Walgreens: Big 3 drugstore most likely to rip you off

Time says that a new study from the National Consumers League on a market basket of typical drugstore products at 485 CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens stores across the U.S. showed Walgreens:

• was up to five times more likely than a competitor to charge different prices for the same item
• had more than eight times the number of products with a 20% or greater price range than CVS. (Rite Aid had no products with that big of a gap.)
• had more than twice the number of products with a price range over $1 than both competitors.

And that's just what Walgreens does within the law. Time continued:

     A couple of weeks ago, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster filed a civil lawsuit against Walgreens after a two-month investigation revealed that eight Walgreens in the state charged more than the price listed on shelves for roughly 20% of the items purchased. Instances of overcharging, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, included clearance items that were rung up at full price and products advertised on sale that weren’t discounted at the register.
     “This level of consumer deception is inexcusable from a corporation as sophisticated as Walgreens,” Koster said at a press conference. “In fact, it’s appalling.”
...According to the Post-Dispatch, the company has settled suits in other states after being accused of similar tactics.

     AKSARBENT actually walked out of a Walgreens the other day, when, after looking for a can of Coke, we could only find a 20-oz. bottle for, like, $1.79. A block away, a local bodega was selling right-sized 12-oz. cans for 50 cents.
     Still, we find this disquieting, as we already refuse to patronize ethically-challenged CVS, the subject of various "controversies," such as the:

• Trio Drugs' records scandal
• Elensys scandal
• Boston prescriptions scandal
• pharmaceutical kickbacks scandal
• deceptive business practices scandal
• Rhode Island Senate corruption case scandal
• CVS Caremark business practices scandal
• FTC/HHS HIPAA scandal
• FTC Deceptive Pricing scandal
• DEA Oxycodone diversion scandal