PillPack is great - when it works.

If a delivery goes astray, it sucks. BIG TIME.

The concept is good. It's a pharmacy, they get your prescriptions and every month you get a roll of little packages, each labeled with the name of the medication, and the date and time you should take it. We all know, as you get older the number of pills you have to take daily, increases. Those little pill organizers are very useful, but it is tedious to fill them every week, and there is always a risk of mixing them up. Or, heaven forbid, what if you spill them after you have filled it? Would you ever be able to sort that out?

With PillPack, you tear along the dotted line and take the pill for that day and time. When traveling you can take the strip of pouches for the period of time you will be away. No rattling bottles to be packed. And, to make it even more convenient, you can order any over the counter pills you need to take and they will come in those little pouches along eith the prescription medication. All very convenient until, as I said, a delivery goes astray - and we all know how that can happen. PillPack is owned by Amazon, so your pills could be left on your doorstep and, with the current popularity of stealing packages from doorsteps, your pills could disappear. Or, they could be dropped on the wrong doorstep. 

That's what happened to me recently. My pillpack is normally delivered by USPS, and I pick it up from our neighborhood mail delivery box, inside a gated community. It's worked, for over a year. PillPack sends you a nofication when they are preparing your pills, and again when they are shipped. I received both of these emails. I didn't receive any pills. When I checked online I saw that this time they had shipped via Amazon delivery and it was marked as delivered and left on the doorstep. No, it wasn't. And we are rarely gone, plus we have a Ring doorbell, we not only get images of everyone who comes to our door, we get alerted by Ring, whether or not the door bell is pushed. Yeah, another Amazon owned company. But, we know, for sure, it wasn't delivered to us.

I got online with their customer service. Having worked for Amazon, and spent half a day sitting with customer service reps watching them do their magic, I know they are the best. I have the greatest respect for them. But they can only offer what Amazon is prepared to offer. The rep I spoke to didn't question my claim that I had not received my medication - none of it was serious stuff, I mean, it's serious for me if I don't actually take them, but nothing exciting for a would be thief. Thyroid, cholesterol and blood pressure medicine along with antacids and baby asprine. However, we all know how expensive any medication is in the US. Thank goodness for health insurance, even the not great insurance for the elderly. At least most of my medications are covered. 

Until, that is, Amazon loses them. My customer service rep said she would have replacement medication delivered overnight. And, yes, I would have to pay for them as insurance wouldn't. Fortunately, she quoted me the discounted GoodRX prices. But still, I had already paid for the pills I didn't get - the over the counter and the one named brand because I can't take the generic, and insurance also won't pay for named brand. Now I have to pay again for all of them?

So, I'm going to switch all my medications to my local pharmacy. The slight inconvenience of filling them weekly and picking them up, outweighs the serious inconvenience of risking not getting them at all and paying twice. And, DoorDash will deliver if I just can't drag myself the few miles to pick them up. I will have to resign myself to filling the little boxes every week. But on balance that's better than paying through the nose for failed deliveries, or missing important medications.