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Libre Sensors prices going up again?

suk

suk

Well-Known Member
Hi, I was originally buying my sensors from Abbott but having been told I could them cheaper at Superdrug I started getting them from Superdrug. However, the price was £35, then £40, then £42 and now £50!!! It’s probably cheaper to go back to Abbott
 
Hi @suk That's a pain, I learned from my pharmacy when I was using them that there's alot of sports folk now using them to measure their BG results, so it seems that they have no end of demand for them, I switched to the Dexcom G6 about a month ago as it's £159 a month, accuracy is much better than the libre, you can wear the sensor on your tum and you get alerts on your phone when low/high and have to admit I much prefer it to the libre now.
 
I heard Superdrug realised they were selling at cost so, effectively, losing money.
I second @Fairygodmother Asda were £44 last week.

I also encourage making noise with our diabetes teams to get them on the NHS without all the ridiculous criteria and hoops to jump through.
 
I did start a thread on this very subject some time ago. I complained to Superdrug about their rip off prices, got an acknowledgement but nothing further.. Strangely some posters on this forum seem to agree with Superdrug that it was only fair that they made in excess of £15 profit on each sensor.
 
suk said:
Hi, I was originally buying my sensors from Abbott but having been told I could them cheaper at Superdrug I started getting them from Superdrug. However, the price was £35, then £40, then £42 and now £50!!! It’s probably cheaper to go back to Abbott
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Ah this makes me so cross! Don’t know how much longer I can afford to keep buying them
:(

Back to Asda it is..
 
I realise this may sound harsh, but no-one could expect Superdrug to continue with it being only 75% of the cost it is from the manufacturers, especially given how hard many high street stores are finding it recently.
At 50 quid it's just over the price from Abbott (that's if you paid no postage), but probably a lot more convenient than ordering from Abbott.

Personally I use Asda and hope they'll keep it at 44 quid, but it wouldn't surprise me if it also goes up.
 
Is Superdrug wants to price themselves out the market then so be it, vote with your feet. the law of supply and demand............!
 
I wonder if they will ramp up production now sports people are also buying it?
Assuming they can in a realistic timescale, of course.
It would not be good if T1s couldn't get supplies because fitness geeks were buying them all.

Speaking as a T2 who is considering trying out CGM for a month just to get some more detailed BG data.
 
Rokaab said:
I realise this may sound harsh, but no-one could expect Superdrug to continue with it being only 75% of the cost it is from the manufacturers, especially given how hard many high street stores are finding it recently.
At 50 quid it's just over the price from Abbott (that's if you paid no postage), but probably a lot more convenient than ordering from Abbott.

Personally I use Asda and hope they'll keep it at 44 quid, but it wouldn't surprise me if it also goes up.
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I sense Abbots sticky fingers in the mix too - after all why would they allow anyone else, ( who essentially becomes a competitor) to supply the “non prescription” market at a lower price that Abbot choose to charge the same market?
 
I have just ordered two sensors from Abbott, my nearest Asda with pharmacy is more than an hour away. I can't wait to get it on prescription, Islington is still waiting.
 
slip said:
Is Superdrug wants to price themselves out the market then so be it, vote with your feet. the law of supply and demand............!
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I wonder whether that may partially be their intention.
I was very surprised to read some time ago SuperDrug sold Libre. I have always associated them with cheaper young adult brands of cosmetics. Whilst they sold some staples like Colgate Toothpaste and Treseme shampoo, they were not the kind of shop I would frequent for anything serious like diabetes tech.
Perhaps they were dabbling their foot in the water to see what the uptake was like and decided the retail experiment wasn't worth losing money over and they would rather go back their roots whilst gradually reducing the interest in Libre: Libre shoppers were not picking up any of the SuperDrug staples on which they made more money.
 
LittleGreyCat said:
I wonder if they will ramp up production now sports people are also buying it?
Assuming they can in a realistic timescale, of course.
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I think they've been ramping production up as hard as they can since it got launched. Sensors were in short supply at launch, and this year they've been the same - they could probably put 50% on the price and sell what they make. Even the limited NHS rollout will be hitting demand hard. (I suspect manufacture isn't entirely trivial - the self calibrating thing means tolerances will be very low.)

Copernicus said:
Strangely some posters on this forum seem to agree with Superdrug that it was only fair that they made in excess of £15 profit on each sensor.
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Yes, it's entirely fair. That's probably how much they need to charge to keep in business - retail overheads aren't low.

Rokaab said:
At 50 quid it's just over the price from Abbott (that's if you paid no postage), but probably a lot more convenient than ordering from Abbott.
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Isn't ordering from Abbott really easy? I do it from my computer, where I'm sat typing this. Ok, if I lived next to a suitable Asda or such I'd consider popping in to save a few quid, but that would still be harder than ordering online. Though I'm nowhere near one, so the option isn't there for me :-)
 
evilclive said:
Isn't ordering from Abbott really easy? I do it from my computer, where I'm sat typing this. Ok, if I lived next to a suitable Asda or such I'd consider popping in to save a few quid, but that would still be harder than ordering online. Though I'm nowhere near one, so the option isn't there for me :)
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I think its more the fact that last time I heard it took quite a while for stuff to be delivered and you're limited to how much you can order each time, but I may be out of date :)
And yes, my Asda is very conveniently placed for me and I need to go there for petrol and basic foodstuffs each week anyways.
 
Copernicus said:
I did start a thread on this very subject some time ago. I complained to Superdrug about their rip off prices, got an acknowledgement but nothing further.. Strangely some posters on this forum seem to agree with Superdrug that it was only fair that they made in excess of £15 profit on each sensor.
Click to expand...

It’s a business. If you were running a business you would want to make a profit, or there would be no point.
 
Rokaab said:
I think its more the fact that last time I heard it took quite a while for stuff to be delivered and you're limited to how much you can order each time, but I may be out of date :)
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Currently limited to 3 sensors every 24 days due to shortages - but no postage charges at the moment. Delivery has always been fine for me when things are normal - a couple of days.

Now, a few months back they did have problems - they ran out, but rather than rationing in the way they have done (small orders), they just said "no supply for a month". Which was very unhelpful - I ran out for a few days, but then due to a mis-order I got 20 in a go! They seem to have learned from that, which is good.
 
Private prescription from gp yesterday ...35£ from superdrug Blackburn. Normaly 50.00 . Gp are not allowed to charge for a private px
 
Hi All. I’ve not been around for a while so I’m not terribly up to date...I’ve not been able to purchase libre from anywhere local so I’ve been buying online as normal. However having just lost my job I thought I would see if I could get them any cheaper. I discovered the Superdrug post and called them this morning to see if I could place an order. I was told that the price had gone up due to a number of people bulk buying them cheap and selling them online. Abbott Freestyle had cottoned on and increased the cost to them. I’m so sad to hear this...it makes me so angry that people do this...it ruins it for the people who genuinely rely on it
 
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