60 hours possible

[french]

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Hello,

I am a licensed French pharmacist and will take into account to work into California - after passing the necessary exam.
I have the following questions:
a) Is it possible to work 60 hours in retail pharmacy in America ? My plan is to safeguard my pension as soon as possible. Will a potential employer offer me this opportunity ? Will he try to avoid overtime ?
b) Is it very exhausting to work 60 hours over 10 years ? I think many American pharmacist will say that this is uncomfortable, but I know some independent pharmacists in Europe (France, Switzerland,Germany) who work these hours over decades (and have a lower salary and many financial risks). After these 10 years I would prefer to reduce the number of hours.
c) What is the earning potential with a 60 hours week ?
Thank you very much for your answers, greetings to the States

 

[Aznfarmerboi]

Hello,

I am a licensed French pharmacist and will take into account to work into California - after passing the necessary exam.
I have the following questions:
a) Is it possible to work 60 hours in retail pharmacy in America ? My plan is to safeguard my pension as soon as possible. Will a potential employer offer me this opportunity ? Will he try to avoid overtime ?
b) Is it very exhausting to work 60 hours over 10 years ? I think many American pharmacist will say that this is uncomfortable, but I know some independent pharmacists in Europe (France, Switzerland,Germany) who work these hours over decades (and have a lower salary and many financial risks). After these 10 years I would prefer to reduce the number of hours.
c) What is the earning potential with a 60 hours week ?
Thank you very much for your answers, greetings to the States

Yes it is possible to work 60 hours a week in retail pharmacy. However due to overtime factors, you will most likely work only 40 hours in one company and find employment in a hospital or independent pharmacy. Just keep in mind that American's tax system is very perverse and the more you work, the higher you get taxed. PS. A lot of pharmacists do work off the books for an independent pharmacy so they dont get taxed.

It is very exhausting to work 60 hours a week. Retail pharmacy in America is different from independent pharmacy in Europe. It is sweatshop labor where you will get a good numbers of demanding customers + demanding corporate oversight with a lot of paperwork + insurance companies who dont give a damn + a lot of times, lack of help .

Earning potential of 60 hours week pre taxed is ~$180,000 US money. This amount can easily go up to ($200,000+) with bonuses. (IE 10,000 for performance, working on your sick and holidays (most companies pay you while you take your holiday and vacation or pay you extra when you work a holiday), 8-20,000 sign on bonus, 2-5,000 retention bonus, and 10-15,000 for working in an unpopular place.

PS. you mentioned something about pension. In America, if you work for 10 years plus, you qualify for social security. Also, we have something called 401k plan here where a lot of times, if you contribute. .. your company will match 5-6 percentage of it. For example, if you put in 6 percent of your wage up to 15,500 toward your 401k retirement fund, your company might add an extra 7000 dollars on top of that.

 

[Quiksilver]

so, in a nutshell, pharmacy here is like mcdonalds. people expect the medication to be done 5 minutes ago, they don't care about what you have to say about your medication and they why THEIR insurance company is charging THEM such a high copay. Like its our fault!

anyways welcome to the land of opportunity.

ps i went to europe over the summer and man those pharmacies were awesome, i think it would be cool to practice there. Although the pharmacies are so small!

How are people's reception of pharmacists in france, are they as in a hurry as here? I cant imagine them complaining about cost. I don't mean to take this is off topic but is there a real restricted formulary on what prescribers can and cannot prescribe (the reason i ask is because a co worker was convinced that the choices would be fewer in a universal health care system)

sorry for all the questions, but i like to know how others practice!

 

[french]

Well,I worked in France, Switzerland and Germany. In all three countries you have many independent pharmacies and universal health care systems. In all three countries, you have to follow the prescription accurately. In Switzerland and Germany, it is not allowed to apply drugs without prescription - even if there is an emergency in your own pharmacy.
In all three countries, insured people pay nearly nothing for their drugs (Switzerland: completely nothing, in Germany maximal 10 Euros, even for for the most expensive cytostatics) - so nobody complains.
In all three countries, the customers can choose between highly freqented pharmacies or quite pharmacies. So, it is their decision whether they want to get information and pharmaceutical advice or only their drugs. As an employed pharmacist, you can also choose between highly frequented, lively pharmacies or very quiet one which can be sometimes too quite and boring (it is no problem to become tired).
In all three countries, employed pharmacists have no problems to get a job, but have very low salary in comparison to American ones. In Berlin, you earn 2800 Euros each month - these are 10 Euros after taxes - this is less than the average worker earns.In Germany, employed pharmacists are the worst paid academics. In France, a big part of the pharmacies have financial problems. In Germany and Switzerland, graduates are not interested in becoming independent any more (15 years ago, many become independent with only 2 years experience).
From my point of view, the financial situation of the American pharmacist is much better than the situation of the physicians and pharmacists in these countries.
General impression of the health care systems: I don`t know the American system, but many people say that the French system is the most efficient in the world (at the moment). The Germans are generally satisfied with the access to the health care system, but complain about its inefficiency and the monthly general charges for it. Swiss people are satisfied with the general healthcare system, it is a little bit more cost-efficient than the German one. I hope I could give you a small impression of the situation in Europe. If you intend to work in Europe, the easiest way will be UK (acceptance of license etc.).

 

[medicalCPA]

In Berlin, you earn 2800 Euros each month - these are 10 Euros after taxes -

😕 This makes it sound like the government takes 2790 Euros as taxes.

 

[french]

Sorry, these are about 10 Euros for one hour after taxes - abput 1700 Euros a month after taxes. For France and Germany, you can say one Euro corresponds to one current Dollar (forget the exchange rate) - in the case of Switzerland it is difficult to compare.
In the mentioned countries academics are not the winner of the last 10 - 15 years.
As an employed pharmacist in these countries, I will work 30 years (40 hours)to pay off a middle-sized small-town flat, so I am completely astonished that you can make 180k.

 

[Quiksilver]

Sorry, these are about 10 Euros for one hour after taxes - abput 1700 Euros a month after taxes. For France and Germany, you can say one Euro corresponds to one current Dollar (forget the exchange rate) - in the case of Switzerland it is difficult to compare.
In the mentioned countries academics are not the winner of the last 10 - 15 years.
As an employed pharmacist in these countries, I will work 30 years (40 hours)to pay off a middle-sized small-town flat, so I am completely astonished that you can make 180k.

That is pretty depressing actually. i didn't expect to see salaries where ours are, but i didn't think that it would be that low. From what I hear, as only a student, even when salaries were not as big, the salary was still average or better then average.

Are there pharmacists working in clinics or hospitals in europe, in more of a clinical roll assisting doctors

The american system of healthcare does not work well for the poor and lower class, but because of our system, we have highly specialized fields. we also have young practitioners willing to go in these fields because of the money involved, they make a lot of money. I fear, and thats why I am personally against universal health care is because we might loose that specialization. A lot of people will loose interest in becoming a specialist because of if the pay isn't there, why waste more money and schooling trying to get there and not get compensated for it.Not only that but the research money won't be there

People complain about the costs of their drugs because insurance companies make their customers pay the most out of their pocket for prescription coverage. Their labs and tests are more expensive but because they pay the most out of pocket for prescription drugs, they think that we are the expensive part of health care. Anyways best of luck here.

 

[Requiem]

I have no idea where you're getting your information regarding Germany, or your poor explanation of taxes or your "forget the exchange rate" comments; but you've spewed forth some ignorant views.

I spent three weeks there in July and spoke face to face with the APOTHEKERS - they're doing quite well, trust me. Also pharmacists make more than Physicians in germany - it's all public health care and physicians don't have private practices.

My friend knew I was studying pharmacy and pulled a national study comparing average salaries, and a pharmacist typically earned something like $60,000 euros (which is on exchange of approx 1eur = 1.6 CAD = 1.6 AMER) which is a comparable wage.

VIELEN DANK.

 

[Aznfarmerboi]

Sorry, these are about 10 Euros for one hour after taxes - abput 1700 Euros a month after taxes. For France and Germany, you can say one Euro corresponds to one current Dollar (forget the exchange rate) - in the case of Switzerland it is difficult to compare.
In the mentioned countries academics are not the winner of the last 10 - 15 years.
As an employed pharmacist in these countries, I will work 30 years (40 hours)to pay off a middle-sized small-town flat, so I am completely astonished that you can make 180k.

Keep in mind that in order for your employers to pay you 180k, they must make 180k off from you. This just comes to show what kind of labor you will be producing. In hospitals and clinics, you must save the hospital at least that much (ie finding mistakes, saving money via formulary, etc).

 

[french]

If you only see the average of retail pharmacists in Germany, you are right. You have to take into consideration that there are two types of retail pharmacists in these countries :
-the owner who can make 200k Euros after taxes and without much working (in very good cases, this is much more often than in USA) and their children who studied pharmacy and will inherit these pharmacies
-the pharmacists without these background - this is the majority. The German tariff for employed pharmacists is about Euros (healthcare and pension included, you can 20 children and all have a healthcare insurance) and this is less than the average worker earns. If you move to areas of high demand, they will you 48 k Euros for 40 h, then you can also work 60 h and and then you make around 60 000 Euros.
It is definetely not possible to make 60 000 Euros with a 40 h week in Germany or France. Your average will be right if you mix the salary of independent and employed pharmacists. The system works for old, established pharmacists.
About the exchange rate: Many friends and my brother said me that 1 earned Dollar before taxes corresponds about one 1 aearned Euro before taxes in Germany and France, and the same ratio is valid for the after tax situation. The buying power index (calculated by different institutes) says the same - you cannot say one Euro is 1,5 Dollar - at the moment is 1:1 concerning France, Germany and USA, Switzerland is diffferent.
In Germany, you have many independent doctors, much more than in the States - I know this, because I lived 5 years in Germany.