Replacement pillows for Swift LT: retail packaging?

So I walked into a DME I don't usually deal with, simply because my usual one was closed last night. I've noticed a problem getting a seal with my Swift LT the last few nights and wondered if my pillow needed replacement. I asked at the counter and the girl stumbled off to the back room muttering something to herself. She came back, saying "You're lucky... we have one left!" and was just holding a pillow in her hand. She put it in a store bag and just kinda tied a knot at the top of the bag "so it wouldn't get anything on it".

I needed the pillow and bought it, but it put me off a little bit. It really got me wondering whether the DME gets these in bulk, or whether they should be in some sealed hygienic package. As a DME myself (I do not carr CPAP), I know that I would NEVER just walk out of the storeroom with a bare part for, say, a breast pump. From time to time, I DO have to open stock for a specific part, but I handle it with gloves and seal it in a bag of it's own. I can't imagine parading it about the store, cupped in my hand.

Maybe I'm just being picky..

Chris, In my experience, ResMed always packages each pillow individually in a small ziplock with the size letter printed on that bag. The only exception is that in the full headgear pack with all 3 pillow sizes included, the Medium pillow is always attached to the frame, in a hard plastic formed container which is not sealed, but popped open. I just received 8 pillows from the company, and each was in its own ziplock. My Sleep Lab RT opened a new carton of supplies from ResMed while I was there some time ago, and every LT in the bulk-bag was individually packaged in a small ziplock.

Chris,
All I have received were exactly as plr66 said. I think you received one that has been used for their demo and selection process with their patients. I assume you did not disclose you were a DME How much did you end up paying for this?

She charged me $20 (Canadian) for the pillow. That was my fear.. that this pillow has been used/cleaned or that they'd traded a client for their S/L pillows that came with the mask. All in all, just carrying it out in her hand looked a little dubious. Maybe I'll write to Resmed and ask them if this is how their products should be sold?

Given that these guys are my competition in all things non-CPAP, I hold absolutely no love for them. If they're skirting corners/reselling "not for resale" stock/ripping people off .. I'm more than happy to be a whistle blower.

It was probably one that was originally part of a full mask set that they kept when they gave the patient the "one" they needed. As mentioned, a medium with a mask doesn't have a baggy, it is on the headgear frame. A guy I know on another board got a Swift LT. They gave him ONE pillow in his size, medium. He has no idea what happened to the others. I told him he needed to get the full set the next time he got a full mask since he could trade the other pillows here for his size.