Wegmans offers free antibiotics to loyalty club members

ROCHESTER, N.Y. Wegmans is offering loyalty customers free prescriptions of oral antibiotics during this year’s cough-and-cold season beginning Jan. 7, the 72-store grocery chain announced Tuesday, and ending March 31.

“A few months ago we began to lower prices on hundreds of food products in anticipation of lower costs in 2009,” said Wegmans’ president Colleen Wegman. “There’s been such a tremendous response, it triggered discussion about other ways we could help customers and employees save.”

The program covers up to a 14-day supply of several generic oral antibiotics listed below, with no limits on the number of prescriptions that can be filled, including:

Amoxicillin, Cephalexin, Sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim, Ciprofloxacin (excluding Ciprofloxacin XR), Penicillin VK, Ampicillin, Tetracycline, Erythromycin Stearate, Ethylsuccinate and Doxycycline Hyclate (capsules).

“We understand the economic pressures families are facing, including the rising cost of health care, which is something I’m especially concerned about,” commented Wegman’s chief executive officer Danny Wegman.  “We hope this program will help families better cope with those expenses.”

Wegmans estimates that the program has the potential to save its customers (across all market areas) approximately $1 million.

The chain is also lowering the prices on many seasonal products related to sniffles and sneezes, including soup, facial tissues and cough and cold medications, through the remainder of winter.