Lay-offs/cut backs with CVS and Walgreens

[MountainPharmD]

For all this whining, I haven't heard of a Pharmacist coalition, florida based or otherwise, trying to fight this. Haven't heard of any national battlecries or threats to walk.

Know why? Cause walgreen's puts the green in your pocket. There would always be a pharmacist willing to bend over and lube up for $55/hr., no matter what the hellish environment. And that's not walgreens fault, that's our fault. We let this happen. Blame corporations all you want, it's our fault.

That’s the problem with pharmacists. We make to much money. How many of you are willing to stand up and go on strike to improve working conditions? No one....that’s what I thought. Unionizing and alliances and coalitions sound great....The only way they work is if the people have to courage to walk out and refuse to work until things are changed. I for one have a mortgage and three kids. I won't be walking out any time soon.....and niether will you....

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[loo]

That and because pharmacy schools don't breed leaders. They breed little soldiers that do as they are told.

Very good point. Cannibalism starts at home...

 

[Fuzzychickens]

I know people laugh when they hear the word "union" because of the bad name the UAW gave it, but man it would be great if pharmacists could act collectively and stop working at not just Walgreens - but all the major chains.

Then go man up all the independents and let patients know the only place to get medications was at their local independent pharmacy.

The next step, follow North Dakota's lead and have a law passed requiring that any pharmacy has to be pharmacist owned.

 

[disallusioned]

I think it is time to think about a union. Walgreens is now strong arming employees to get them to go to the POWER location. The people they hired were unqualified and now the employees in the store are told to either transfer to the location (most live about an hour away) or lose their jobs. This is affecting both pharmacists and techs. Having enough senority to be left in your store is no picnic either as they have drastically reduced hours. NEW PHARM GRADS-DO NOT SIGN ON, YOU WILL BE USED AND NEVER HAVE REGULAR FULL TIME HOURS NO MATTER WHAT THEY TELL YOU!

 

[MountainPharmD]

I think it is time to think about a union. Walgreens is now strong arming employees to get them to go to the POWER location. The people they hired were unqualified and now the employees in the store are told to either transfer to the location (most live about an hour away) or lose their jobs. This is affecting both pharmacists and techs. Having enough senority to be left in your store is no picnic either as they have drastically reduced hours. NEW PHARM GRADS-DO NOT SIGN ON, YOU WILL BE USED AND NEVER HAVE REGULAR FULL TIME HOURS NO MATTER WHAT THEY TELL YOU!

That is the bottom line. Do not accept a job with Walgreens or CVS. Tell the recruiters when they come to your school that their company is destroying the profession and you refuse to even talk to them.

Opps....only one problem. 60% plus of the jobs out there are retail jobs with Walgreens or CVS. With all the diploma mill schools opening up you can see we have a problem

 

[104921]

With all the diploma mill schools opening up you can see we have a problem

I think we are a long way off from referring to ANY pharmacy school right now as a "diploma mill". Maybe I read that wrong, I don't know.

But seriously, I'm a first year pharmacy student and don't know crap, but should I just drop out now and cut my losses? Because that's the impression I'm getting from these forums. We don't even have enough respect for our future colleagues apparently to give them an inch of guidance.

And I very much agree with unionizing. Maybe it's because I don't have any major financial responsibility right now other than my student loans, but the way pharmacists are treated by corporations right now, I don't see how most of my elders just bend over and take it for 50 dollars an hour. At least I have no plans of going into retail. I'm so cynical now after reading all these posts, because I worked hard to get into pharmacy school and now it seems it will ultimately be an obsolete degree. All in a matter of 5 years. Damn.

 

[Old Timer]

But seriously, I'm a first year pharmacy student and don't know crap,

Well that certainly appears to be true.

but should I just drop out now and cut my losses? Because that's the impression I'm getting from these forums. We don't even have enough respect for our future colleagues apparently to give them an inch of guidance.

Why should you drop out now? Because you can't get a job exactly where you want, at the exact site you want and at the exact salary you want and you wont get a sign on bonus. If you read this site, there is plenty of encouragement.

And I very much agree with unionizing. Maybe it's because I don't have any major financial responsibility right now other than my student loans,

Unions will do nothing for pharmacists except take their money. If you really want to be a professional, you don't unionize. Unions have placed themselves near extinction. See the UAW.

but the way pharmacists are treated by corporations right now, I don't see how most of my elders just bend over and take it for 50 dollars an hour.

Do you realize what a *****ic statement this is. Take it in the ass for 50 dollars an hour? If this selfish narcissistic attitude is representative of the future of pharmacy, we are doomed. The median family income in the USA is about 50 some thousand a year. Pharmacists are in the top 20% of earners in the country. Be grateful for what you have. That doesn't mean you don't try to improve things.

At least I have no plans of going into retail. I'm so cynical now after reading all these posts, because I worked hard to get into pharmacy school and now it seems it will ultimately be an obsolete degree. All in a matter of 5 years. Damn.

You really need to see step back and look at the landscape. Dispensing pharmacists like me are doomed, but I'm old. Pharmacy is all about your mind. There will be a great demand for pharmacy services in the coming years. The recession won't last forever. The economy will pick up and jobs will be plentiful. Go to school study and go to your local mechanic and get your attitude adjusted......

 

[iLurk]

Re: POWER

Why don't a couple of you who work for Walgreens write up a really good letter, and send it to some of the "important" people in the company? Something positive, not combative.

And then get a very large number of rph/techs (like all of them) to mail in a copy of it as well. (Not just 1 letter with a lot of signatures - that's too easy to ignore)

I'd say there's still time to make an impact on this issue. Why just sit around, get upset, and let this happen?

It's the pharmacy staff that creates most of Wags sales $$... not the corporate types who SEEM to have control...

 

[Fuzzychickens]

Unions will do nothing for pharmacists except take their money. If you really want to be a professional, you don't unionize. Unions have placed themselves near extinction. See the UAW.

The UAW is a bad example and labor should be organized in some way. Corporations will always simply smash labor in top down manner if it is not organized. They only answer to shareholders and profits, if your job doesn't fit in their plans you are gone even at the expense of patient care.

The profession needs to be snatched back from corporate thugs, whatever power pharmacists have to do something about this is fading very fast.

 

[ItsOverZyvox]

Many students in pharmacy school and soon graduating are worried about finding a job. But think about what you will be doing 5, 10, and 15 years from now when you have a family to support and a mortgage to pay on top of your other mortagage known as student loans.

Career track decision you make today will affect where you will be in 5, 10, 15 years and beyond. Will, Wags, CVS, Walmart, Rite-Aid, Target, Publix, Safeway, and Savon's stand behind you and support your profession or will they forever try to devise a scheme to cut labor cost?

 

[aboveliquidice]

Many students in pharmacy school and soon graduating are worried about finding a job. But think about what you will be doing 5, 10, and 15 years from now when you have a family to support and a mortgage to pay on top of your other mortagage known as student loans.

Career track decision you make today will affect where you will be in 5, 10, 15 years and beyond. Will, Wags, CVS, Walmart, Rite-Aid, Target, Publix, Safeway, and Savon's stand behind you and support your profession or will they forever try to devise a scheme to cut labor cost?

Quoted for truth... The only one in that mix that gives a **** about their employees is Publix - and that may now be a thing of the past. There are a few employers out there that still believe in the intangibles...

 

[womp]

I think it is time to think about a union. Walgreens is now strong arming employees to get them to go to the POWER location. The people they hired were unqualified and now the employees in the store are told to either transfer to the location (most live about an hour away) or lose their jobs. This is affecting both pharmacists and techs. Having enough senority to be left in your store is no picnic either as they have drastically reduced hours. NEW PHARM GRADS-DO NOT SIGN ON, YOU WILL BE USED AND NEVER HAVE REGULAR FULL TIME HOURS NO MATTER WHAT THEY TELL YOU!

No, no unions. When I think of unions, I think of people who are overpaid and inefficient but think they are entitled to it anyway, with a grumpy attitude all the time.

Do college professors unionize? do physicians unionize? do lawyers unionize? do CEO's unionize? No, no, no, no.

I like to think that I work for myself.

 

[slight365]

For all this whining, I haven't heard of a Pharmacist coalition, florida based or otherwise, trying to fight this. Haven't heard of any national battlecries or threats to walk.

Know why? Cause walgreen's puts the green in your pocket. There would always be a pharmacist willing to bend over and lube up for $55/hr., no matter what the hellish environment. And that's not walgreens fault, that's our fault. We let this happen. Blame corporations all you want, it's our fault.

This is why pharmacy deteriorated to where it has gone. They gave back to the companies by compromising the techs, their working situations, and then just cry about it. All pharmacy to most is just a fast way to make six figures and they all want it to go quietly, without waves. How they could not understand that management will take advantage of this and keep pouring work on limited numbers of people is beyond me.

You gotta admit that pharmacists do know how to take it.

 

[prevacid]

i work for wags and will leave them soon...i was gonna post all the reasons why this company should be avoided, but i will do tat some other time

the POWER thing sucks and has lost business due to it, but i dont think they really care, b/c they believe once the kinks are evened out, the cost savings will be worth it

they started this stupid DWB (dynamic work flow balancing) that while in theory is a good idea, in practicality is so stupid..its basically where you can verify other stores scripts...however, theyve set goals as to how many scripts of other stores a pharmacy should do every week. i find this to be pathetic and i hardly verify other store scripts...at the managers meeting, we were told we must do the DWB thing or else they will fire rph (of course i tell them im busy on the phone or with a drug question with a customer: i highly doubt they'll check on me). i was told to cut down on pt time and ensure i do more verifying for other stores

i truly believe 10 yrs ago wags was the best, but now they just want making the most $$$ and the hell with the rest, i recommend no one to go with this company

 

[prevacid]

No, no unions. When I think of unions, I think of people who are overpaid and inefficient but think they are entitled to it anyway, with a grumpy attitude all the time.

Do college professors unionize? do physicians unionize? do lawyers unionize? do CEO's unionize? No, no, no, no.

I like to think that I work for myself.

had physicians unionized and had one voice for them, tort reform wouldve gotten done a lot quicker

 

[prevacid]

Many students in pharmacy school and soon graduating are worried about finding a job. But think about what you will be doing 5, 10, and 15 years from now when you have a family to support and a mortgage to pay on top of your other mortagage known as student loans.

Career track decision you make today will affect where you will be in 5, 10, 15 years and beyond. Will, Wags, CVS, Walmart, Rite-Aid, Target, Publix, Safeway, and Savon's stand behind you and support your profession or will they forever try to devise a scheme to cut labor cost?

i actually think Giant Eagle in PA and OH cares bout their rph...they have great benefits and lots of tech help, and they dont make money on their pharmacies, so they arent lookin to cut costs (just looking to get more cats in the store to buy upfront stuff, which the 4 dollar plan has done)

 

[DRRX2008]

so basically I was convinced to go to the CPO but was lucky enough to get a work at home position. Walgreens doesn't give three craps about their employees....but nobody (unless very naive) would expect a big corp to care about you. I like the ability to work at home but do not appreciate being scared into leaving because they threaten with lay-offs. Just waiting for my next train to come along . Sometimes I wish I'd gone to vet school like I originally planned but oh well! Good luck to all the new grads out there, this situation sucks but hopefully a change will occur either with us standing up for the profession or customers getting sick and tired of this crap.

 

[finechemist]

Hey there friends,

This is a wonderful time where we can change the way history talks about the profession of pharmacy.

If the corporates are reducing the status of Pharmacists we can change the way corporates utilise our services. Its simple - They do not want us to burden them with our pay we will stop to burden ourselves with their guidelines on how to operate in our own fields of expertise.

Lets start our own pharmacies - 3-4 pharmacists at a time. Banks will help us fund our ventures. Lets open our own offices like the MD's and stop being employed by the corporates who will have no choice but to rethink about their strategy.

There is a lot of money to be made guys. Stop thinking within our means. There are a lot of our colleagues who bill for even a 15 - 20 min of consultation on the phone. Head the winds and change your sails.

My $0.02

 

[Its Z]

Hey there friends,

This is a wonderful time where we can change the way history talks about the profession of pharmacy.

If the corporates are reducing the status of Pharmacists we can change the way corporates utilise our services. Its simple - They do not want us to burden them with our pay we will stop to burden ourselves with their guidelines on how to operate in our own fields of expertise.

Lets start our own pharmacies - 3-4 pharmacists at a time. Banks will help us fund our ventures. Lets open our own offices like the MD's and stop being employed by the corporates who will have no choice but to rethink about their strategy.

There is a lot of money to be made guys. Stop thinking within our means. There are a lot of our colleagues who bill for even a 15 - 20 min of consultation on the phone. Head the winds and change your sails.

My $0.02

I don't know how to respond to this

 

[SpirivaSunrise]

I don't know how to respond to this

I don't know about you, but I was really inspired. Ready to jump into my sailboat.

 

[Its Z]

You have a sailboat?

 

[GamecockPharmD]

I love all this union talk. However we are about 10 years too late. This should have been done when the ball was in our court. The corporations have the upper hand now. Anyway, I'm not sure what unionizing would do anyway. Just look at Wisconsin and their governor taking away the collective bargaining rights from the unionized state employees. I guess that's what we get for voting in a bunch of big business Republicans. We're lucky to have jobs even if the conditions are terrible. The **** hasn't really hit the fan yet but it's coming. Things are going to get a lot worse in this country before they get better. Right now the world is a cluster****.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

I love all this union talk. However we are about 10 years too late. This should have been done when the ball was in our court. The corporations have the upper hand now. Anyway, I'm not sure what unionizing would do anyway. Just look at Wisconsin and their governor taking away the collective bargaining rights from the unionized state employees. I guess that's what we get for voting in a bunch of big business Republicans. We're lucky to have jobs even if the conditions are terrible. The **** hasn't really hit the fan yet but it's coming. Things are going to get a lot worse in this country before they get better. Right now the world is a cluster****.

The wealth class and the *******es they control (at this point its both Dems and Repubs) will eventually overplay their hand and the working class will revolt on their asses. It's always happened in free societies where wealth stratifies to ridiculous levels.

At some point technology will eliminate the need for all basic jobs with the emergence of intelligent robotics and smarter computers. Eventually we will be communists; not out of free will, but out of necessity due to a lack of real work.

 

[type b pharmD]

 

[NormalSaline]

not even a repost, just somebody bumping an ancient thread.

 

[GamecockPharmD]

The wealth class and the *******es they control (at this point its both Dems and Repubs) will eventually overplay their hand and the working class will revolt on their asses. It's always happened in free societies where wealth stratifies to ridiculous levels.

At some point technology will eliminate the need for all basic jobs with the emergence of intelligent robotics and smarter computers. Eventually we will be communists; not out of free will, but out of necessity due to a lack of real work.

Hey WVU check out this link. There's a nice graph that shows where the top 5% of the country is compared to the average American's salary. And you're right, it's really both parties screwing us over. It just seems like the GOP have always been the ones to attack unions.

How the middle class became the under class:
http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/16/news/economy/middle_class/

 

[RealistRPh]

Hey there friends,

This is a wonderful time where we can change the way history talks about the profession of pharmacy.

If the corporates are reducing the status of Pharmacists we can change the way corporates utilise our services. Its simple - They do not want us to burden them with our pay we will stop to burden ourselves with their guidelines on how to operate in our own fields of expertise.

Lets start our own pharmacies - 3-4 pharmacists at a time. Banks will help us fund our ventures. Lets open our own offices like the MD's and stop being employed by the corporates who will have no choice but to rethink about their strategy.

There is a lot of money to be made guys. Stop thinking within our means. There are a lot of our colleagues who bill for even a 15 - 20 min of consultation on the phone. Head the winds and change your sails.

My $0.02

I have thought about this too..........what's to stop us? If we all, in a utopic world, abandoned these chains and opened our own pharmacies the tides would probably change in our favor. Good post.

 

[PharmaTope]

I have thought about this too..........what's to stop us? If we all, in a utopic world, abandoned these chains and opened our own pharmacies the tides would probably change in our favor. Good post.

hehe you are right about utopic world. pharmacists do not stick together collectively. there are so many that would say no id rather not do that and just go with the status quo. would be great to see the independents doing well again and the chains dying.

 

[222pharmD]

I'm thinking of possibly opening my own independent pharmacy some day also. I'm not completely sure how soon it'll be, but hopefully as early as 5 years after graduation. Health Mart pharmacy offers franchising so that's always a good thing to look into. I work for WAG right now and all these budget cuts are a major killer, especially when I'm the only tech closing on a busy Monday night. I think someone should start a thread about opening independent pharmacies and list all those that are interested or considering it by location so we can meet up and make this a reality already. If no one does, I'll make one 1 or 2 years before I graduate.

 

[Old Timer]

hehe you are right about utopic world. pharmacists do not stick together collectively. there are so many that would say no id rather not do that and just go with the status quo. would be great to see the independents doing well again and the chains dying.

If you think the chains had anything to do with the massive failure of independent pharmacies, you are clueless and you should stay away from opening your own business as you will also be a failure. The rise of the chains is the result, not the cause....

 

[PharMed2016]

I'm thinking of possibly opening my own independent pharmacy some day also. I'm not completely sure how soon it'll be, but hopefully as early as 5 years after graduation. Health Mart pharmacy offers franchising so that's always a good thing to look into. I work for WAG right now and all these budget cuts are a major killer, especially when I'm the only tech closing on a busy Monday night. I think someone should start a thread about opening independent pharmacies and list all those that are interested or considering it by location so we can meet up and make this a reality already. If no one does, I'll make one 1 or 2 years before I graduate.

I close with the pharmacist as the technician (intern) most days that I work. No biggie.

 

[222pharmD]

I close with the pharmacist as the technician (intern) most days that I work. No biggie.

Usually there's a mid tech, but due to budget cuts, the mid it cut out leaving just 1 pharmacist and 1 tech for the last 5 hours till closing time.

 

[Ackj]

If you think the chains had anything to do with the massive failure of independent pharmacies, you are clueless and you should stay away from opening your own business as you will also be a failure. The rise of the chains is the result, not the cause....

So what was the cause? Lower reimbursement from 3rd parties? I see how that would hurt an indy more, if they have a lower volume. Or is it the pharmacists themselves who do not care about the business aspect and would rather jump into a company than have their own? Still, I think $4 generics do take a lot of business away from independents, although this is a more recent development. Would like to hear your take on this.

 

[Old Timer]

So what was the cause? Lower reimbursement from 3rd parties? I see how that would hurt an indy more, if they have a lower volume. Or is it the pharmacists themselves who do not care about the business aspect and would rather jump into a company than have their own? Still, I think $4 generics do take a lot of business away from independents, although this is a more recent development. Would like to hear your take on this.

The skyrocketing drug prices combined with shrinking insurance reimbursement was the cause of the demise of independents in the 90's. Before that you could have a store doing 700 scripts a week and make a nice living.

 

[atpsynthase]

Well that certainly appears to be true.




Why should you drop out now? Because you can't get a job exactly where you want, at the exact site you want and at the exact salary you want and you wont get a sign on bonus. If you read this site, there is plenty of encouragement.


Unions will do nothing for pharmacists except take their money. If you really want to be a professional, you don't unionize. Unions have placed themselves near extinction. See the UAW.



Do you realize what a *****ic statement this is. Take it in the ass for 50 dollars an hour? If this selfish narcissistic attitude is representative of the future of pharmacy, we are doomed. The median family income in the USA is about 50 some thousand a year. Pharmacists are in the top 20% of earners in the country. Be grateful for what you have. That doesn't mean you don't try to improve things.




You really need to see step back and look at the landscape. Dispensing pharmacists like me are doomed, but I'm old. Pharmacy is all about your mind. There will be a great demand for pharmacy services in the coming years. The recession won't last forever. The economy will pick up and jobs will be plentiful. Go to school study and go to your local mechanic and get your attitude adjusted......

I can't decide if I like this guy or if I really like this guy.