The Origin and Concept of PWP Group
And Recent Changes
The concept of a buying group to assist people with Parkinson's Disease and other Neurological conditions was developed by myself, Dan Halligan. At age 52 in 2002 I was diagnosed with PD. As I learned more about the disease and its progression, I decided to begin to use 1200mg of Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) per day as part of my treatment. There are credible clinical studies which found the progression of PD appears to be slowed by the use of CoQ10.
I went to my local drugstore and purchased a bottle of 100mg per gel cap (30 caps per bottle) for about $30.00. I went home and did the math and realized that at 1200mg per day my $30 bottle was going to last about 2 1/2 days. This would be $360 per month and seemed crazy to me. Then I thought about all of the other people in the same position I am in. We were all walking into our individual stores and buying one or two bottles at a time and paying high prices.
I believed that if I walked into the store and said "I want to buy 100 bottles and I want a discount" I would get a better price. If I said "I want to buy 1,000 bottles" the price would even be better. I realized that we needed a way for us to act as a group. We needed to speak with one voice to get better pricing. As I explored the idea it evolved into working directly with manufacturers to get the best possible pricing and to control quality and consistency. The biggest challenge was what comes first, the discount or the volume ordering. Fortunately some companies could see the logic and potential of what I was proposing and they were willing to believe the volume would follow.
After much discussion, I got a distribution center to donate an 800 phone number for group orders. This solved several problems. It meant people could buy direct and didn't have to go through me. It also meant that just by calling the phone number they were identified as a group "member" and entitled to discount pricing with no membership fees or dues. Manufacturers donate a small volume rebate to the group to maintain the costs of operating the website and any other expenses.
Now we have grown to provide discount access to anyone that we can be of service to. Anyone may use the buying group since the more volume we generate the more leverage we have in negotiating with suppliers. This then helps us to achieve the initial goal of getting better pricing on supplements of value to those with PD. We all help each other by pooling our needs.
Now as I write this in September, 2009 we have reached a turning point. We have the volume to deserve some discounts we are not receiving. A couple of supplements were taken away or severely restricted because the supplier received complaints from some of their retailers that we were selling it at too low a price. I now realize that the help I received from some suppliers was a double sided coin. It made it easy as I really didn't have to do much. I was told to give it time whenever I asked for better pricing. Then I began to educate myself on quality and cost. I would be offered access to a supplement and by some effort I would find out the suppliers cost basis. I was shocked at the markups. While it was better than retail it was still obscene profit harvested from a group of desperate, ill people. Recently I made some proposals that were not only rejected but turned down with an arrogance and greed that I was disappointed and surprised by. The people who originally supported my efforts are gone having been replaced by more corporate profit minded folk. I was at a fork in the road. I could leave things as they were and feel a fraud. I could push the off button and walk away. I could roll up my sleeves and while I was still physically able I could do something I could be proud of. I have always believed that if you give to the universe through service to others it will return tenfold. I have decided that I will bring everything "inside" rather than having it go directly to a distributor. By relying on the distributors I give up leverage for future discounts and don't even have the contact information for many of the members of the group. So I can use all the help possible to get the word out.
I have a vision of where we will be by year end. I have gotten PWP Group approved to take Visa and MasterCard orders over the phone. I am working on getting the little shopping cart ordering system also in place. As I write this I don't have an 800 number set up yet. I want people to be able to talk to me. So they can either call me on my direct cell line or email me to phone them back. I am exploring how to get an 800 number set in place that will meet my goals. I want us to be a place of sharing stories of courage, things that work, warnings about those that don't and a way to reach out to other PWP. I want every visitor to the website to leave with some valuable knowledge that they didn't know about. I am going to create access to a select group of supplements that will work in harmony. I believe if we give our bodies the right materials and get out of the way it can perform miracles. I believe in miracles and I want to help others believe too. This transition will have it's bumps along the way but I can see where we are going. There will be a dozen or more supplements that will all be of value to you and they will all be at prices well below what others are paying.
If we can build size I can see the day when we can achieve discounts on prescriptions etc. Unfortunately there are so many of us. We might as well use our numbers to our advantage.
(return to home page) (discounts on CoQ10)