From Walgreens to CVS: share your experience/opinion please

[OroPharmD2b]

I have been working with Walgreens while in pharmacy school and now as a pharmacist. I accepted a position after graduation in a city that is about an hour and 20 minutes from the city where I would want to be since they did not have open position in my preferred city. Now it is about a year and I want to buy a place and settle. Hence the need to move back to my city. I have requested a transfer and was told they are fully staffed even though they hired some new grads. I know of some pharmacists that were in my situation and left Walgreens for other retail to allow them to move. Now I am thinking about making a move to CVS which has openings in the city of my choice. But my concern is I rarely hear anything good about CVS as a good place for pharmacists to work. I would appreciate any input.

B/n: Even though the distance b/n the two cities is only about an hour and 20 minutes, I am not able to commute because I am a floating pharmacist. That means I will end up driving to work over 2 hours one way sometimes.

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[HouTX]

if you can handle WAG, u can handle CVS

 

[ancienbon]

I had worked for wags before cvs. I am enjoying my time with cvs better as i have better relation with pic and staff. At wags store manager is your boss and they may drive you crazy. I happened to have a crazy pshycho as rxm. And i mean it. The guy was crazy.
who you will work with matters a lot.
Though i like wags computer better.
With cvs a lot of paper work to deal with such as filingvall e script. I have seen big pile of scripts at some stores. At wags no need to.

 

[SpartanLaser]

Out of the frying pan and into the oven.

 

[Lnsean]

CVS is one of the shadiest companies I've ever seen. I would only work for them if I was starving.
The top 3 chains suck but here's the hierarchy:

Walgreens
Rite Aid
CVS

 

[farmadiazepine]

CVS is very shady. Watch how many times your RxSup is going to tell you to come in on your day off and try and make you work for free. Or come in on your day off for a meeting or a coaching or training session. Or you will come in early or stay an extra hour late everytime on your shifts without being compensated. And if you don't, well then your not a team player and you don't love the company. F*ck CVS.

 

[MybuttsHadouken]

WAG>>CVS

 

[wagrxm2000]

Never worked for cvs but everytime I call they are always stressed out. We have the correct tech hours here at wag.

 

[Leper Messiah]

CVS forces all of their employees to sign away their right to file class action lawsuits. /story

 

[Old Timer]

CVS forces all of their employees to sign away their right to file class action lawsuits. /story

*****.........

 

[Sine Cura]

Talking to people who have made the transition from Walgreens to CVS, they all say "retail is retail." It all depends on who you work with.

If you have a good supervisor who supports you and isn't trying to throw you under the bus, it is not that bad at CVS (big if though). It is true that your sup probably will make you go to meetings uncompensated but mine never told me to work off the clock ever. I can perhaps see this being the case if you have a 13-hour store doing over 3000 a week though or are cleaning up after "inefficient" pharmacists.

If you have good relations with FS manager it might not be that bad (e.g., if they have people to help at pick-up during peak times, not so in my case, or helps screen job candidates in a timely fashion in StarSource, not so in my case). If you have a PIC or there was a PIC who knew what he or she is doing and was committed to training the techs, then it might not be that bad (lol).

In my experience RxConnect is worse than Intercom Plus but you would get used to it.

 

[BMBiology]

Yeah CVS treats its employees like crap. However if you are adamant about moving back to the city, I would apply for CVS. Once you have received an offer from CVS, let Walgreens know and if they still refuse to match it then move on to CVS.

It is better to work for a crappy company and live close to your friends and family then to work a at slightly better company in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Leper Messiah]

*****.........

tell me where I'm wrong. In 2014 they had everyone sign up for arbitration in lieu of using the court system. Those who wish to opt out have to send a letter to Woonsocket stating that they wish to do so within 30 days. I did so, as did many other employees, but in the event that someone wants to file suit, I'm willing to bet the response from CVS will be "oh, we never got that letter."

 

[Old Timer]

tell me where I'm wrong. In 2014 they had everyone sign up for arbitration in lieu of using the court system. Those who wish to opt out have to send a letter to Woonsocket stating that they wish to do so within 30 days. I did so, as did many other employees, but in the event that someone wants to file suit, I'm willing to bet the response from CVS will be "oh, we never got that letter."

You can op out. If you were smart, you sent it return receipt so you have proof it was received. It had nothing to do with class actions. It had to with filing suit against the company in any way. They forced no one to sign.I had my review after that and received an EE, so it has no effect.

 

[Lnsean]

You can op out. If you were smart, you sent it return receipt so you have proof it was received. It had nothing to do with class actions. It had to with filing suit against the company in any way. They forced no one to sign.I had my review after that and received an EE, so it has no effect.

Don't be stupid...a return receipt is proof of nothing specific. They can easily say it was your hep B verification.

 

[SClENCE]

WAGS is slightly better than CVS and has a significantly better computer system but at the end of the day it comes down to the individual store and your techs from what I am told by a former WAGS pharmacist.

Since you are considering leaving WAGS, why not apply to multiple places in the off chance that something better than CVS pops up? Nothing to lose if you were planning on CVS in the first place.

 

[OroPharmD2b]

I actually wanted to practice in a hospital setting when I graduated. I did not pursue residency path due to family responsibility. Now there are many open hospital positions in the city I want to move to (perhaps more hospital positions than retail). But they all either require residency or prefer one. I applied to a few staff and clinical positions and have not heard from them yet. I may not be very adept at selling my self to potential employers.

From the feedbacks so far I sense Walgreens may not be much better than CVS but going to CVS is somehow going from bad to worse. Per my DM recommendation I am having my district leadership contact the the other DMs and there is seems to be some progress. I am waiting fingers crossed.

Does anyone know if hospital outpatient pharmacies pay significantly lower than chains? How about the work condition?

Thank you every one for your feedbacks.

 

[PikminOC]

CVS is very shady. Watch how many times your RxSup is going to tell you to come in on your day off and try and make you work for free. Or come in on your day off for a meeting or a coaching or training session. Or you will come in early or stay an extra hour late everytime on your shifts without being compensated. And if you don't, well then your not a team player and you don't love the company. F*ck CVS.

The 90 day supply from Caremark is very annoying to us docs.
And when a doc is not a "team player" they are called disruptive.

 

[SClENCE]

The 90 day supply from Caremark is very annoying to us docs.
And when a doc is not a "team player" they are called disruptive.

90 day is just as annoying for the pharmacists as we have to deal with the angry patient and call in for a new rx. I hate Caremark!!!!!!!!!

 

[PikminOC]

90 day is just as annoying for the pharmacists as we have to deal with the angry patient and call in for a new rx. I hate Caremark!!!!!!!!!

But at least it decreases volume since you only see the patient once every three months then...

 

[SClENCE]

But at least it decreases volume since you only see the patient once every three months then...

That is true, but since tech help and volume are directly proportional nothing is truly gained (though Caremark saves money on dispensing fees).