Sales can't be that hot this year. Maybe people are waking up to the fact that Qiagen kits aren't, actually, all that good as well as being horribly over-priced.
Am I alone in thinking this is merely a cynical attempt to increase sales? You'd have to do fifty minipreps before they'll donate a dollar: if they were serious about donating to charity they'd simply throw money at it rather than making the donation(s) contingent on people buying their stuff. Companies that do this sort of thing make more in terms of increased revenue and goodwill than they ever lose (and the money comes back to them anyway: those charities fund researchers who subsequently will buy their products).
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's a tax dodge. Either way: do us all a favour. Save your limited grant money by using home-made reagents where it's more cost-effective to do so, and drop a $CURRENCY_UNIT in the tin directly. But that doesn't have the same marketing punch, does it?
Comments
Home made reagents, eh? I didn't want to say anything on the previous post where you mentioned pre-cast gels, but now it's become an elephant and I have to address it: Pre-cast gels? Aren't those more expensive than pouring your own? I'm honestly asking, not judging. I know that we DON'T use them in our lab for a reason, and I always assumed the reason was money, but maybe the reason is that they're only available in limited percentages of acrylamide or something (e.g. I regularly used 7% - maybe there is no commercial 7%, I don't know.)
Posted by: Eva | November 11, 2008 11:46 AM
The pre-cast gels are about the only non-homemade consumable I'd encourage people to use. There are a few reasons.
You don't have to mess with acrylamide.
Yes, they're expensive, but there is a substantial time saving, especially when you factor in that every gel (if you load it correctly...) is going to be publication quality.
You don't have to mess with acrylamide.
You can get one out the cupboard and run it *now*.
You don't have to mess with acrylamide.
We always fill them up—there's space on the lab noticeboard for people who only have a couple of samples to say that they want to share a gel. This probably means that we use less reagent than when we make them up just for a couple of samples.
And you don't have to mess with acrylamide.
Posted by: bk | November 11, 2008 12:02 PM
I take it you don't like acrylamide?
Posted by: Eva | November 11, 2008 01:24 PM
Do you?
Posted by: bk | November 11, 2008 02:35 PM
No. But I try not to touch it. I probably hate SDS more, though.
Posted by: Eva | November 11, 2008 03:54 PM
SDS makes me cough. I do not want to discover, first hand, what acrylamide does.
Posted by: bk | November 11, 2008 03:58 PM
Regarding the topic of the post...I don't have much to offer other than the dreadful feeling that, during the meeting that launched this sales campaign, someone probably used the word "incentivize".
Posted by: SanDiablo | November 12, 2008 11:16 AM