cvs shutting 24 hr stores

[sosoo]

in our area, mid-atlantic, i heard CVS is closing around 5 of the 24 hr stores to close at midnight.. a lot of night pharmacists will be laid off.. anyone else affected?

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[Rxtreme]

Same in the southwest, i'm pretty sure its nationwide according to other threads.

 

[Dred Pirate]

I am not sure about CVS - but I know Wags always seemed to make too many stores 24 hours - In Des Moines alone at one time there were 7 I believe - and there was 1 Osco - they were competing with themselves - it made sense to close some of them. I am not sure about CVS and if they are closing duplicates or leaving whole cities with a 24 hour store I work in an ED - I like having a 24 hours store nearby - saves me the hassle of having to worry about dispensing from the ED

 

[ChalupaBatman86]

If you are the PIC remember in many states you are required to notify the Board if your hours change. Don't rely on corporate to do it for you.

 

[tlh908]

CVS decided it is much cheaper to staff these stores with 40 tech hours vs 74 night rph hours. Wait until you walk in at 8 am with 12 pages of ready fills and 4 pages of qt.
Or maybe you will be the lucky store open 6 to midnight. In that case you can close one night, have your day off, and open the next day at 6am. Nice day off there!

 

[Sine Cura]

Does anyone know of any ridiculous cases like a 4,000/week 24 hour store being converted?

 

[farmadiazepine]

Does anyone know of any ridiculous cases like a 4,000/week 24 hour store being converted?

Bro, CVS is ridiculous. You don't need a ridiculous case to show their stupidity anymore. The whole company is the ridiculous joke of pharmacy professionals.

 

[tlh908]

I know a store in the high 3k. Going 6 to midnight, the staff will have to be in at 6 and leave at midnight. And long weekends. They will have like 18 pages at 6am. And what tech wants to go in at 6?

 

[Dr Wario]

I'm at a store that opens 8am and closes at 9pm and does 4500+, though I have the say the best thing we ever did was have a rph and some techs come at 7am to clear ques because the work is massively more efficient.

 

[doublehh03]

I'm at a store that opens 8am and closes at 9pm and does 4500+, though I have the say the best thing we ever did was have a rph and some techs come at 7am to clear ques because the work is massively more efficient.

I did that too when I managed a 3000 script store that opened 8-9. Came in at 7 and pretty much clear out all the ready fills and just focus on the day stuff.

The 24 hour stores that are doing that have to stack the techs too at 6am with an rph to clear those RFs.

 

[Sine Cura]

Do you get paid to come in early...

 

[M0df]

There are cases where your rxs would let open store early and you get paid. But then you usually just lose part of the overlap. Those hours have to come from somewhere. They should just pay rph to come in early while the store is closed in those converted 24hr stores. They won't though. They will see who can pull it off and who breaks.

All it takes is someone like our friend Nate here to make it work and for the company to think 'if one store can do it, why can't 100 others'.

 

[NateRobinson]

There are cases where your rxs would let open store early and you get paid. But then you usually just lose part of the overlap. Those hours have to come from somewhere. They should just pay rph to come in early while the store is closed in those converted 24hr stores. They won't though. They will see who can pull it off and who breaks.

All it takes is someone like our friend Nate here to make it work and for the company to think 'if one store can do it, why can't 100 others'.

Not really, man. You have it so wrong that you're clueless. This company won't make an exception just because ONE person can do it. That would be asinine. If hundreds and hundreds of RPH"s can do it, all across the country, THEN they say "you know what, it can be done."

So don't act like just one or two or even ten people can do it so everyone says that the rest of the country should be able to do it.

 

[zelman]

Not really, man. You have it so wrong that you're clueless. This company won't make an exception just because ONE person can do it. That would be asinine. If hundreds and hundreds of RPH"s can do it, all across the country, THEN they say "you know what, it can be done."

So don't act like just one or two or even ten people can do it so everyone says that the rest of the country should be able to do it.

Do you really think they don't have a target for everyone to be in the top 10th percentile of every measure of efficiency? The goals are literally impossible for everyone to meet.

 

[Dred Pirate]

For those of you that schedule people to come in early - I am assuming the front store is open - not sure how else you are able to come in (the front end staff doesn't come in more than 30 minutes early where I worked). How do you keep people from coming up and giving you the stupid "I am in a hurry, I need this" if you tell them you are closed, they will bitch and moan to corporate? Do you have a good gate that the people can't see through?

 

[M0df]

Not really, man. You have it so wrong that you're clueless. This company won't make an exception just because ONE person can do it. That would be asinine. If hundreds and hundreds of RPH"s can do it, all across the country, THEN they say "you know what, it can be done."

So don't act like just one or two or even ten people can do it so everyone says that the rest of the country should be able to do it.

Of course I know that every district has successful stores and some districts have many of them. We actually agree on how CVS operates.

At this point, I am more or less just a shareholder. I have full confidence in Merlo and co. to steer this company towards new highs, despite recent drop in stock price. As an investor, it helps to know some of the inner workings of the company. I wish I capitalized on that sooner.

 

[genesis09]

It's easy to avoid people if you are in early. Just don't open the front gate.

 

[M0df]

For those of you that schedule people to come in early - I am assuming the front store is open - not sure how else you are able to come in (the front end staff doesn't come in more than 30 minutes early where I worked). How do you keep people from coming up and giving you the stupid "I am in a hurry, I need this" if you tell them you are closed, they will bitch and moan to corporate? Do you have a good gate that the people can't see through?

You don't really need front store to be open. As long as alarm company knows you will disarm the security early, it is not an issue. If front store is still closed, just lock the door again.

And ya, as long as the gate is closed, you are closed.

 

[Dred Pirate]

You don't really need front store to be open. As long as alarm company knows you will disarm the security early, it is not an issue. If front store is still closed, just lock the door again.

And ya, as long as the gate is closed, you are closed.

when I worked, our district would not give the store keys to a pharmacist -

 

[BMBiology]

Of course I know that every district has successful stores and some districts have many of them. We actually agree on how CVS operates.

At this point, I am more or less just a shareholder. I have full confidence in Merlo and co. to steer this company towards new highs, despite recent drop in stock price. As an investor, it helps to know some of the inner workings of the company. I wish I capitalized on that sooner.

I also purchased some CVS stocks. I know the company has been making major cuts lately not just at the store level but also at the corporate level.

Revenue jumped 10% YTY but profit was not as high as what Wall Street expected. I wonder what is going to happen next.

 

[M0df]

Yep, I saw that ~150 lost jobs at corporate recently. I'm just keeping what I have for now from espp accumulations.

 

[BMBiology]

Yep, I saw that ~150 lost jobs at corporate recently. I'm just keeping what I have for now from espp accumulations.

Did you recently leave CVS? I think the cost cutting is a result of not selling cigs. I recently purchased 200 shares. Long term investment as the baby boomers are getting older and will need more healthcare.

If Hillary win the WH, then she may want to regulate the healthcare industry but she can't do it with a divided congress.

 

[M0df]

I haven't worked for them since early summer.

 

[ChalupaBatman86]

CVS Stock is still trading at over 20x earnings, no thanks.

 

[BMBiology]

CVS Stock is still trading at over 20x earnings, no thanks.

Wag is also 20x. Express Script is 26x. My bet is on CVS.

 

[pharmguitar]

Hope they do that in the Memphis area, almost every CVS around has been robbed overnight the past few months. They could just close the front and limit it to the drive through as all the glass there (drive-thru) is bullet proof in Memphis. One customer was even pistol whipped last time but they don't give a ****.

 

[Pharmgrlnxdor]

So how the heck are the former 24 hour stores coping? Previously my old store had 102 day shift pharmacist hours split between 3 daytime pharmacists at 40 hours for one and 31 hours X 2 pharmacists. Additionally, we had 2 night pharmacists that rotated 7 nights on 7 nights off. Those hours accounted for a whopping 4 hours of overlap. We did around 2700+ scripts a week at the time and it was brutal. How the heck is a store like this even functioning anymore? With the new hours they would be down to only 82 pharmacist hours plus or minus some overlap from a previous total of 172. Did the stores receive a substantial bump in tech hours (unlikely since it is CVS after all). The place was a mad house before when there were 5 pharmacists on the payroll and I can't even begin to imagine how hard of a job it is now that there are probably only 2 pharmacists, as it was nearly impossible before. So glad to be out of there!

 

[tlh908]

Who cares how these stores are doing? Just open your own indy across the street and siphon off the customers they don't want. Double your pay and be done with it.

 

[Sine Cura]

There were already non-24 hour stores with no automation and regular hours that have similar or even higher volume, so it can be done... need good techs, "enough tech hours" and need to verify > 50/hour to clear queues consistently.

If I had the capital to open a pharmacy I would do something else with it.

 

[pillpharmer14]

There were already non-24 hour stores with no automation and regular hours that have similar or even higher volume, so it can be done... need good techs, "enough tech hours" and need to verify > 50/hour to clear queues consistently.

If I had the capital to open a pharmacy I would do something else with it.

per pharmacist? lol I mean I'm pretty fast but...

 

[BidingMyTime]

and need to verify > 50/hour to clear queues consistently.

how do you verify >50/hour....at the same time you are are taking new RX's, answering questions over the phone, answering questions from random customers, and doing even a minimal of counseling? 50/hour when there are no customers or phone calls, super easy.....50/hour during a busy day, I don't see how that is remotely possible unless you are being rude and refusing to talk to any customers or doctors.

 

[Pharmgrlnxdor]

You get all that other stuff done by spending no more than 10 to 15 seconds verifying a script and you do that for the bulk of your 10+ hour shift. You also stay over your time by an hour or two. You also don't eat or go to the bathroom. That is how I handled it but that was when there were 5 pharmacists. That is why I am flummoxed as to how they are surviving since they went from 5 pharmacists to 2. The thought of being responsible for all of those readyfills on top of the existing pages and pages in the queue... I am amazed, just when I think CVS can't do anything more crazy then they have already done they go ahead and find a new way to heap more work on an already back breaking load.

 

[Sine Cura]

10-15 seconds per script? Yes. You need downtime to do other stuff during the day, like counseling, filling, like taking new Rx, voicemail, answering questions, dealing with customer complaints and problem patients, flu shots, and then if you are manager 222 forms, audits, etc. True, all these things can knock down the average per hour and also mean not clearing queues consistently. If you clear 550 between 8 AM and 7 PM that's ~50/hr. 500 between 8 AM and 7 PM that's ~45/hr. 400, ~36/hr. Then you have 2 hours to catch up on other things. True, > 50/hr is too much of an exaggeration.

13 hour shifts? Yes

Verifying +450-550 a day? Yes

Staying over time? That's why you crank scripts out so you don't work off the clock

Don't eat? Yes

Don't go to the bathroom? If you are constantly in motion you might not even need to go to the bathroom.

Counseling? It's true you don't have the RPH hours to do mandatory counseling as required by boards of pharmacy...

All of the above are reasons I quit CVS.

 

[Travex]

So how the heck are the former 24 hour stores coping? Previously my old store had 102 day shift pharmacist hours split between 3 daytime pharmacists at 40 hours for one and 31 hours X 2 pharmacists. Additionally, we had 2 night pharmacists that rotated 7 nights on 7 nights off. Those hours accounted for a whopping 4 hours of overlap. We did around 2700+ scripts a week at the time and it was brutal. How the heck is a store like this even functioning anymore? With the new hours they would be down to only 82 pharmacist hours plus or minus some overlap from a previous total of 172. Did the stores receive a substantial bump in tech hours (unlikely since it is CVS after all). The place was a mad house before when there were 5 pharmacists on the payroll and I can't even begin to imagine how hard of a job it is now that there are probably only 2 pharmacists, as it was nearly impossible before. So glad to be out of there!

Not a former 24h store but my 8a-9pm store does 3500/week with 3 RPHs at total 110hr/week (~25 hour overlap) so it can be done. /shrug

 

[farmadiazepine]

Independent pharmacy life > CVS life

2200 prescriptions a week, open 6 days a week, 51 hours a week, 3 pharmacists a day except Saturday.

 

[knight on horse]

I know a store in the high 3k. Going 6 to midnight, the staff will have to be in at 6 and leave at midnight. And long weekends. They will have like 18 pages at 6am. And what tech wants to go in at 6?

Hahahahahahaha!

Thank God I don't work at CVS