Independent vs. chain retail

[Pharmgrlnxdor]

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Having escaped from CVS where we did 2700 scripts with 220ish tech hours spread over 98 open hours with 4 hours total of pharmacist overlap per week to a big box where we do 1000 scripts with 95 tech hours spread over 74 open hours with 6 hours total of pharmacist overlap per week I am finding the change to be an immense improvement. However there are still irritants regarding the job and I am trying to decide if they are "just how retail is" or have to do with the pressures that come from having too much work to do in too small a window of time.

My end goal is to be an independent pharmacy owner, which has been my goal since before pharmacy school began, but now I am trying to figure out if working at an indie as an owner would be a further improvement on my retail experience or not.


My question is for those at independents what is your script count per week, tech hours allocated for the week, number of hours per week open, and how many hours of pharmacist overlap do you have per week?

Other than the lack of crazy making metrics I am trying to pinpoint what exactly it takes to have a reasonable workload that seems to only exist in retail in the independent setting.

 

[farmadiazepine]

Check it out: 2,300 prescriptions a week. Open 51 hours a week. DOUBLE pharmacist overlap 40 hours a week always (my partner and I). That overlap includes roughly 20 hours of TRIPLE pharmacist overlap (my owner who is a pharmacist, my partner, and me). Tech hours, I can't even calculate. It's over 350 hours for sure. We have 4 dedicated front store staff, 7 dedicated certified pharmacy technicians, a security guard, a delivery driver, and a stock boy. That's 14 employees. Maybe 90% of employees work full time hours. 10% work part time hours. We survive because we do some much HIV.

 

[SpartanLaser]

I work at an independent in southern california open for 53 hours a week.

Averaging in at about 2000-2200 scripts a week.
Every day has at least 6 hours of rph overlap except saturdays. Some occasional days have triple overlap when owner isn't doing adminstrative stuff and starts verifying too.
5-6 techs for weekdays (averaging maybe 40 tech hours a day)
3 techs on for 3 hour saturdays (9 tech hours)
pay: 60/hour

A few months back, I was at a cvs doing about 1500 scripts a week.
RPH overlap= 0 whatsoever
2 techs max on a normal day (16 tech hours a day)
3 techs on truck day *23 tech hours* (I went overbudget everytime i scheduled that extra tech, good job myschedule!)
1 tech on saturdays and sundays. (9 and 8 tech hours)
pay: 67/hour aside from the countless hours i had to work off the clock just to catch up

Also no metrics, no stupid pcq calls to make, focus 100% on verifying rather than runnig around like a headless monkey because there aren't enough people to fill all the stations (drop off, register, production, verify). It's a no-brainer. I'd say, efff chains! CVS would need to pay me at least 80 bucks an hour for me to go back as a floater per diem

 

[Guilded_Age]

I work at an independent in southern california open for 53 hours a week.

Averaging in at about 2000-2200 scripts a week.
Every day has at least 6 hours of rph overlap except saturdays. Some occasional days have triple overlap when owner isn't doing adminstrative stuff and starts verifying too.
5-6 techs for weekdays (averaging maybe 40 tech hours a day)
3 techs on for 3 hour saturdays (9 tech hours)
pay: 60/hour

A few months back, I was at a cvs doing about 1500 scripts a week.
RPH overlap= 0 whatsoever
2 techs max on a normal day (16 tech hours a day)
3 techs on truck day *23 tech hours* (I went overbudget everytime i scheduled that extra tech, good job myschedule!)
1 tech on saturdays and sundays. (9 and 8 tech hours)
pay: 67/hour aside from the countless hours i had to work off the clock just to catch up

Also no metrics, no stupid pcq calls to make, focus 100% on verifying rather than runnig around like a headless monkey because there aren't enough people to fill all the stations (drop off, register, production, verify). It's a no-brainer. I'd say, efff chains! CVS would need to pay me at least 80 bucks an hour for me to go back as a floater per diem

I feel like there has to be a return to basics sometime soon. I know an awful lot of old timers and young people alike miss the actual pharmacist interaction that chains no longer provide.

But... people love saving money too and the mafias known as insurance companies may eventually whack independents and leave them facedown in a ditch somewhere.

 

[Pharmgrlnxdor]

Wow, serious staffing differences!

 

[MountainPharmD]

I just completed my first year as an independent pharmacy owner. Has it been easy? Not even close. Is it better than corporate retail? About a thousand times better even on the worst days.

Corporate retail pharmacy is for pharmacists with no imagination or drive. Sorry, I was one for 8 years and hated every minute of it. Corporate retail is a soul destroying job.

 

[farmadiazepine]

That's what I love about where I work. The imagination and drive. I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, however I want. I can fight for my customers as much as I can without having to worry. The business is dependent upon me, and how much I want to do. If I am hungry for it, I will make sure I eat.

I worked for CVS for 7 years. The only thing I learned was how to listen to people who don't know anything about what they are talking about, and how to say "Yes" to people you don't care about. As each day went on by, it felt like working at a McDonald's more than working in a pharmacy.

 

[SpartanLaser]

I worked for CVS for 7 years. The only thing I learned was how to listen to people who don't know anything about what they are talking about, and how to say "Yes" to people you don't care about. As each day went on by, it felt like working at a McDonald's more than working in a pharmacy.

Except mcdonalds has staffing and not as many metrics.