Dear Fellow Independents,

How often today can you go to a retail location (besides your own pharmacy) and be treated with exemplary customer service? In my experience, this occurrence is rare. We could discuss change as the hot topic, but I think in our industry, the premise of providing patient care has stayed the same over the years: independents take care of their patients and customers, while other non-independent pharmacies look at customers as a loss leader or another tool to drive profits for big shareholders.

At our pharmacies, I believe there is a singular business motto to operate by: treat your customers and patients the way you want to be treated when you are the customer or patient. It's that simple. And if you do it well, your patients will always be back because you have made a difference in their lives.

The idea of receiving attentive and personalized service is why I am a proud member and now President of the Board of Directors of PIPCo. The staff and its leadership body have always treated me and my staff the way I want to be treated. They take care of people on a daily basis, just like we, as independents do everyday, as providing personalized service is really the core of our business.

PIPCo also takes care of us by offering services and support that allow us to better serve our communities. It gives us a bigger voice when it comes to the important decisions that make our stores more profitable, in the midst of many market pressures. It takes the stress out of wholesaler negotiations, always looking out for what is best for our stores, and capitalizing on all the benefits of a single wholesaler relationship.

As one of my co-board members has said many times, “PIPCo has our backs!” Once again, this is another way of saying PIPCo takes care of people the way that we take care of people. Since taking care of others is the ultimate goal for most independents (and the very reason why so many of us chose to become pharmacists to begin with), I am proud to belong to a buying group that also puts customer care as its highest priority. If you'd like to learn more about becoming a member of PIPCo or hear about what our organization has to offer, please feel free to contact me at josh@pipco.com .

Sincerely,

Joshua J Lemm, Pharm. D., RPh
Co-owner and President of Center Drug
PIPCo Board of Directors, President