Do pharmacists make a bonus?

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Sabres151

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Does there exist any sort of incentive compensation plan for retail pharmacists? For example - recommending a script of X generic vs. Y branded med for Z disease state in the case of formulary obstacles to a physician - I'd heard that some generic manufacturers offer kick backs to retail for generic switches. Is this true? If not, besides overtime, are there any ways that pharmacists are incentivised?
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Depends on the pharmacy. Where I used to work, they got bonuses for double-scanning the bar code on the back of the bottle, having a large % of generics dispensed, a certain % of total # of scripts per year, and so on.
 
Agreed!

Depends on the workplace.

Don't let that be the thing that makes you take, keep or hate a job.
 
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Isn't double-scanning the barcode illegal?
 
What does double scanning the barcode mean?
 
my boss being the PIC received a bonus this past year. I don't know how much it was for but I know he gave me a $100 debit card as a gift :)
 
 
I was talking to my Pharmacist today and he said that in 2005, the CVS region in the southwest brought a direct profit of 50,000,000 dollars. In 2006 that jumped to 450,000,000. What did he get? and 10 cent raise. What did John Berg(regional president) get? a 4.3 million bonus.
 
Phlame217 said:
I was talking to my Pharmacist today and he said that in 2005, the CVS region in the southwest brought a direct profit of 50,000,000 dollars. In 2006 that jumped to 450,000,000. What did he get? and 10 cent raise. What did John Berg(regional president) get? a 4.3 million bonus.
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CVS doesn't care about the little people. The CEO sets the stage by making twice as much as the Wags CEO.
CVS' stock may be increasing right now, but once they get all of the bad press they deserve, we'll see a turn of the tides.
 
the execs take care of each other...making more in bonus money than most make in a lifetime. they promote/hire their friends (even moving them across the country) rather than promote within the company. they grant each other huge raises and stock gifts.

the techs get a 'cost of living' increase of 13 cents. the only reason we sort of get taken care of is that without our licenses, there would be no 1mil bonus for them.

welcome to corp america.
 
Mushok said:
Cash rules everything around me. I love the people that say, " I want to be a pharmacist so I can help people." Give me a break people, get over yourselves. 96.7% of people go into pharmacy motivated by $$$. And now you are doing all the dirty work and the CEO's collect all the cash. Pharmacists are just little drug peddling peasants.
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Don't quote statistics unless you can back them up!
 
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cycloketocaine said:
Eh, he's just a troll. Let's not feed and he'll go away.
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I wonder if he drives one of these...
trollcar.jpg


:laugh:
 
First of all let's set some facts straight:

The amount of bonus you get is usually dependent on the volume you do or the position you have. Most chains clearly give the parameters for the bonus.

As far as pay raises. I have been with CVS for six years and my salary has increased by 62%. I have had years with no bonus and I have had years with a $5,000.00 bonus. Before the Enron debacle I was getting a huge amount of stock options.

Again for the CVS basher out there. Tom Ryan, CEO of CVS has tken the company from a sleepy little chain with a couple of hundred stores and managed to grow it (organically and through shrewd acquisitions) into a 6000 store chain and PBM grossing over 70 billion dollars per year. He deserves what he gets. The stock is up because CVS management is doing a good job. By the way, if you don't think the CEO deserves the pay, you become the CEO. Tom Ryan started out as a dispensing pharmacist for CVS. You can do the job better go for it.

All of you retail pharmacists better shut up and stop complaining. You are almost all making over $100,000.00 per year. You are in an elite class. Cops make $40,000.00 and get shot at. You make a 100K and get yelled at and then cry because you don't have a bonus. You work almost no overtime to get this pay. Enjoy it while it lasts. If the pressure of retail is too great or there is not enough personal reward and you feel like an unappreciated dispensing robot, QUIT. Go to work in a clinical position at a school or hospital. By the way I'm sure SDN77, ZPACKSUX and Tussionex face no financial pressures from their superiors either. You will be a lot more happy in this life if you were grateful for the benefits you have received in this life. Pharmacists are not the oppressed proletariat.
 
Good points, but remember it is not all about the RPh.

I have had techs that are on welfare because you can not live on $7/hr. If someone works hard for you and is a team player and wants to do the job (they are hard to find) shouldn't they be paid at least a little more? What most techs get paid is a crime. Would your buddy Tom really notice if he made 10mil and not 17mil?

It is hard enough to find people crazy enough to work in the pharmacy. It becomes harder when they read about multi-million dollar bonuses while they get food stamps.

You must agree that something is outta balance.
 
Sabres151 said:
If not, besides overtime, are there any ways that pharmacists are incentivised?
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Depending on your practice setting and employer, it's possible that obtaining board certification (see www.bpsweb.org) may open the door to a one-time bonus or pay raise.
 
Old Timer said:
First of all let's set some facts straight:

The amount of bonus you get is usually dependent on the volume you do or the position you have. Most chains clearly give the parameters for the bonus.

As far as pay raises. I have been with CVS for six years and my salary has increased by 62%. I have had years with no bonus and I have had years with a $5,000.00 bonus. Before the Enron debacle I was getting a huge amount of stock options.

Again for the CVS basher out there. Tom Ryan, CEO of CVS has tken the company from a sleepy little chain with a couple of hundred stores and managed to grow it (organically and through shrewd acquisitions) into a 6000 store chain and PBM grossing over 70 billion dollars per year. He deserves what he gets. The stock is up because CVS management is doing a good job. By the way, if you don't think the CEO deserves the pay, you become the CEO. Tom Ryan started out as a dispensing pharmacist for CVS. You can do the job better go for it.

All of you retail pharmacists better shut up and stop complaining. You are almost all making over $100,000.00 per year. You are in an elite class. Cops make $40,000.00 and get shot at. You make a 100K and get yelled at and then cry because you don't have a bonus. You work almost no overtime to get this pay. Enjoy it while it lasts. If the pressure of retail is too great or there is not enough personal reward and you feel like an unappreciated dispensing robot, QUIT. Go to work in a clinical position at a school or hospital. By the way I'm sure SDN77, ZPACKSUX and Tussionex face no financial pressures from their superiors either. You will be a lot more happy in this life if you were grateful for the benefits you have received in this life. Pharmacists are not the oppressed proletariat.
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cops also only need a GED and a few months of education to do that. I think being a police officer would be fun, but I don't want to do that bc they don't make much money.
 
12345 said:
I think being a police officer would be fun, but I don't want to do that bc they don't make much money.
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My point exactly, Pharmacists are making a killing right know. Pharmacists should enjoy what they are getting and be grateful for what they have: A nice white collar job with a six figure income, benefits, pension. It beats getting shot at....... for 60% less money....
 
12345 said:
cops also only need a GED and a few months of education to do that. I think being a police officer would be fun, but I don't want to do that bc they don't make much money.
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Actually, a lot of cops in sub urban places are getting paid 6 figures (long island in NY, suffolk county for example). In fact, cops in nyc can retire with half pay after 20 years, benefits (ie free donuts, heavy discounts, parking, etc), your family being taken care of should anything happen to you, etc makes it a better job than being a pharmacist =(. At least the nypd pays for your tuition. . .
 
Aznfarmerboi said:
Actually, a lot of cops in sub urban places are getting paid 6 figures (long island in NY, suffolk county for example). In fact, cops in nyc can retire with half pay after 20 years, benefits (ie free donuts, heavy discounts, parking, etc), your family being taken care of should anything happen to you, etc makes it a better job than being a pharmacist =(. At least the nypd pays for your tuition. . .
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Well as usual we dispense with the facts:

According to the Suffolk County Police Department Web Site:
SALARY: 2007 starting base salary for a Police Officer is $57,811. With five (5) years of service, the base salary is $97,958*. These figures do not include paid benefits.
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Note the starting salary of a Pharmacist fresh out of school is: about $110,000.00 per year.
 
Old Timer said:
First of all let's set some facts straight:

Go to work in a clinical position at a school or hospital. By the way I'm sure SDN77, ZPACKSUX and Tussionex face no financial pressures from their superiors either. You will be a lot more happy in this life if you were grateful for the benefits you have received in this life. Pharmacists are not the oppressed proletariat.
Click to expand...


tussionex faces financial pressures from herself b/c she bought a house that is a pain in the a$$ and she has expensive hobbies. she also thinks that the word "proletariat" should be used waaay more often in everyday conversation. :thumbup:to the vocab, OT

ps - i really do think what most techs get paid is tragic. they are on the front lines, in both retail and hospital...dealing with patients and nurses respectively. my techs also run all over the house all night long. there should be more incentive raises or something. the disparity b/t those that have worked there a long time and the noobs is not that much...loyalty and competence should be rewarded and encouraged.
 
Maybe I'm still too new to say something like this, but if I always make what I make now, and my salary only goes up with inflation, I'll never complain about how much I make. My father drove a big brown truck full of packages his whole and supported a family of 6, and he never complained...his job was a tad bit harder too. And seriously, that whole "well i went to college" thing only goes so far. To go to school for a minimum of 5-6 years and graduate and be able to get a job in any city anywhere making 100K+ is awesome.
 
Old Timer said:
Well as usual we dispense with the facts:

According to the Suffolk County Police Department Web Site:

Note the starting salary of a Pharmacist fresh out of school is: about $110,000.00 per year.
Click to expand...

also, you don't get shot as a pharmacist. i am pretty sure that in the state of ny crime rate is sort of high.....so ull get shot alot, instead of some where like...kansas.
 
Most pharmacy managers I know do get a bonus. Most staff pharmacists in retail do not. I think in the hospitals it's more common for staff pharmacists to get a small bonus, but I don't have that many friends who do hospital... Both retail and hosptial bonuses are quite small, just $3-5K.

In pharmaceutical industry pretty much everyone who is salaried makes a bonus. That's a way to compensate for being exempt from overtime - and no one really works only 40 hours a week. :D There have been periods of time when I worked 60 hours easily... Depending on what your position is and how long you have been around, bonus could be anywhere between 10% and a lot more than your salary. Stock options may come included in that number or be additional, depends on the company and the position.
 
I know a pharmacist who work for Novartis get a bonus around $30-40k/year and stock option around $16k/year... making her income around $160-170k no OT...

Novartis stock around $50/share kinda nice :O
 
Old Timer said:
Well as usual we dispense with the facts:

According to the Suffolk County Police Department Web Site:

Note the starting salary of a Pharmacist fresh out of school is: about $110,000.00 per year.
Click to expand...

Suffolk County Police Department only requires a high school diploma. 60K a year straight out of high school is pretty damn good. 5 years later, you're at 97K/year + benefits, overtime, etc. Factor in the night differential pay and all those other holidays and whatnot, a police officer can make well into the 6 figures. Then when they get promoted, the captains and commissioners and whatnot make $200K-300K.

Compared to pharmacy school, you're about 200K in debt by the time you graduate.
 
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