Some of the moms had gotten kits as inpatients; I had no problem with
that.  I did not expect someone who already had a kit to buy another.  I
always instructed mom (or whoever was coming to get the pump) to bring
whatever kit they had gotten with them.  A lot of the times, they would
have the "disposable" single kit with them.  Depending on why they were
pumping, I would suggest upgrading to a double kit, but definitely didn't
push it.  I would also tell them they could get it later if single pumping
wasn't working for them.  I never did get a good answer on how long
the "single use" disposable hospital single kits that Medela supplied to
the hospital would last.  I would send them somewhere else to find a
Classic if the mom had been given the kit that would fit that and I didn't
have one.

My first concern was that mom have the pump that worked for her, not the
profit involved.  Which is one of the reasons why I failed as a PPLC.
Getting moms to breastfeed successfully was way more impt. to me than
taking care of myself and my business.  Most of the times I rented pumps,
it turned into an hour long free consult.

I know I'm not the only one.  Giving our services away has certainly been
brought up many times before.

Most of the time, though, the two hospitals involved were selling kits to a
mom who hadn't pumped.  A pump was recommended (for various reasons); the
kit was sold; then they were sent to me to rent the pump.  Many of the
families were irked to find out that my kit prices and rental rates were
lower than the hospital.

Marita

"What I did think was funny is that they would call me when they ran out of
pumps and send people to me,
> but they would sell them the kit first.  (Pretty much destroying my
profit.)"
>
> Had they sold the kit to a mom renting as her first use or were
> these moms who had used a pump while a patient so they already had
> the kit?
>
> Winnie

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