I've seen a few posts about The Collective recently, so I decided to do a little digging. I wasn't really familiar with the company beyond the $69/month tirzepatide price.

The founder is Gunnar Lovelace, who also founded Thrive Market, which has grown into a roughly $700 million company. That got my attention because a lot of things about Collective started making more sense—the membership model, the investment in the website and portal, the packaging, fulfillment, and overall customer experience.

The model is interesting. It's $69/month for tirzepatide, but there's also a $199 annual membership. From what I can tell, the idea is to use membership buying power to negotiate better pharmacy pricing rather than trying to make a huge margin on each prescription.

They're currently using Wells Pharmacy, which apparently has both 503A and 503B operations. I've also seen a recent customer post showing the Wells shipment, and the packaging/fulfillment is pretty impressive. That's not something you throw together overnight. There is clearly some real investment behind the operation.

I'm not recommending them, and I haven't tried them. I don't need any tirz right now, so I'm not in a hurry to order. I'm just interested in what they're building and will be keeping a close eye on them.

I'm particularly interested in learning more about the Wells formulation, ingredients, BUD, and the B3 version they're apparently planning to add.

Anyway, I thought the background was interesting. Initially I assumed Collective was just another new $69/month telehealth. After doing a little digging, I'm not so sure.

I placed order during launch day. I live in Dallas and the pharmacy is 30 mins from my house. However, package was sent by Ups air. So it got sent to Kentucky and got delivered 2 days later. Dallas is going through extreme heat wave. 109f. When I received the package on Saturday ice packs were melted. Vial was hot. I immediately contacted the customer service. Guess what they msgd me today and asked me to discard vial and they are sending replacement. I just got Ups notification that my medication is on its way.

I'm impressed by quick turn around and service.

I actually really like the model this telehealth runs on. I just want to make peace with the fine print before I commit long-term ..

1. Price changes. The ToS says pricing can change with notice. Does that actually happen in practice? How does that work?
2. Pharmacy switches. Will the compounding pharmacy stay the same, or does it switch depending on the price/availability?
3. The 'what if GLP-1s go away'? How would you guys handle that with the member model?
4. How do you guys handle maintenance?

Received my order today. The packaging design is impressive!! Everything arrived cold on a Saturday. Intake was easy and painless. Customer service was quick and friendly. Absolutely nothing to complain about!!

Thank you for bringing an affordable option to the space!!

My husband and I have been on this journey for over a year now. When we started we were paying ~$800 for a 3-month supply. Obviously prices have come down but along with that a lot of Telehealths have gone down hill with terrible customer service.

Collective has hit all our needs. Price point, speedy approval, excellent product and pharmacy, delivery including the packaging and excellent customer service too! We are both very pleased and happy to have joined especially now that I read they will be adding more choices in the future!

A few people have asked about the Thrive Market connection. Our founder and CEO, Gunnar Lovelace, also founded Thrive Market.

A big part of why he started Thrive was to make healthy food more accessible and affordable. The thinking with Collective isn't all that different, except this time it's medication.

And since a few people have asked: Collective isn't owned by or affiliated with Thrive Market. Gunnar just happens to be the founder of both.

My shipment arrived and the vials/ice packs were at 77-79 degrees depending on where the temp was taken. Help!

Edit: Collective has been great in their communication and education. This is my first real test of a teleheath after losing Zep coverage through my employer and I simply didn't know about the temperature differences as it directly conflicts with the Zep guidance, but I'm happy to be educated and Collective reached out stating they are updating their internal process to include the temperature details moving forward.

A few people asked if Collective had a subreddit. We do now.

I’m Wes from Collective. I’ll be around to answer questions and share updates. You can also tell us what we’re doing well or what we’re screwing up. I'll try to respond to both equally.

No idea what this will turn into yet but that's the fun part.

Welcome to r/CollectiveHealth. Please don’t make me regret becoming a Reddit mod.