Healthy Kin Attends, 96 count Order $48.95 Each $0.55*
* (includes $10.95 shipping on $105.85 order, no tax)
Walmart Assurance, 16 count Order $9.88 Each $0.67
32 count Order $15.74 Each $0.53
64 count Order $30.54 Each $0.52
96 count Order $44.84 Each $0.50*
* (free shipping on over $35.00 order)
Amazon Assurance, 32 count Order $24.49 Each $0.83
(free shipping) 96 count Order $53.24 Each $0.60
192 count Order $107.19 Each $0.60
Attends, 96 count Order $59.26 Each $0.67
XL Underwear Pull Up for Day Time Wear
Company Description Pricing
Concordance Attends, 56 count Case $43.55 Each $0.84*
(on account)
Healthy Kin Attends, 56 count Case $35.95 Each $0.69
* (includes $10.95 shipping on $105.85 order, no tax)
Schuncks Depend, 15 count Pack $13.99 Each $1.27*
(Instacart) Fit-Flex 28 count Pack $19.99 Each $0.91
* (includes both 8% sales tax and $3.99 delivery)
Walmart Depend, 15 count Order $11.48 Each $0.83
Fit-Flex 26 count Order $17.76 Each $0.74
38 count Order $24.87 Each $0.71
52 count Order $33.80 Each $0.70*
* (free shipping only if over $35.00 order)
Attends, 14 count Pack $10.21 Each $0.79
Amazon Attends, 56 count Order $38.51 Each $0.74
(free shipping)
THE END
5 APRIL 2019
