Is Wags any different to CVS or Rite Aid

[pharm4312]

I have done appe's at all but Wags and am wondering if they are any different to the other chains. CVS and RIte Aid were very busy and understaffed. Is Wags any different?

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[Stilltrying1288]

I have done appe's at all but Wags and am wondering if they are any different to the other chains. CVS and RIte Aid were very busy and understaffed. Is Wags any different?

Nope.

 

[2012PharmDgrad]

From what I have read on these forums and people I know, CVS is notorious for being the worst chain you can choose to work for. I personally believe Walgreens is a "little" better. Here are a few differences:

1) No such thing as a 14-hr shift at Walgreens- only your standard 8 hour shift. 14 hours is inhumane without any break or lunch. No slave/sweatshop/factory type of hours at Walgreens.
2) Not as many metrics at Walgreens as there are at CVS. For example, at CVS, you are timed on how long it takes you to answer the phone. I've been at Walgreens and I haven't heard of such a ridiculous metric. If anything, a lot of the time, the phones go unanswered due to how busy and understaffed we are.
3) Excellent computer system. INTERCOM PLUS is efficient and makes the prescription filling process simple. I hear the system at CVS is outdated.

I'm a floater for Walgreens and I don't really have any metrics to meet. I go in, work my shift, and go home. I personally rather float than to be a staff pharmacist who has a bunch of ridiculous metrics to meet. I have a friend working at CVS and it seems like it's a nightmare.

However, Walgreens is no joke either- it's just the lesser of 2 evils.

A word of advice (and some pharmacists here may disagree with me)

Regardless of which chain you end up working for, work efficiently, but do not try to exceed yourself and your capabilities. I know it is sad to say this, but you need to think like this in order to avoid hurting yourself psychologically and mentally in the retail world. In other words, do the minimum to get by or you will burn out quickly. No one will reward you or give you any type of incentive for breaking your back to meet or exceed metrics. Instead, these chains will continue to add more work to your plate if they see you are exceeding their metrics. They are never satisfied and always lust for more. For example, if a store's goal is to do 10 flu shots per day, as soon as you meet that goal, they will continue to increase the goal to another unrealistic number. You will eventually find that it is impossible to do everything they want and will frustrate and hurt yourself. Do what you have to do to survive and avoid complaints. Your sanity is the 1st priority. Everything and everyone else is 2nd place.

 

[Rockinacoustic]

If anything, a lot of the time, the phones go unanswered due to how busy and understaffed we are.

Sounds lovely

 

[Tonyg89]

I work for CVS as a tech and yes it is bad. I haven't worked at any other chain but it seems when we call them for transfers they don't sound stressed or rushed "when" they answer the phones. At CVS we have to answer the phones in 1 ring, take no longer than 3 minutes at the drives thru, make calls at least 3 times a day to patients to come pick up their medications that are past due or out of refills, get people their prescriptions in 15 min or less if they wait and if they come from the minute clinic in 10 minutes. All of that with 1 pharmacist on (sometimes 2 but for only like 2 hours overlap) and 3 techs. O and yea our computers and software are dinosaurs compare to everyone else. Some store have the new HP towers but mine doesn't and they refuse to switch ours out because they see them as working and no need to change them.(We purposely try to break them on a daily basis to try to get new one )

 

[farmadiazepine]

Regardless of which chain you end up working for, work efficiently, but do not try to exceed yourself and your capabilities. I know it is sad to say this, but you need to think like this in order to avoid hurting yourself psychologically and mentally in the retail world. In other words, do the minimum to get by or you will burn out quickly. No one will reward you or give you any type of incentive for breaking your back to meet or exceed metrics. Instead, these chains will continue to add more work to your plate if they see you are exceeding their metrics. They are never satisfied and always lust for more. For example, if a store's goal is to do 10 flu shots per day, as soon as you meet that goal, they will continue to increase the goal to another unrealistic number. You will eventually find that it is impossible to do everything they want and will frustrate and hurt yourself. Do what you have to do to survive and avoid complaints. Your sanity is the 1st priority. Everything and everyone else is 2nd place.

Exactly. Exactly. Exxxxxxaccccctly

 

[pezdispenser]

Regardless of which chain you end up working for, work efficiently, but do not try to exceed yourself and your capabilities. I know it is sad to say this, but you need to think like this in order to avoid hurting yourself psychologically and mentally in the retail world. In other words, do the minimum to get by or you will burn out quickly. No one will reward you or give you any type of incentive for breaking your back to meet or exceed metrics. Instead, these chains will continue to add more work to your plate if they see you are exceeding their metrics. They are never satisfied and always lust for more. For example, if a store's goal is to do 10 flu shots per day, as soon as you meet that goal, they will continue to increase the goal to another unrealistic number. You will eventually find that it is impossible to do everything they want and will frustrate and hurt yourself. Do what you have to do to survive and avoid complaints. Your sanity is the 1st priority. Everything and everyone else is 2nd place.

I agree. Metric goals are like a carrot dangling from a stick in front of you. Just when you think you got it, they move it further ahead.

I do just enough to keep my bosses from bugging me. Don't be a gunner or overachiever and spoil it for everyone. Think of it like a career-long marathon; not a sprint. Conserve your energy. Don't do anything stupid or risky that will get you fired. Keep the paychecks rolling in. Everyone's happy

 

[Eht-Ostaf]

From what I have read on these forums and people I know, CVS is notorious for being the worst chain you can choose to work for. I personally believe Walgreens is a "little" better. Here are a few differences:

1) No such thing as a 14-hr shift at Walgreens- only your standard 8 hour shift. 14 hours is inhumane without any break or lunch. No slave/sweatshop/factory type of hours at Walgreens.
.

Yes there is. I've worked 14 hours shift at least twice as a floater and the last time I checked, the market schedule still says 8-10 p.m. The location is 1.5 hours away from my house and when I worked that shift, I had to get out of my house at 5:50 a.m. just to make at by 8:00 a.m. Fortunately, it's a great store with super efficient techs and a machine. But, it could be tiring. I once did 42 immunizations (the only pharmacist) in a day! And if you float in a 9-9 store, you're expected to work a 12 hour shift.

 

[knight on horse]

In retail pharmacy you will be constantly interrupted

That said, WAGS has a fundamentally different management philosophy from CVS, reflecting their disparate origins

 

[MountainPharmD]

I have done appe's at all but Wags and am wondering if they are any different to the other chains. CVS and RIte Aid were very busy and understaffed. Is Wags any different?

Yeah...they are worse...

 

[MountainPharmD]

Sounds lovely

Oh it is! When you have one pharmacist and three techs with 6 phones lines that never stop ringing, a line at two cash registers, the drop off window, counseling window and drive though somethings gotta give.

 

[maria1oh]

I think it depends on what district you are working in. The Walgreens in the district I had APPEs were short staffed and busy. They had invested a lot in robotic filling machines and they justify the costs of these by having a small tech hour budget. Me personally would rather have a human tech than a robot but each has their benefits/disadvantages. Also the Walgreens was the one that told me they don't hire new pharmacists in that district unless they were interns for the company while the Rite Aid and CVS were hiring from outside the company.

 

[maria1oh]

CVS is not the only place with 14 hour days. Discount Drug Mart in Ohio also has the 14 hour shifts.

I also heard by the CVS manager on my APPE rotation that she could split the days with her partner (7 hours each) but then they would have to work more days out of the week. If you work three 14 hour shifts in a week, then you only have to work 3 days out of the week to reach 42 hours/week.

 

[npage148]

Does Walgreens have caller ID? Because when I call for a transfer from my pharmacy I've waited on hold for 20 minutes (to the point I call the front and speak with the store manager). When I call though from my cell phoneit seems like it is answered "relatively " quickly. Maybe it's just a coincidence

 

[pharm4312]

more feedback on wags vs the rest?

 

[fewaopi]

i've also heard cvs is the worst of all retail. wags does have 10-11 hour shifts at their 24 hour pharmacies but otherwise 8 hour shifts.

I never heard a metric about how long it takes to answer a phone at Walgreens. They do have metrics on # of immunizations, customer wait time, Rx's/day, but nothing like phone ringing time.

When I was rotating at Wags it was pretty understaffed, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if their management was using me as free labor and counting me in towards their labor requirements. It's pretty abusive on rotation students in that sense, though you can argue it's a learning experience as well. That's just my cynicism talking though, I'm kind of finding it hard to believe. It would not surprise me that the prospect of employment at Walgreens for a job seeker outside the company was being dangled like a carrot during my rotation to motivate me to work hard for a job that didn't actually exist but I'm hoping society hasn't seeped that low yet.

Computer system, Intercom plus is nice too at Walgreens, old school looking but kinda intuitive. From my limited experience, I'd say Walgreens is sort of a mix of Rite-Aid and CVS. Walgreens treats its employees better like Rite-Aid than CVS but also makes more advances in shaping the profession and positioning itself better for the future like CVS than Rite-Aid with its Well Experience, partnerships with hospitals, 24 hr pharmacy in some locations, etc. It kinda seems like Walgreens is in a pretty good position for the future compared to Rite-Aid which seems much more like a traditional pharmacy.

Experience varies store by store I imagine, some are real busy, others aren't. Some have drive-thrus, some stores in a chain may specialize in 1 particular field more than others. All universally understaffed.

I'm curious if anyone knows whether retail/chain pharmacies factor in rotation students when they make decisions on how many employees a store needs. Do store managers/DMs use students to fill "tech"-like positions at busy pharmacies as free labor so as not to hire another tech? Is that something that's openly discussed? I kinda have a feeling as to what the answer already is but wanted to know what others think.

 

[Amicable Angora]

This is depressing to read.

 

[Scotttyd]

they all suck - I have moonlighted for CVS, Wags, and Rite Aid - I hated all of them. At the time, I hated CVS least - until they changed computer system and failed to train me. You could pay be $250,000 and I would not even consider stepping foot in those crap holes. I work at a hospital, make an easy 6 figures - only $5 an hour less than wags but when you add in shift dif, it is pretty close. I could work 8-4:30 75% of my shifts, start at 7 weeks vacation, be able to take a 15 break and go chat with friend, and come back and not have 10 million orders and phone calls waiting for me and a ******* manager who knows nothing about pharmacy barking at me saying I have not given enough flu shots.

Do I see people die? yes, do I deal with the true crapiness of life and suffering? yes, but do I actually see what I do make a difference? yes -

oh, and my hospital has almost doubled its staff in the last 9 years - can any retail say that?

 

[pharmacy7424]

All interesting comments.