Temporary Shipping Policy Change UPDATED

UPDATE, June 12th – Thanks to everyone for your support! Shipping has returned to normal and all delayed orders shipped. Minimum order has been dropped to $25.

UPDATE, May 23rd – So far so good on the shipping of existing orders. We are honoring all existing orders. Going forward for the time being we have to increase our minimum order size to $47.25. This is 5 vials of 1000mcg or 3 vials of 2000mcg B12. Hopefully a temporary measure, sorry to pass on this hardship … we are balancing providing B12 to our smaller (but good!) customers and keeping our best in class low prices. Read this entire message for more details…

Original Status Update:

Our prices are unchanged, but we are not able to accept smaller orders for the time being. More details lower in this post, but the short take is we have to temporarily raise our minimum order size to $100. We are very sorry about this situation and are doing our best to find a solution.

Our regular courier has restricted the shipping of liquids and our alternate shipping methods are more costly with minimum charges. We are looking for other solutions and will update here when we know more. 

The cause of this trouble? It is a bit out there… The change in policy is a response to a serious crime which is believed to have involved ordering liquid poison through the mail. A person has been arrested who is alleged to have poisoned multiple acquaintances food. This has nothing to do with with our products, product tampering or product safety. If you want to learn more search “poison thailand” as it is big news locally.

We expect the restriction will be temporary. 

Again our apologies. We will post here with news as we work through this problem.

B12 1000mcg, 2000mcg

Short Dated B12 On Sale

We love providing options and discounts! Both our 1000mcg B12 and 2000mcg B12 have a limited supply of short dated stock which we have on sale. Around a year of shelf life left so definitely still safe. Our newest stock is also available so you can mix and match and get set up for your next few years.

Vitamin B12 Direct Fighting Inflation

We are pleased to announce that while rising costs are affecting virtually everything else you buy, there will be no vitamin inflation in 2022 at Vitamin B12 Direct.

True, we’ve seen our post covid-19 international postage rates to certain destinations like the US double and wholesale prices from our vendors rise year over year, yet we will hold the line on not passing vitamin b12 inflation on to you our valued customers. We understand that the world economy is rebounding from an unprecedented slow down and that supply chain management issues are affecting material costs all the way down the line but we feel a duty to resist the tide and will instead ride this out with our community of customers. As the old saying goes, this too shall pass.

I’ll note here before going forward that we have amended the free shipping promo to a free vial of vitamins. While we know free shipping was popular, the free vial actually works out to offer a more significant cost savings on the customer end and we think saving you more money is a priority as we do our best to keep costs in line.

Injection B12 Prices in USA

Vitamin B12 Injection Prices in the USA

Back in 2016 we wrote an article discussing injection B12 prices in the United States – Vitamin B12 Injection Price Increases – Why? Today, almost 4 years later, not much has changed…

In 2016 we checked seven mainstream pharmacies and found B12 prices ranging from $80 to $159 for 10ml of 1000mcg cyanocobalamin. These were the cash prices for uninsured customers and did not include any dispensing fees or taxes. Compare these to our price, then $9.75. For US residents the difference is obviously alarming.

Vitamin B12 Injection Price Increases – Why?

Long term users of injectable B12 have experienced dramatic price increases. At times B12 has been hard to find due to shortages. People with conditions requiring B12 injections including pernicious anemia, gastric bypass, crohn’s disease, celiac disease, and many others have been dealing ever increasing prices because insurance companies are limiting coverage.

Why are injection B12 prices increasing in the US? Two theories have been suggested for the sky rocketing prices – increased popularity and restrictive federal regulation.

Vitamin B12 Injections for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is estimated to affect as much as 3% of the population.  A simple treatment of vitamin B12 injections along with folic acid supplements, even if it only helps a portion of those affected, would relieve much distress.

CFS, also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), is a little understood illness. It is diagnosed based on patients reports of symptoms – tiredness without cause or relief, headaches, muscle and joint pain, memory loss, loss of concentration. Many possible causes have been proposed, but the true mechanism of this illness is not understood.

UK Petition To Make Vitamin B12 OTC

If this petition is successful our business would be a lot harder, but getting vitamin B12 would be a lot easier in the United Kingdom.

Tracey Witty has drafted a letter petitioning CEO MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) Ian Hudson to:

Please make our life saving injectable vitamin B12 (hydroxocobalamin) available over the counter.

Your signature on this petition will help us fight for our right to health. UK sufferers of B12 deficiency and PA are routinely restricted or denied access to the life saving 55p vitamin B12 injections they desperately need.

The majority of UK patients suffering from Vitamin B12 deficiency and auto immune pernicious anaemia (PA), are restricted to a ‘maintenance dose’ of just four B12 (hydroxocobalamin) injections per year. This is tragically under treating a serious and very common deficiency – and this is only if patients are fortunate enough to achieve a diagnosis.

B12 deficiency affects both sexes and all ages, but the general misconception is that it only affects women over 60. Many of us inherit this condition and in turn, so do our children.  

Hundreds of thousands of UK citizens are B12 deficient, there are many symptoms, many causes and it is commonly misdiagnosed. Vitamin B12 has no known toxicity, in fact it is used in huge quantities as a treatment for cyanide poisoning. You cannot overdose on B12 injections.  

When last checked the petition had over 4000 signatures so is getting a lot of attention. If you are a UK resident that is interested in this petition you can find out more here:

Petition to ask you to remove the Prescription Only Medicine (POM) classification from injectable Vitamin B12

HuffPost: 8 Surprising Reasons You Have No Energy

Amanda Shupack has compiled a list of reasons you could have lower energy than you should.  The list isn’t exhaustive or in depth, but B12 makes an appearance at #4.  I am sure some of our clients are wondering about her research, but it is HuffPost

It’s sometimes easy to pinpoint why you’re flagging by the afternoon — that weekend of partying, for instance — but sometimes the causes are more complicated.

4. You’re low in vitamin B.
You need B vitamins for your mitochondria to turn glucose into energy. We can absorb B vitamins well in liquid or pill form, but 99 percent of us don’t get enough from our diets. Try taking a vitamin in the morning and evening. This will keep levels stable and get you energized, and there’s no harm in it since you’ll excrete any excess water-soluble vitamins.

If you’re having symptoms of low energy, check your vitamin B12 and D levels, and, in any case, have them checked annually. If you find you have the rare case of not absorbing them well into your intestine and stomach, you can get a B12 injection yearly.

[image courtesy Jacob Bøtter, cc]

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