How to Start a Pharmacy Delivery Service

Covid-19 flipped the world into a whole set of unknowns and led to many changes in the way we complete certain tasks. Where in the past we may have visited a store, we are now more inclined to order online, where we took a daily commute, we now work from home, and where we would visit the pharmacy to collect our medications, we are now having them delivered to us.

All three of those examples are constantly growing too, none more so than pharmacy delivery services. In 2020, the market was valued at just under $1.4 trillion, and in 2025 it's projected to be worth more than $2 trillion.

So, could this be an avenue for you to go down? If you already own an independent pharmacy, perhaps the delivery sector is one you haven’t yet explored, or maybe you have but just haven’t been able to negotiate your way through it well enough to turn it into a success. Or perhaps you are looking at how to start an independent pharmacy and want to explore delivery options too.

Well, today RxMile wants to show you how you can set up your own independent pharmacy delivery service so that you can provide your patients with the fastest, most efficient, and most reliable service possible. No longer will there be concerns over wasted medications, delayed collections, or customer complaints. Instead, you will be able to bring rapid benefit to your local community through a finessed process that gives patients full peace of mind, and you as a pharmacy owner, full clarity on how the market has evolved.

What is a pharmacy delivery service?

It may make sense to get the simple questions out of the way first. After all, you may feel that your operation may not benefit from utilizing this method of distributing pharmaceutical products to its patients. In its simplest form, a pharmacy delivery service is exactly what it says it is. A way for you as an independent pharmacy owner to have products delivered to patients in a safe, considerate and efficient way. 

Whilst there are regulations that vary from state to state, a host of medications can be delivered directly to the door whether they are prescription medications or not. This means less of a delay for the patients, a more efficient service from the pharmacy and a business model that, due to its expansion, opens up job opportunities within the community too.

Why do patients choose a pharmacy delivery service?

There are several reasons people are turning to a pharmacy delivery service. Each benefiting the patient differently.

• Helps save time and ensure medicines are delivered as and when needed.
• Cheaper costs and more discounts
• Improved accessibility to medications
• Ensures adherence to a medication schedule

These are just some of the most common, but each patient may see other benefits too that are possibly unique to them.  There is an argument to say that the more personal touch of having a delivery driver come to your door is much better for your well-being than just being seen as just a number when collecting from a large chain store pharmacy.

Why do we need a pharmacy delivery service?

This is a good question that many people come to RxMile with and that is understandable. If your pharmacy is working well, you may not feel there is a need to change it. Things can always be improved and finessed though, right?

To perhaps get a better understanding of why a pharmaceutical delivery service is important is to instead take the position of the patient. For someone that is immunocompromised or severely injured, attending a pharmacy is not an easy task. By having the medication delivered to the door at a pre-determined time, we allow the customer to get what they want when they want it.  Removed is the risk of a missed dose or a forgotten collection, instead, a road to recovery or urgent aid is provided exactly when it needs to be.

Not only does a pharmacy delivery service provide the much-needed medication but for some people, it may actually provide one of the only aspects of human interaction they have that day. Not only are patients benefiting physically from their prescriptions being fulfilled but many are also seeing small increases in positive mental well-being.

You can look at the incorporation of a pharmacy delivery service as bridging the healthcare gap as you offer a service on multiple levels.

So from the patient’s side, we see the assistance and the benefits a pharmacy delivery service brings but what about us? Those on the pharmacy side.

Your pharmacy needs a delivery service

Without one, no matter how well-run your pharmacy is, you will find yourself falling behind the other pharmacies within your village, town, city or maybe the state. Flexibility, transformation and change for pharmacy owners are a good thing and embracing them allows you to move with the change in demands.  With the “on-demand” world we now live in becoming more prominent, it would be very easy for customers that once used your pharmacy to select an alternate one. This not only harms revenue but could also harm the pharmacy's online reputation which then has a huge reverberating effect on the business.

If you have now begun to see that there could be some benefits to setting up a pharmacy delivery service then let’s start the process.

The steps to creating your pharmacy delivery business

The steps to creating your own pharmacy delivery business, either as part of an existing pharmacy or as a service hired by independent pharmacies, should be worked through one at a time for the best possible launch into this sector of the business. Jumping ahead could compromise your end results or maybe make this venture unviable. You wouldn’t want to take on a contract with a prescription delivery service app that helps you plan your business, before assessing the local market for example.

Understand the pharmacy market in your area

Before you venture into offering a pharmacy delivery service, you need to have an understanding of whether this is a shape you can fit your business into. Is there competition in the local area? If so, who? Do you have your own pharmacy? Do you have contacts within the existing pharmacies?

Assess your business first

Are you in a position for expansion and change? If not, think hard about how this change could alter your business. Is the risk bigger than the reward? Or could the risk pay off so well that it transforms your business? If you don’t have your own independent pharmacy but are looking to start medication delivery, look at the local pharmacies to see if they could benefit from a delivery service.

Who would you deliver to?

As a pharmacy, most of your customers will be residential and as a result, you will have varied delivery routes with drivers delivering smaller packages to many different addresses. If delivering to hospitals, you will have fewer stops but larger consignments.  This is worth considering when you plan to set up this business. Do you offer delivery to both sectors or just one?

Will you be planning an expansion?

Whilst the initial plan may be medications, it has been well noted, especially since Covid, that other medical items are frequently required. Could there be a gap in the market for your pharmacy or independent business to facilitate this and become a market leader? This will incur further costs, training, and recruitment but if you can see that the market needs it, you could become the premium business for medical supply delivery.

State laws and regulations around medicine delivery

Regulation and compliance vary from state to state and can become a pain point for pharmacies so before you decide that a launch in your area of the USA is worth going ahead with, you will need a clear and full understanding of what the rules are. With our country being so large, it would be hard to list every regulation for each state and region for every medical product here. However, the below list is a selection of some things you will almost certainly need to consider before launching your pharmacy delivery business:

• A pharmaceutical delivery driver needs to be at least 21 and have a high school diploma. In addition, they will require training on installing medical equipment should that be something your business expands into. Furthermore, they must be able to safely carry and maneuver packages that could weigh as much as 70 pounds.
• Delivery addresses will always need to match the patient’s address, this means you will not be allowed to deliver to PO boxes, friends’ houses or workplaces. In most cases, a signature will be required upon delivery of the medication too.
• Data handling is extremely important and within the medical field, there is a lot of data. Everything must be stored securely and the amount of documentation you need could vary from state to state. Just be aware that the protection of personal data is paramount. Some data is shareable, some is private, and failing to differentiate between the two could result in huge fines and possibly a suspension of your service if you commit a breach of data security laws.

To get the clearest understanding of the rules in your area, check the FDA website.

Asses what the customer needs will be

Your customers will want something simple, efficient and reliable. Can you provide this? The goal is to keep people fit and healthy, so minimizing risk is important but what if you have already done that? Then start to consider things from a customer perspective and mold your business around matching a patient’s needs. This could include, but certainly wouldn’t be limited to:

• Speed and convenience
• Automatic refills
• Free delivery
• Ability to track which medicine to take and when
• Money saving

If your pharmacy delivery service can offer the above, you will automatically appeal to a broader range of customers and retain those that may have been tempted to look for alternative providers of their medications.

Investigate the rules surrounding licenses and permits

If you own an independent pharmacy, you will be well aware of the need for specific licenses but branching out into the delivery of medication can mean a whole host more to contend with. If you do not have your own pharmacy, you are less likely to be as well-versed so may require the assistance of a lawyer or others that have experience with pharmaceuticals. Regardless of your current situation, there are specific permits and licenses for medications, and this can extend to their transportation. As this is a key asset to your business model, you will need to obtain all the relevant permits before going any further.

Investigate funding for your pharmacy delivery service

From software to vehicles, from couriers to packaging, there is potentially a lot of expense being added to your business in these early stages so you may need to secure funding to help this expansion. You should also factor in the need for additional storage should you need extra refrigeration for medicines for example and a marketing budget.

With a detailed business plan illustrating, with full clarity, your vision and its benefits to society you should hopefully secure funding in the way of a bank loan, angel investment or crowdfunding.

Sourcing the correct team

Delivering medication is not like delivering an Amazon package or a pizza. It is a carefully mapped process that must be carried out with care. You will want your drivers to match the requirements we set out earlier, but you should also be looking at their character and their experience. You will want people with knowledge but also compassion. That being said, knowledge of medical products is not a necessity for the driver. At the same time, you will want people confident enough in their knowledge of the local area too.

You should also factor in any relevant support for the customer. Using an online service to request their medication may at times run into confusion or difficulty so weigh up whether you need additional teams to help in an out-of-hours customer service role.

Delivery optimization for pharmaceutical deliveries

Perhaps the most important factor in the pharmacy delivery business is the delivery itself. Having your routes optimized for an efficient and consistent standard of service will be key to not only helping customers but also to building up your brand.

The drivers and the teams picking and packing the medicines will need to use tools that help facilitate the smooth-running process. With real-time results and tracking, your pharmacy delivery service can operate exactly how you want it to. But what can you put in place that makes it work so smoothly?

A service like that offered by RxMile gives users a premium piece of pharmacy delivery software so that those distributing the medication and those receiving it can be safe in the knowledge that there are no bumps in the road when it comes to sending out and receiving medication. With routes optimized to expedite a timely delivery, services can be altered as they need to be. If a patient is now likely to be out at their requested time, deliveries can be quickly adjusted to ensure that nothing is left sitting on a doorstep stored incorrectly. Patients unsure of the status of their delivery can also check the progress of their medication delivery giving total reassurance throughout the process.

With software that offers full audit and compliance support, including the collection of co-pays RxMile is set up purely to make the lives of your patients and your teams easier. Other benefits include:

• Patient retention management
• Live driver tracking
• Cost-effectiveness
• Easy integration with existing software
• Delivery synchronization
• Prescription delivery portal
• Captured proof of delivery

This type of software is what makes running a pharmacy delivery service worthwhile. You can learn more with our demo to see what you think!

With these things in place, you are almost ready for launch. You may just need one more thing….

Marketing your logistics company

As you work through the steps you will be gradually piecing together the framework of your pharmacy delivery business. You just need people to know it exists when it launches. Social media can be a strong tool when used correctly. The emergence of TikTok for example has seen a rapid rise in fast, simple-to-follow instructional videos. Perfect for when you want to show people how easy to use your service is. You can then complement this with local media advertisements, handouts and free trials. Possibilities with marketing are potentially endless and if you discover a niche that other pharmacies don’t yet have brand sitting in, you can utilize that to your advantage.

Additional considerations for your pharmacy delivery business

Following the above completes the framework for your pharmacy delivery business but you should also consider a few other factors to ensure you remain the market leader in your area.

Safe storage of medicines in transit

When your couriers are delivering medicines, you want them to arrive safely. This means that a temperature-controlled delivery will need to be in place. This could mean that you need to source vehicles for your couriers that are suitable. A drop of just 2 degrees in the temperature of a medicine can reduce it to waste. This is where cold-chain logistics comes in. A way in which items are delivered in a controlled manner every part of the way. From manufacture through to patient. It may come as some surprise that over half of the 50 top-selling drugs in the USA in 2021/22 must be constantly stored between 2-8 degrees and with live temperature data often required it would be beneficial to ensure you can match those needs.

Consider courier and product security

Whilst there are presently no laws relating to security levels for the transport of medical items, they are unfortunately a target for thieves. With a service like that provided by RxMile and its live tracking available, you may be able to spot an issue that may have otherwise gone unnoticed. Investigate ways you can keep your driver and products safe, alarms, tracking, and dash cams should all feature high on your list of priorities.

If you are now ready to start exploring the possibilities of a pharmacy delivery service, then contact RxMile. Our expert team has carefully curated a system that ensures patients and pharmacies are always connected. With all of the components to help create your own independent pharmacy delivery service let RxMile guide you the right way into the future of medicine delivery. With full onboarding and 24/7 customer support available, you are never alone when you choose RxMile.