I’m not a picky person. For instance, I don’t pick individual stocks. I’d much rather just buy the whole bag of them. Similar to stocks, before recently, I’d never bought individual scrubs either. I always just took whatever the hospital machine gave me.
But, I now have to admit that things changed. At least the scrubs part, not the stocks part…still index funds all the way for me…
However, I recently learned about a new medical/surgical scrubs company called Ouragins and became intrigued. Both because they seemed to make a nice set of scrubs, but also because of a really unique stocks sharing program.
First, an intro to Ouragins
In their own words, Ouragins is a direct-to-consumer healthcare apparel and lifestyle brand. And I’m going to give my review of their scrubs soon enough.
You can check out Ouragins scrubs here and even use the code PRUDENT10 for 10% off!
But for now I want to focus on the unique twist in their business model. After speaking with higher ups at the company, I really came away impressed with how they want to reshape the relationship between brands and consumers or, in this case, doctors.
The scrubs company that also gives you stocks
In very basic terms, Ouragins gives its customers, i.e. healthcare workers, the opportunity to earn stocks in the company simply by shopping with the brand.
They call it their Stocks Sharing Program or “Ouragins Elite.”
What is it?
Basically, they give every customer the ability to earn stocks in the company. To get this benefit, you just go shopping through their Ouragins Elite Program.
By doing so, you have the chance to make financial gains via stocks from the scrubs that you already have to purchase for work. In fact, I was told in no uncertain terms that Ouragins plans to give away up to 50% of its company to healthcare professionals.
I’ve never heard of something like this before which obviously piqued my interest.
Who is eligible?
Simple…Anyone who shops with Ouragins is eligible to participate.
How does this scrubs and stocks exchange work?
It’s pretty easy. You just create an Ouragins Elite account on their site so your orders are tracked.
Then, at the end of the year, every healthcare worker that has spent at least $250 will be gifted stocks in the company with higher stocks going to customers who spend $500 or $1000.
The stocks are in the form of Restricted Stock Units (RSUs). This means they do not have a strike price and you do not incur a fee to transfer the stocks into your brokerage account. Further, RSUs pretty much always hold a value even if the stock drops dramatically.
Of course I wanted to make sure this was all legit. Which made me happy to learn that their program has been registered with the SEC through their FINRA-registered broker dealer, Rialto. In fact, this broker manages the stocks on Ouragins’ behalf to mitigate any risk that might come in the stock transfer.
Why in the world would they do this?
I asked this question specifically to the Ouragins team:
“We wanted to find ways to make a significant difference in the lives of healthcare professionals and give back to a community that already gives so much to others. One thing that kept coming up in our conversations was how much money healthcare workers spend on their education and gear, only to end up saddled with debt. We wanted to revolutionize the system from the top down. That’s why we decided to flip the script and give our customers a piece of our company. We believe that this is a more equitable way for customers to benefit from their purchases.”
Pretty cool.
They also highlighted the fact to me that, in the digital age, customers help businesses to grow in a wide variety of ways including:
- Purchasing products which gives companies revenue to grow
- Posting on social media which increases the brand awareness and reach,
- Referring friends and family which decreases the cost to acquire a new customer, and
- Writing reviews which help to create better social proof
However, customers don’t receive anything more than the product that they receive.
This model allows Ouragins to reward customers for all the ways that they help us grow by giving them stocks in the company. This program gives customers the chance to partner with the company that they are helping to build and reap the potential benefits that come from growing the business.
Kind of makes sense!
Pros and Cons of the Ouragins Scrubs & Stocks program
Here are the pros and cons that I have thought of…
Pros:
- More equitable rewards for customers, basically the company is inviting you to be a part of the business for helping them to grow
- You get to join other healthcare professionals in a really unique program that changes the way customers and businesses interact, especially in healthcare
- You get a science-first, tech-forward pair of scrubs…plus a financial benefit in the form of stocks!
Cons:
- Ouragins is a new brand that launched this year, so there are limited products available. They are planning to quickly increase their product offerings, but still there is minimal track record of performance
- Their scrubs are more costly than the standard scrubs because there is a higher manufacturing cost. Largely because they are made in Los Angeles with fair workers wages to support local communities
But doesn’t this break my “no individual stocks” investing mantra?
No, not really.
I didn’t really buy these individuals stocks. They were gifted based on a purchase that I would otherwise make anyway.
If the stocks do well, awesome! That’s playing with house money. If they do poorly, no big deal. It wasn’t my money anyway.
That’s a high ceiling and low floor investment in stocks…plus a pair of scrubs that you were going to buy anyway.
Meanwhile, my actual core investments remain in index funds. If you are looking for a reminder why index funds are better than stock picking, here are 5 great reasons…
In fact, if you do decide to use this program, it becomes a bit like the satellites around the sun of your satellite investing plan.
So, if you are interested, you can learn more about Ouragins scrubs and their unique stocks sharing program here! You can also use the code PRUDENT10 for 10% off!
What do you think? What do you look for in your scrubs? Does a stocks sharing program seem like a good idea? Or no? Let me know in the comments below!
This post contains affiliate links.
