By Arthur Vidro
ON CONSUMERISM
It’s frustrating to set up an appointment for a COVID-19 booster.
Last month when I sought COVID-19 boosters for our household, I called my regular pharmacy — the wonderful non-chain Sugar River pharmacy in Newport that always answers the phone in person. But when it comes to COVID boosters, the item’s temperature requirements for storage and its short shelf life make it impractical for a little pharmacy to stock or order.
Then I went to both Rite-Aid and CVS, in person. It’s faster to go in person than to telephone, because they make it as hard as possible for a caller to reach a person in the pharmacy department.
Yes, both chain stores carry the vaccine. Appointments, however, are needed to receive a jab. They both denied my effort to schedule the appointment in person. They said I had to use a computer.
So I went home and tried.
Honest, I tried.
It took me a full hour.
First I went to the Rite-Aid website (riteaid.com) but found no information there about vaccines. I searched under “Covid” and was rewarded with a list of over-the-counter products to test for and possibly alleviate symptoms of the disease.
But nothing on vaccines.
So, I went to the CVS website. There I found a button for vaccine information.
I selected the COVID vaccine, specified which manufacturer’s version I wanted, and added all the other requested information.
For location, I typed in the 03743 Zip Code.
I was rewarded with two CVS outlets to choose from. Both are in Keene.
I backtracked and changed the 03743 Zip Code to “Claremont, New Hampshire.”
I was rewarded with the very same pair of CVS outlets in Keene to choose from.
Maybe, I conjectured, it’s because I requested one particular manufacturer’s version.
So, I started all over and this time chose “no preference” for which manufacturer’s version we wish to receive.
This definitely made a difference.
Now, instead of seeing a choice of two CVS branches in Keene, I was rewarded with only one CVS location. Alas, it was again in Keene.
So, when you don’t care who makes the booster you wish to get, only one place can help you. But if you specify one particular version, then two places can help you, which makes no sense at all.
Then I visited the Claremont CVS in person and double-checked that they have the COVID boosters in stock. They do. They had no idea why I couldn’t set up an appointment with the Claremont branch, but repeated they were not allowed to grant me an appointment, because I wasn’t at a computer. So, they wrote down their 800-phone number for me to call.
I didn’t dial it. Don’t see why the people at the 800 number would be able to bring up different choices than I could at home. But it was certainly nice of the CVS pharmacist to provide the phone number. (Though it would have been nicer if he could have granted me an appointment.)
Of course, computers being computers, if I tried again the next day, I might have been able to line up an appointment at the Claremont CVS. Or I might have been told the nearest available location is in Hong Kong.
Exhausted already from the effort, I went to a search engine and typed in “Rite Aid Covid-19 vaccines.”
This got me to a website that’s sort of a subset of Rite Aid’s standard website. And at last I was able to proceed and make the appointments.
I reject the notion that it’s somehow better for stores to make you register with a national registry via computer for a local appointment.
All it does is discourage people from setting up appointments, which means fewer people receiving vaccine boosters.
All because of the perceived need to make everything get done through computers.
Even though computers make it much more difficult for some of us consumers.
