Its Official, WAGS has begun laying off!!!

Started by qwead
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qwead

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I warned everyone, walgreens began laying off technicians. The effin thing that really got me mad was the fact that they did not even give us a week or something to look for a job, they just called each person up that they were getting canned ...just to tell us were fired, they didnt even give us an option to work in the front, not that i would take it. Id rather take my pride with me.
first the techs, then the pharmds.....
I warned everyone, whats next, theres no jobs for pharm grads here anyways
Thank God my boyfriend still has a job....
 
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This is what happens when a profession gets sold out to corporations. They see labor as an expense, that is all. Pharmacists are just a big expensive number to them. All they care about is making profit so they can keep wall street investors happy and keep their executive bonuses high.

http://www.retailerdaily.com/entry/walgreens-profit-down-to-cut-store-openings/

Why do they need to cut costs? They still made $400 million in the first quarter, thats $1.6 billion profit a year. Prescription sales were UP 6.2% and comprise 66% of all sales!! and they still think of the pharmacy dept as an expense that needs to be cut? Oh, b/c their shares fell, thats why.

This is what happens when publicly traded corps take over a profession. I hope the entire Walgreens power system bombs and people take their prescriptions elsewhere.
 
qwead said:
I warned everyone, walgreens today in south florida began laying off technicians. The effin thing that really got me mad was the fact that they did not even give us a week or something to look for a job, they just called each peron that was getting canned that they needed to see them in the district office for a meeting...just to tell us were fired, they didnt even give us an option to work in the front, not that i would take it. Id rather take my preide with me.
first the techs, then the pharmds.....
I warned everyone, first Florida, then whats next, theres no jobs for phard grads here anyways
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To be honest, I would like to hear this from someone else before I fully believe this. Your sole existance on here has been to bash WAGS, with no other credible posts. It seems like you feel as though the world is ending. Do you even have an idea if these are isolated or widespread? For all you know they could have been looking for an excuse to get rid of some bad apples.
 
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Nope...the whole district just began a mass layoff...I liked my job..people were nice...I just don't appreciate the corporate ple who are thinking about profits
 
wellwell said:
To be honest, I would like to hear this from someone else before I fully believe this. Your sole existance on here has been to bash WAGS, with no other credible posts. It seems like you feel as though the world is ending. Do you even have an idea if these are isolated or widespread? For all you know they could have been looking for an excuse to get rid of some bad apples.
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Qweed has been quite forth coming and specific as to what is going on. Qweed has also been backed up by several other people from Florida who work for Walgreens. I do not think credibility is an issue here nor do I think the sole intent has been to bash Walgreens.

You can all stick you head in the sand and pretend this is a good thing. I for one see it for what it is. This is Walgreens way of reducing staff to as little as possible. First the techs then the pharmacists.
 
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I don't work in FL, but I know people who work in corporate. They have been saying that layoffs in FL were coming. Qwead is telling the truth.
 
JeremyE30 said:
This is what happens when a profession gets sold out to corporations. They see labor as an expense, that is all. Pharmacists are just a big expensive number to them. All they care about is making profit so they can keep wall street investors happy and keep their executive bonuses high.
Click to expand...
This is what is wrong with our healthcare system (and beyond) as a whole, not just pharmacy. Greed is going to sink us all.
 
MountainPharmD said:
Qweed has been quite forth coming and specific as to what is going on. Qweed has also been backed up by several other people from Florida who work for Walgreens. I do not think credibility is an issue here nor do I think the sole intent has been to bash Walgreens.

You can all stick you head in the sand and pretend this is a good thing. I for one see it for what it is. This is Walgreens way of reducing staff to as little as possible. First the techs then the pharmacists.
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I am not sticking my head in the stand. Perhaps I should have worded my post better. I would just lime to get the whole story before we all go running around with our hands in the air screaming that the world is ending. I don't like layoffs just as much as the next guy, but I think sometimes peple tend to blow things out of proportion, especially when they have an alarmist posting history. Do we have any idea as to whether or not these were because of POWER, or just layoffs that are happening because of the economy?

Also, who thinks that POWER will be a success? Anyone on these forums? I have read posts on other forums from pharmacists who think that this prgram will be a success, and talked to some in person as well.
 
wellwell said:
Also, who thinks that POWER will be a success? Anyone on these forums? I have read posts on other forums from pharmacists who think that this prgram will be a success, and talked to some in person as well.
Click to expand...

How do you define the success of "POWER?" Sounds like to me success means it will result in FTE reductions.

One of the major goals of "POWER" is to reduce $1 Billion dollars in 2011.

The job reductions are part of Walgreen's cost-cutting plan, which is intended to save the company $500 million in fiscal 2010, and $1 billion per year starting in fiscal 2011.
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http://www.nj.com/business/ledger/index.ssf?/base/business-11/1231479414253250.xml&coll=1

$1 billion per year is about 7,000 pharmacist FTE...at around $140,000 per year compensation (salary & benefits) per pharmacist.

What a coincidence...doesn't Wags have about 7000 stores?

How much more information do you need? Wags has announced that they will save $1 billion ...and this will be accomplished through reduction in labor. This means pharmacy jobs for pharmacists, techs, and interns.

And the bad economy isn't going to make it better.

Wake up.
 
wellwell said:
Do we have any idea as to whether or not these were because of POWER
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Of course it is because of power, power was created with the purpose of laying off employees. The goal of publicly traded corporations is to reduce costs and labor as much as possible. Do you think they are going to save $1 billion by making things more efficient? Not a chance, they will still need to have the inventory in a warehouse, pay for gas, pay the driver, pay for trucks, pay for truck repairs, pay for drivers insurance, etc... They are saving money by eliminating the techs and pharmacists who are leaching into their bonuses.
 
I don't see this as a gloom and doom at all. If anything, it will weed out lesser quality pharmacists.. I hope.
 
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wellwell said:
I agree. I think there are a few here who enjoy crying wolf whenever the Big Two are the topic.
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Either you don't understand or you're in denial. Wags has announced they are going to cut labor. This also means they're not going to hire too many new grads. There are more than 115 new schools cranking out pharmacists now compared 70 just 10 years ago. More and more pharmacists are going to delay retirement because their 401K is now 201K and can't retire. CVS and the rest of the industry mass merchandisers will follow what WAGs is doing to cut labor. Look at the $4 generic... everyone is doing it.

  • More pharmacists
  • New technology to improve efficiency of prescription processing
This means less jobs will be created compared to the earlier predictions. This is not the end all. But if you want to be competitive, you better do a residency or get an MBA/MHA.

Because the days of Wags courting you is over.
 
ItsOverZyvox said:
Either you don't understand or you're in denial. Wags has announced they are going to cut labor. This also means they're not going to hire too many new grads. There are more than 115 new schools cranking out pharmacists now compared 70 just 10 years ago. More and more pharmacists are going to delay retirement because their 401K is now 201K and can't retire. CVS and the rest of the industry mass merchandisers will follow what WAGs is doing to cut labor. Look at the $4 generic... everyone is doing it.

  • More pharmacists
  • New technology to improve efficiency of prescription processing
This means less jobs will be created compared to the earlier predictions. This is not the end all. But if you want to be competitive, you better do a residency or get an MBA/MHA.

Because the days of Wags courting you is over.
Click to expand...

I am not even sure he is a pharmacy student yet from his previous posts.
 
ItsOverZyvox said:
if you want to be competitive, you better do a residency or get an MBA/MHA.
Click to expand...

How do you feel about both? I am curious because I am currently doing pharmD/MBA, but I also really want to do a residency for the clinical knowledge. Actually the only reason i'm even doing the MBA is because its free and i can still finish in 4 years (thanks to pre-req's being waived). Anyways, are there situations that this could be a good combination to have or are they on two opposite sides of the spectrum? I talked to a Bpharm/MBA who is the DOP at a nearby hospital and he said its either one or the other...
 
VCU2011 said:
How do you feel about both? I am curious because I am currently doing pharmD/MBA, but I also really want to do a residency for the clinical knowledge. Actually the only reason i'm even doing the MBA is because its free and i can still finish in 4 years (thanks to pre-req's being waived). Anyways, are there situations that this could be a good combination to have or are they on two opposite sides of the spectrum? I talked to a Bpharm/MBA who is the DOP at a nearby hospital and he said its either one or the other...
Click to expand...


Someone who understands the business aspect of clinical pharmacy????
There's not enough of them in this world.

Do it. 👍
 
Ok, great Qwead. Honestly, I'm sorry you lost your job. I really am 🙁. But literally every thread you have posted here has been about how the sky is falling.. Well a bunch of random people on a message board arent going to fix it. If you're so worried why dont you spend the time you spend on here fear mongering out there doing something to improve your skills or change the profession. Honestly?


%^@#'s changing.. People are just going to have to deal with it. I personally think the quality of this forum has gone down in the past 6 months or so since it seems like 15% of posts are related to "oh my god i cant find another 120k job in my [insert desirable location here] or .. "too many schools". People have a right to vent, but honestly it only gets you so far.

If i was more of a cynic or conspiracy theorist than i am (not much of one by the way) I would say the fact that what appears to be 5 or so new screennames created solely for the purpose of scaring people or whining about changes in corporate america.. seems like maybe it is a concerted effort to scare away potential pre-pharmacy students? Which is ludicrous,, but seriously, why all the repetition??

Lighten up a bit!!

I also dont know how many of you have noticed.. maybe not a whole ton since 100% of the blame seems to be falling on a large opening of new schools or walgreens corporate growth strategies.. but we are in the midst of more or less a second great depression.. Of course the freaking job outlook is poor!
 
Does anyone know how many pharmacists/techs Walgreens has hired at their "POWER" facility?
 
qwead said:
I warned everyone, walgreens today in south florida began laying off technicians. The effin thing that really got me mad was the fact that they did not even give us a week or something to look for a job, they just called each peron that was getting canned that they needed to see them in the district office for a meeting...just to tell us were fired, they didnt even give us an option to work in the front, not that i would take it. Id rather take my preide with me.
first the techs, then the pharmds.....
I warned everyone, first Florida, then whats next, theres no jobs for phard grads here anyways
Click to expand...

This is NOT news... Everyone in that district knew this was coming... back in November. EVERY store that goes POWER (Walgreens central processing initiative) - Less man power is needed. Thus each store has to cut back on technician hours (those scripts are being filled off site - hence less coverage needed). I talked with a district manager who told me offers were made for Technicians to either go to the central fill location - or to move to a different district that needed manpower. If you did not take the deal - they were going to let go of the extra regardless.

I am sorry you lost your job. This "layoff" is not really a layoff at all - but an optimization.

~above~
 
5minutes said:
I guess it is the same amount of pharmacists that they fire in south F.
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I doubt it. Project like this is never "Cost Neutral" meaning if they're not going to save money, they would not have invested a lot of money.

Wags announced it...that they will cut cost. $500 million in 2010 and $1 billion by 2011. This will be done through reduction in force. The acronym is RIF.
 
aboveliquidice said:
This is NOT news... Everyone in that district knew this was coming... back in November. EVERY store that goes POWER (Walgreens central processing initiative) - Less man power is needed. Thus each store has to cut back on technician hours (those scripts are being filled off site - hence less coverage needed). I talked with a district manager who told me offers were made for Technicians to either go to the central fill location - or to move to a different district that needed manpower. If you did not take the deal - they were going to let go of the extra regardless.

I am sorry you lost your job. This "layoff" is not really a layoff at all - but an optimization.

~above~
Click to expand...

I dont know about anyone else but I would have got out then....
 
All we have been hearing is from a fear mongering tech and some hospital pharmacists who loath retails. I used to work for a chain and it is always one pharmacist working in the pharmacy regardless if the pharmacy does 100 or 300 scripts a day. We don't know the facts yet. We don't even know if it is a good business model so lets not jump to conclusion.
 
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ItsOverZyvox said:
I doubt it. Project like this is never "Cost Neutral" meaning if they're not going to save money, they would not have invested a lot of money.
Click to expand...

So what? Every business wants to save money but that doesn't mean they can. Circuit City got rid off all its experienced employees to save money. Where is Circuit City now? That did not work too well, did it?

I know a Walgreens supervisor and according to her, customers like to talk to their techs and pharmacists. They dont want to talk to someone who is 100 mile away. Might as well get their medications through a mail order pharmacy and save money.
 
BMBiology said:
So what? Every business wants to save money but that doesn't mean they can. Circuit City got rid off all its experienced employees to save money. Where is Circuit City now? That did not work too well, did it?

I know a Walgreens supervisor and according to her, customers like to talk to their techs and pharmacists. They dont want to talk to someone who is a 100 mile away. Might as well get their medications through a mail order pharmacy and save money.
Click to expand...


What's your point?
 
BMBiology said:
So what? Every business wants to save money but that doesn't mean they can. Circuit City got rid off all its experienced employees to save money. Where is Circuit City now? That did not work too well, did it?

I know a Walgreens supervisor and according to her, customers like to talk to their techs and pharmacists. They dont want to talk to someone who is 100 mile away. Might as well get their medications through a mail order pharmacy and save money.
Click to expand...


Circuit City was a failing business retroactively tried to save the company by reduction in force. Wags is a succesful and growing company proactively trying to reduce cost. Are you saying because Circuit City went out of business because they RIFd experienced workers that if Wags do the same, they will go out of business too? You sure you went to USC?
 
BMBiology said:
Give me a break. When someone doesn't agree with you, you need to take personal shots?
Click to expand...


I don't need to... but I do because you're an open target. :meanie:

I recall you like to take personal shots too... if you're gonna dish it out.. be thick skinned enough to take it too..
 
Ross434 said:
Ok, great Qwead. Honestly, I'm sorry you lost your job. I really am 🙁. But literally every thread you have posted here has been about how the sky is falling.. Well a bunch of random people on a message board arent going to fix it. If you're so worried why dont you spend the time you spend on here fear mongering out there doing something to improve your skills or change the profession. Honestly?


%^@#'s changing.. People are just going to have to deal with it. I personally think the quality of this forum has gone down in the past 6 months or so since it seems like 15% of posts are related to "oh my god i cant find another 120k job in my [insert desirable location here] or .. "too many schools". People have a right to vent, but honestly it only gets you so far.

If i was more of a cynic or conspiracy theorist than i am (not much of one by the way) I would say the fact that what appears to be 5 or so new screennames created solely for the purpose of scaring people or whining about changes in corporate america.. seems like maybe it is a concerted effort to scare away potential pre-pharmacy students? Which is ludicrous,, but seriously, why all the repetition??

Lighten up a bit!!

I also dont know how many of you have noticed.. maybe not a whole ton since 100% of the blame seems to be falling on a large opening of new schools or walgreens corporate growth strategies.. but we are in the midst of more or less a second great depression.. Of course the freaking job outlook is poor!
Click to expand...

Agreed. Lately the quality of this forum has gone down significantly. On top of that, a few idiots here constantly end up discussing things that are not just off the topic, but are not related to pharmacy at all.
 
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meister said:
Are you on the company payroll or something? This is the stupidest line I've read in a while.
Click to expand...

Somehow - I doubt that it was the dumbest post you read - and its not a layoff if they offer you the same job somewhere else. Its a relocation / reallocation.

Layoff example = Initech

"Studies have statistically shown that there's less chance of an incident if you do it at the end of the week."

Yeah - Samir, Michael Bolton - they were laid off

These technicians were asked to relocate to another division of the company. They offered to PAY them to move.

You would think that for someone about to start breast exams - you would be in a better mood...??? 😀

~above~
 
oh noes! but but but....everyone keeps telling me that i'll get a job in retail pharm EEEAAASY after grad, if only i have a pulse and a 2.0!!

/sarcasm

not surprised...
 
OK, ley me begin by apologizing for sounding like the apocalypse of pharmacy, i did not intend to do that at all...
I have invested my life into going to pharmacy school, and like many others it began with working as a tech to gain experience. This is my second career, I am in my late 20s and 30s is creeping closer and closer. I am finishing my prereqs at a CC and i have never had any passion towards any preofession till i found pharmacy, ive always been interested in the chemistry of medications and the humne side of it...

The only reason I am telling people this is to warn them that Pharmacy has gone to $h!t. People, especially the ones who are entering the profession need to realize that if we buy into corporations they have control not just over us but control of our future...

I am not specifically talking about WAGS or anyyone, they control most of the pharmacy market, and you guys think they dont have a hand in approving any legislations passed about pharmacy...

Do you want to know why POWER was approved in FL, because some of the chair members of the board of pharmacy in FL are executives in Walgreens...(inside information)

Im sorry if i have offended anyone, you dont have to believe everything you read, I surely dont, I just hope the threads i have posted will affect someone else so that the future ph pharmacy doest go to the corporations...my 25cents
 
qwead said:
OK, ley me begin by apologizing for sounding like the apocalypse of pharmacy, i did not intend to do that at all...
I have invested my life into going to pharmacy school, and like many others it began with working as a tech to gain experience. This is my second career, I am in my late 20s and 30s is creeping closer and closer. I am finishing my prereqs at a CC and i have never had any passion towards any preofession till i found pharmacy, ive always been interested in the chemistry of medications and the humne side of it...

The only reason I am telling people this is to warn them that Pharmacy has gone to $h!t. People, especially the ones who are entering the profession need to realize that if we buy into corporations they have control not just over us but control of our future...

I am not specifically talking about WAGS or anyyone, they control most of the pharmacy market, and you guys think they dont have a hand in approving any legislations passed about pharmacy...

Do you want to know why POWER was approved in FL, because some of the chair members of the board of pharmacy in FL are executives in Walgreens...(inside information)

Im sorry if i have offended anyone, you dont have to believe everything you read, I surely dont, I just hope the threads i have posted will affect someone else so that the future ph pharmacy doest go to the corporations...my 25cents
Click to expand...


Dude...no need to apologize!
 
So my store finally went power. It's got some nice features like the TPR center -- they really do a nice job. I give them that. The verifying and typing is garbage-- they don't do it. We pay them $1 per script so we can do their work. But it's not easy to type and verify anymore as you have to wait 10 minutes before they will let you retrieve the script and then you must go in manually and type and verify. It's aggravating as hell.

Anyhow, yes Walgreens informed us a few months ago that they will be doing lay offs based on seniority. They did offer us to go to the central location in Orlando and would pay us between 2-3k, or we could apply for the cenfill location in Miami which is getting ready to open. The problem is, who in the hell is going to move to Orlando (5 hours away) just to make $12/hour? Notttttt. As a pharmacist, okay fine.. maybe! But you will be taking a $3/hour cut. But that's not even the issue, really -- there's still no jobs! The fact of the matter is that there are only 300 positions at cenfill including pharmacist and techs... and since power was already up and running a long time ago when it started to be piloted in Orlando -- the majority of those positions were already filled by newbies that they hired there. So much for that line of bull. But now this miami location is opening and some people will be shifted there, but I'm pretty sure it's nowhere near as big as Orlando. In any case, basically people are getting shafted. I've been with the company for 2 years, and I just need a job until August when school starts, but my God I am terrified I'll be laid off and I'm getting ready to close on my first home with my boyfriend. Thank God he could support us if need be.

All in all, I've been burned by Walgreens 3 times in the same fashion qwead is saying people were told to be laid off. Except I never got a call from corporate, not even my store manager. Just a message to not come into work.. And, no, I had not done anything. They cut me and a coworker who had been with the company 5 years to make room for a corporate worker's mentally deranged and very angry sister (who I now work with, ironically). I would not say that they are an ethical company by all means. Honestly, the power situation is more about bottom line than customer service as they're trying to push. Who are they fooling? Power has not been rolled out for a month now because they're having "serious customer service issues" per my supervisor. We've already had people take their scripts and leave to CVS, our transfers have increased and I say good. Take it to a company who actually cares about their employees -- Costco, Publix..

That's all for my ramblings
 
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