I got a 90 day refill of my meds (usually only 30) and I have been thinking. The 90 only fills up almost half of the bottle. The only time I’ve seen it mostly filled up is with big pills like antibiotics. So why even do this?
I got a 90 day refill of my meds (usually only 30) and I have been thinking. The 90 only fills up almost half of the bottle. The only time I’ve seen it mostly filled up is with big pills like antibiotics. So why even do this?
Comments
Using standard sizes probably helps speed up fills in general. But also the bottles are easier to open if they’re a larger size.
Stocking a couple standard sizes is way more efficient than managing a lot of different sizes.
Pharmacist here: there are many legal requirements for a prescription label. It would be difficult (if not impossible) to meet all of the federal and state requirements fit on a smaller bottle / label and still be readable. The size you are referring to is the minimum size, There are larger bottles to accomodate larger capsules/tablets.
Not sure but correct me if I’m wrong
Would some space be good as to not crush or slightly degrade/rub pill down
For gel caps I’ve seen some stick together, room may help keep the integrity of pill
The head pharmacist decides on what sizes they want to keep on hand. They usually start with 20 dram size up to 60. That’s typical. They will use whatever fits best, but sometimes they might be out of a certain size and have to go up.
Can you imagine what a pain the arse it would be to open one sized for a thimble of pills? Oh and read the text on it?
Some pharmacies fill prescriptions via automated systems at a central warehouse. Everything goes in the same size bottles.
Yup, that annoys me too. I wish they’d at least fill the bottle up.
One of my previous prescriptions, they’d only fill the bottle up barely a 3rd of the way, and then they’d stick one of those clunky anti-moisture canisters in there. Irritated the hell out of me.
And that goes for OTC meds, too. Only the people who fill up those giant bottles of ibuprofen and Tylenol have the right idea.
Somewhat unrelated, but I also hate hard-to-open safety caps on travel-size medicine bottles. If someone is driving or riding in the car, the last thing they need is to risk pills going everywhere, and you KNOW if that happens, you’re gonna be finding pills in the interior until doomsday.
You go in to get your car serviced, and you risk accidentally drugging the mechanic when half a pharmacy drops out from under your vehicle.
Automation
I get my meds from a male order pharmacy, and they all comment exactly the same size bottle because of standardization. I would imagine that in a regular pharmacy, there are only so many sizes of bottles, and they grab one that they are sure will give them enough space
I went up to a higher dose on one of my meds and renewed for a 90 day supply. The pills were so big they came in 3 full bottles.
Another med I take is so small that a 90 day supply fills only a quarter of the bottle.
Kinda funny now that I think about it.
I dunno shouldn’t u ask someone in the medical field
They’re ripping you off like potato chips. When I was a kid the pills used to go all the way up to the top!
Maybe not enough pills are in stock to give just one person a ton if someone else is also on that medication?