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FRED MEYER INITIATES MAIL-ORDER PRESCRIPTIONS

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Fred Meyer Inc. here has begun taking pharmacy orders through its mail-order prescription service, Postal Prescription Services, here. enters, Salt Lake City -- and on its web site (http://www.fredmeyer.com). The retailer also added seven staff people last week to the operation, which is housed in a 2,000-square-foot facility at corporate headquarters here.Earlier this year the retailer

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Fred Meyer Inc. here has begun taking pharmacy orders through its mail-order prescription service, Postal Prescription Services, here.

enters, Salt Lake City -- and on its web site (http://www.fredmeyer.com). The retailer also added seven staff people last week to the operation, which is housed in a 2,000-square-foot facility at corporate headquarters here.

Earlier this year the retailer invested $400,000 in equipment owned by First Class Pharmacy, a mail-order business of former drug chain Thrifty-Payless. When Thrifty-Payless was bought out by Rite Aid Corp. of Camp Hill, Pa., last year its mail-order trade was absorbed into Rite Aid's own Philadelphia-based Diversified Prescription Delivery mail-order service.

Sources said First Class had filled about 2,000 prescriptions daily, with more than two dozen workers. Tom Eilers, manager for Fred Meyer, said the retailer needs about 1,000 orders daily to break even. In its initial weeks of operation, the mail-order service is pulling in about 100 prescriptions a day, said Eilers.

Dave Schulberg, vice president and director of pharmacy services at Fred Meyer, said he expects the mail-order business to boost total pharmacy revenues about 6%. He declined to give further details about the operation.

Mail-order drugs emerged a decade ago as a cost-cutting measure by insurers. Industry sources estimate the mail-order market at about $7.8 billion a year, or about 10% of the total spent on drugs by insurance plans.