Neighborhood Markets

[dmbgg]

Just looking for information from people working in the retail sector regarding CVStress vs WM NMs.

Does anyone know how much pharmacy managers at NMs are making currently. Specifically in a store doing about 700/week (market opened 4 years ago).

During the hiring process is there an option to counter offer for pay?

Is there protection for managers during staff cuts like the ones from last year.

tia

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[SoylentGreen]

Just looking for information from people working in the retail sector regarding CVStress vs WM NMs.

Does anyone know how much pharmacy managers at NMs are making currently. Specifically in a store doing about 700/week (market opened 4 years ago).

During the hiring process is there an option to counter offer for pay?

Is there protection for managers during staff cuts like the ones from last year.

tia

I would honestly be worried that they would shut down a pharmacy that only did 700 per week. That can't be profitable, especially not enough to justify the floor space and the hassle of running it.

 

[dmbgg]

I would honestly be worried that they would shut down a pharmacy that only did 700 per week. That can't be profitable, especially not enough to justify the floor space and the hassle of running it.

Even though they just opened the entire store in October 2016 and their script volume is up 25% from last year?

Seems like a waste to close a store you just invested so heavily in opening only ~3 years ago within 10 years in a city that is growing pretty rapidly.

 

[mentos]

LoL there is no protection for staff cuts, pharmacists can be let go at anytime.

If any pharmacy averages only 100 scripts/day then there is no profit, no negotiation and no job security. But it would be a chill job for as long as they stay open.

 

[dmbgg]

LoL there is no protection for staff cuts, pharmacists can be let go at anytime.

If any pharmacy averages only 100 scripts/day then there is no profit, no negotiation and no job security. But it would be a chill job for as long as they stay open.

In 12 years I’ve never heard of a pharmacy closing, or a position being eliminated, and a pharmacy manager not being given a full time position in the aftermath.

This forum has to be the most toxic, fear-mongering, waste of time that exists.

Why did I think this was even a reasonable place to have a discussion?

 

[dmbgg]

LoL there is no protection for staff cuts, pharmacists can be let go at anytime.

If any pharmacy averages only 100 scripts/day then there is no profit, no negotiation and no job security. But it would be a chill job for as long as they stay open.

And you seriously believe that 25% growth in one year at a 3 year old store that does not mainly rely on its pharmacy business deserves “... as long as they stay open.”

Truly laughable.

 

[sfachine]

In 12 years I’ve never heard of a pharmacy closing, or a position being eliminated, and a pharmacy manager not being given a full time position in the aftermath.

This forum has to be the most toxic, fear-mongering, waste of time that exists.

Why did I think this was even a reasonable place to have a discussion?

 

[Sine Cura]

Salaries: that is location dependent and duration of tenure dependent. I’ve seen up to 76/hr in California.

Walmart closes stores all the time. NHM in San Jose, 2012-2019 at Westgate Mall. They sold like 500/week. Leased property

NHM in south Sacramento sold 1200-1300/week. 2015-2019. Leased

supercenter in Knoxville closed. 2014-2019. Leased

There are examples of supercenters closed too where wm owned the building too, like the one near Nellis AFB in Vegas that closed in 2016 and still remains unoccupied. I bet that was at least a 60 million store.

Walmart also cutting back on hours open too, even 100m+ plus stores closing at midnight. Wouldn’t be surprised if they cut hrs for pharmacy too, like 9 to 8 or 9 to 7 weekdays depending on area

I knew of a Sams pharmacy manager that took a staff position at a NHM. If there are no manager openings what you gonna do

Walmart could just close the pharmacies only like some regional grocers have done.

 

[mentos]

And you seriously believe that 25% growth in one year at a 3 year old store that does not mainly rely on its pharmacy business deserves “... as long as they stay open.”

Truly laughable.

I don't care if it was 100% growth. 700 scripts per week is not profitable. That's what many Targets averaged and look what happened to them.

Don't worry you can negotiate a huge increase in salary and your job will be protected!!!

Is that what you wanted to hear?

 

[dmbgg]

I don't care if it was 100% growth. 700 scripts per week is not profitable. That's what many Targets averaged and look what happened to them.

Don't worry you can negotiate a huge increase in salary and your job will be protected!!!

Is that what you wanted to hear?

What year did you graduate? Where do you work currently?

Sorry, your post history is excruciatingly long.

 

[mentos]

What year did you graduate? Where do you work currently?

Sorry, your post history is excruciatingly long.

'14 and I work in a LTC.

Sina Cura gave great honest feedback about store closings above. No fear mongering, just facts.

Perhaps Pharmacy Times is a more reputable source for you?

Pharmacists, Techs Discuss Pharmacy Retail Layoffs

Pharmacists are taking to social media in response to layoffs at Walmart pharmacies across the country.

www.pharmacytimes.com

 

[Mambo#5]

Salaries: that is location dependent and duration of tenure dependent. I’ve seen up to 76/hr in California.

Walmart closes stores all the time. NHM in San Jose, 2012-2019 at Westgate Mall. They sold like 500/week. Leased property

NHM in south Sacramento sold 1200-1300/week. 2015-2019. Leased

supercenter in Knoxville closed. 2014-2019. Leased

There are examples of supercenters closed too where wm owned the building too, like the one near Nellis AFB in Vegas that closed in 2016 and still remains unoccupied. I bet that was at least a 60 million store.

Walmart also cutting back on hours open too, even 100m+ plus stores closing at midnight. Wouldn’t be surprised if they cut hrs for pharmacy too, like 9 to 8 or 9 to 7 weekdays depending on area

I knew of a Sams pharmacy manager that took a staff position at a NHM. If there are no manager openings what you gonna do

Walmart could just close the pharmacies only like some regional grocers have done.

True that. A Walmart neighborhood market closed a while ago on Kyrene and Chandler they still had 5 years on the lease. They’re closing to compete with the online market.

Many pharmacy’s have closed and or reduced hours, all over the place. Just talk to pharmacists or read the news.

Rumor has it Bashas will be closing there supermarket pharmacy’s. Some of those stores do 20 scripts a day and the busiest lol does 200 to 300 lmfao. And you thought target was a cake walk! Lol

It’s not going to get any better.

There’s a mail order facility where pharmacists have a quota to verify about 200 plus scripts an hour. (If you make certain errors you know what’s up lol) The scripts are generated from a computer named “Iris”, that’s her name lol. Pharmacists fix a few errors this computer may generate and then verify them. This is nothing but machine learning. Corrections are saved and the computer fine tunes the algorithm. It’s nothing but tech work, of which I doubt you’ll need pharmacists in the future.

 

[Sine Cura]

I think there used to be discretion to negotiate a few dollars circa 2015 depending on the location but that is prob long gone. Why not shoot your shot though. Having a high rate puts a target on your back though. I asked to have my 401k match right away instead of waiting a year but apparently no dice (n =1 though)

During their whole "Project Thunder" cuts pharmacy mangers were affected too. Personally I don't know any pharmacist or pharmacy manager who was left out in the cold if they wanted to stay with the company. That might change though as there isn't that much attrition (harder to jump ship these days)

And we all know with market musical chairs some MHWD are skittish about their long-term prospects too. I'm sure it wasn't fun for demoted PCSMs to be manning the bench full time either lol



As for southwestern subsidiaries of Kroger (Smith's, Fry's) as well as Basha's, they are probably done. They would just be following the example of Stater Bros and Raley's. I can also see Safeway and Albertsons abolishing pharmacy. They would probably get rid of their pharmacies before Walmart though

 

[ranger99rx]

In my area, any store doing less than 1000/week got hours cut 9-7 m-f, sat 9-5, s 10-4. New hire $56, manager maybe $58-$60/hour (internal staff turning manager are higher since their rate are already higher than new hire.) If they close your store and there are positions available you will be able to transfer unless you are a terrible pharmacist that they don't want to keep. To me the whole store has to do well for them to keep it open not just pharmacy. Even if you are doing 1500 to 2000/week but your front end shrink is out of control or profit is minimum then your store still on the chopping list. As with any retail pharmacy, store are being closed every year if not performing. Location, location, location still apply, sometime the company just doesn't have resources to wait for that area to growth and for the store to turn profit. Then there still probability for Wal-Mart to shut down all NHM if they think that model as a whole not turning out they way they expected like Wal-Mart Express a few years back.

 

[Sine Cura]

Are those in "old people" areas?

Only unusual hours I know "nearby" for a supercenter in Yreka, CA (M-F 8-7 Sat 9-5 Sun 10-4) and one in Richmond, CA (M-F 9-7 Sat 9-5 Sun 10-4). Yreka could be considered the unofficial capital of the state of Jefferson and the Richmond one is in a mall and Walmart doesn't take that county's Medi-Cal plan (surprise?!) so that store does < 800/week IIRC

 

[ranger99rx]

Are those in "old people" areas?

No, those 3 stores are NHM and opened 4 years ago. After 2 years or so they got cut since their volume under 1000/week and that there were not that many rx filled/picked up between 7-9pm to justify longer hours. We have a new super center opened 2.5 years ago and their hours m-sat 9-7, sun 10-6. Don't know how many scripts they're doing per day though. I heard one of the store near Richmond,VA had weird hours due to county rule.

 

[ranger99rx]

Even though they just opened the entire store in October 2016 and their script volume is up 25% from last year?

Seems like a waste to close a store you just invested so heavily in opening only ~3 years ago within 10 years in a city that is growing pretty rapidly.

A NHM store closed to mine store (I'm in NHM) opened December 2016 and closed 3/2019. A Sam's club opened 11/2015 and closed 1/2018. So any store size (big or small) could be affected.

 

[mentos]

A NHM store closed to mine store (I'm in NHM) opened December 2016 and closed 3/2019. A Sam's club opened 11/2015 and closed 1/2018. So any store size (big or small) could be affected.

But the store he's talking about had 25% growth! That's 560 per week to a whopping 700 per week! Incredible growth!

 

[dmbgg]

But the store he's talking about had 25% growth! That's 560 per week to a whopping 700 per week! Incredible growth!

Quit being such a cynic. My god, you’re embarrassing to the profession.

 

[dmbgg]

But the store he's talking about had 25% growth! That's 560 per week to a whopping 700 per week! Incredible growth!

And also, just embarrassing generally. I feel sorry for those close to you.

 

[Sine Cura]

Moral of the story is the pharmacy is going to be an afterthought in terms of whether Walmart wants to shut a location down. Bad locations (low-income population, high shrink) or too many locations in close proximity are risk factors. Sure, the pharmacy might do 5 million in revenue a year but that pales in comparison to the overall store doing 25-100 million a year. Walmart is thriving in the 21th century due to grocery, not pharmacy.

Also, if you have ever experienced a Walmart pharmacy closing their method is horrible too unlike real pharmacy chains (prescription records inaccessible via Connexus after closing so you have to print out records and re-enter them into your system). They have to come up with a better way, like, I dunno, actually leave the closed store's records accessible from any Walmart like they do with Walgreens (maybe costs too much $$$$$).

 

[dmbgg]

Salaries: that is location dependent and duration of tenure dependent. I’ve seen up to 76/hr in California.

Walmart closes stores all the time. NHM in San Jose, 2012-2019 at Westgate Mall. They sold like 500/week. Leased property

NHM in south Sacramento sold 1200-1300/week. 2015-2019. Leased

supercenter in Knoxville closed. 2014-2019. Leased

There are examples of supercenters closed too where wm owned the building too, like the one near Nellis AFB in Vegas that closed in 2016 and still remains unoccupied. I bet that was at least a 60 million store.

Walmart also cutting back on hours open too, even 100m+ plus stores closing at midnight. Wouldn’t be surprised if they cut hrs for pharmacy too, like 9 to 8 or 9 to 7 weekdays depending on area

I knew of a Sams pharmacy manager that took a staff position at a NHM. If there are no manager openings what you gonna do

Walmart could just close the pharmacies only like some regional grocers have done.

True that. A Walmart neighborhood market closed a while ago on Kyrene and Chandler they still had 5 years on the lease. They’re closing to compete with the online market.

Many pharmacy’s have closed and or reduced hours, all over the place. Just talk to pharmacists or read the news.

Rumor has it Bashas will be closing there supermarket pharmacy’s. Some of those stores do 20 scripts a day and the busiest lol does 200 to 300 lmfao. And you thought target was a cake walk! Lol

It’s not going to get any better.

There’s a mail order facility where pharmacists have a quota to verify about 200 plus scripts an hour. (If you make certain errors you know what’s up lol) The scripts are generated from a computer named “Iris”, that’s her name lol. Pharmacists fix a few errors this computer may generate and then verify them. This is nothing but machine learning. Corrections are saved and the computer fine tunes the algorithm. It’s nothing but tech work, of which I doubt you’ll need pharmacists in the future.

I think there used to be discretion to negotiate a few dollars circa 2015 depending on the location but that is prob long gone. Why not shoot your shot though. Having a high rate puts a target on your back though. I asked to have my 401k match right away instead of waiting a year but apparently no dice (n =1 though)

During their whole "Project Thunder" cuts pharmacy mangers were affected too. Personally I don't know any pharmacist or pharmacy manager who was left out in the cold if they wanted to stay with the company. That might change though as there isn't that much attrition (harder to jump ship these days)

And we all know with market musical chairs some MHWD are skittish about their long-term prospects too. I'm sure it wasn't fun for demoted PCSMs to be manning the bench full time either lol



As for southwestern subsidiaries of Kroger (Smith's, Fry's) as well as Basha's, they are probably done. They would just be following the example of Stater Bros and Raley's. I can also see Safeway and Albertsons abolishing pharmacy. They would probably get rid of their pharmacies before Walmart though

In my area, any store doing less than 1000/week got hours cut 9-7 m-f, sat 9-5, s 10-4. New hire $56, manager maybe $58-$60/hour (internal staff turning manager are higher since their rate are already higher than new hire.) If they close your store and there are positions available you will be able to transfer unless you are a terrible pharmacist that they don't want to keep. To me the whole store has to do well for them to keep it open not just pharmacy. Even if you are doing 1500 to 2000/week but your front end shrink is out of control or profit is minimum then your store still on the chopping list. As with any retail pharmacy, store are being closed every year if not performing. Location, location, location still apply, sometime the company just doesn't have resources to wait for that area to growth and for the store to turn profit. Then there still probability for Wal-Mart to shut down all NHM if they think that model as a whole not turning out they way they expected like Wal-Mart Express a few years back.

Thanks for all of your productive responses. It's nice to get some factual experiences from others in the community. It's much preferred to fear-mongering and cynicism. I think we are all not too happy about the trajectory of the profession. It's a little humbling to remember that we were never promised 6 figure salaries for the entire length of our careers. Though, I wish the BOPs and schools would understand that the debt burden is becoming great for students.

Also, it made me realize that I should speak to the district leader about the store's profitability during the interview. Not only because I would like to help grow the business for the individual store, but I want to make sure that the entire store is not operating on a loss. All large chains have closed at least 100 stores in the past two years, so this isn't news.

Again, thanks for your responses.

 

[mentos]

And also, just embarrassing generally. I feel sorry for those close to you.

There's no need for personal insults. I see in your post history that when people give honest answers, you resort to personal attacks. Take a chill pill. I'm just being real and 3 other posters agreed with me.

 

[dmbgg]

There's no need for personal insults. I see in your post history that when people give honest answers, you resort to personal attacks. Take a chill pill. I'm just being real and 3 other posters agreed with me.

I’m sorry you feel attacked.

Your replies weren’t honest answers. And just because people agree with you doesn’t mean they were honest answers.

It means you most likely share the same narrow-minded, cynical view of the profession and its trajectory together as a group. That is largely the attitude of this forum. It has been for years. Someone needs to apologize to all of you that you may lose your 6 figure salary that you were never really entitled to in the first place. I do believe that there should be serious reform in regards to the price of education. (The again, I went to a private school and collected a bit more debt because some of the choices I made. But I’m glad that I have learned from those mistakes and am moving forward positively)

Each time I return here to ask honest questions and try to gather other people’s experiences and thoughts, in an attempt to gain knowledge, it’s met with cynical sarcasm. Maybe try not to resort to sarcasm and actually give real, honest answers.

Judging by your replies... You’re that guy I call in the neighboring city to get a copy or to maybe ask for some advice and instead of being pleasant... you’re burnt out, tired, lazy, and just unable to perform at a high level. Don’t give off that vibe.

 

[owlegrad]

“I am sorry you feel attacked by my attack”

LMAO What a genuine apology.

 

[Mambo#5]

I’m sorry you feel attacked.

Your replies weren’t honest answers. And just because people agree with you doesn’t mean they were honest answers.

It means you most likely share the same narrow-minded, cynical view of the profession and its trajectory together as a group. That is largely the attitude of this forum. It has been for years. Someone needs to apologize to all of you that you may lose your 6 figure salary that you were never really entitled to in the first place. I do believe that there should be serious reform in regards to the price of education. (The again, I went to a private school and collected a bit more debt because some of the choices I made. But I’m glad that I have learned from those mistakes and am moving forward positively)

Each time I return here to ask honest questions and try to gather other people’s experiences and thoughts, in an attempt to gain knowledge, it’s met with cynical sarcasm. Maybe try not to resort to sarcasm and actually give real, honest answers.

Judging by your replies... You’re that guy I call in the neighboring city to get a copy or to maybe ask for some advice and instead of being pleasant... you’re burnt out, tired, lazy, and just unable to perform at a high level. Don’t give off that vibe.

Pay attention. These are honest answers.

In response to “Judging by your replies comment” You can’t tell anything about what the person does in the pharmacy or how they work. I can give you a sarcastic answer and I promise you, I’ll run circles around your as* in the pharmacy and make you look like the unpleasant lazy pharmacist. As sure as the sky is blue. As sure as pharmacy is dead.

 

[dmbgg]

Pay attention. These are honest answers.

In response to “Judging by your replies comment” You can’t tell anything about what the person does in the pharmacy or how they work. I can give you a sarcastic answer and I promise you, I’ll run circles around your as* in the pharmacy and make you look like the unpleasant lazy pharmacist. As sure as the sky is blue. As sure as pharmacy is dead.

Yes, you claim that. But I don’t feel that most work as hard as I do. But what a waste of time trying to prove it. Would you like to provide a metric by which to base it upon?

The thread is loaded with honest answers. And some of them are apparent cynical sarcasm. That’s just the way it is.

Again, there seems to be a correlation in my region when I talk to other professionals about how they only want to complain when they aren’t doing a great job and gloat when they are. There is no happy medium and it’s echoed in this forum.

Lots of seemingly miserable people.

Arguing on the internet is not very useful, so I’ll try to refrain. I’m thankful for the positive contributors in this thread though.

Hard not to get baited by the trolls filled with misery.

 

[mentos]

I’m sorry you feel attacked.

Your replies weren’t honest answers. And just because people agree with you doesn’t mean they were honest answers.

It means you most likely share the same narrow-minded, cynical view of the profession and its trajectory together as a group. That is largely the attitude of this forum. It has been for years. Someone needs to apologize to all of you that you may lose your 6 figure salary that you were never really entitled to in the first place. I do believe that there should be serious reform in regards to the price of education. (The again, I went to a private school and collected a bit more debt because some of the choices I made. But I’m glad that I have learned from those mistakes and am moving forward positively)

Each time I return here to ask honest questions and try to gather other people’s experiences and thoughts, in an attempt to gain knowledge, it’s met with cynical sarcasm. Maybe try not to resort to sarcasm and actually give real, honest answers.

Judging by your replies... You’re that guy I call in the neighboring city to get a copy or to maybe ask for some advice and instead of being pleasant... you’re burnt out, tired, lazy, and just unable to perform at a high level. Don’t give off that vibe.

I already said that I work in a LTC so that's not me

My real honest answer was that 700 scripts per week is not profitable, there's no negotiation with salary, and it would be a chill job for as long as it's open. Not sure what's dishonest about this answer.

 

[dmbgg]

But the store he's talking about had 25% growth! That's 560 per week to a whopping 700 per week! Incredible growth!

 

[mentos]

This is the internet. Sarcasm is allowed.

Plus my sarcastic response was honest as well. I just repeated what you said.

 

[M0df]

Are there better forums? I checked out Reddit but didn't find them informative. Random questions tend to generate random responses. Anyway, I just get offended with posts that insult groups of people and by default... Me

 

[mentos]

Are there better forums? I checked out Reddit but didn't find them informative. Random questions tend to generate random responses. Anyway, I just get offended with posts that insult groups of people and by default... Me

Here are some informative threads on Reddit about OP's topic.

 

[sozetone]

Moral of the story is the pharmacy is going to be an afterthought in terms of whether Walmart wants to shut a location down. Bad locations (low-income population, high shrink) or too many locations in close proximity are risk factors. Sure, the pharmacy might do 5 million in revenue a year but that pales in comparison to the overall store doing 25-100 million a year. Walmart is thriving in the 21th century due to grocery, not pharmacy.

Also, if you have ever experienced a Walmart pharmacy closing their method is horrible too unlike real pharmacy chains (prescription records inaccessible via Connexus after closing so you have to print out records and re-enter them into your system). They have to come up with a better way, like, I dunno, actually leave the closed store's records accessible from any Walmart like they do with Walgreens (maybe costs too much $$$$$).

Thats 100% right on. my store is in the ghetto, homeless shelter on one side, psych hospital on the other. Shrink is super high, everything in boxes. "special store", our pharmacy is 5 miles from a "premier" store. lol... we do nearly same volume, and show more increase in sales, profit, and script growth. Above the wage line too.... so i asked for more help after being cut to SINGLE coverage last year during the "culling"....with skeleton tech crew to boot. had a great argument based on Profit and loss statement. Their response was "your foretasted for this, and it's in line with the market".... = NO. They will probably shut down this pharmacy one day. thats why they wont invest in it, even though it shows nice growth......however the store is a mega store or whatever , 100 million ya know? due to grocery and GM side.....its a fixed game they are playing.

 

[sozetone]

In 12 years I’ve never heard of a pharmacy closing, or a position being eliminated, and a pharmacy manager not being given a full time position in the aftermath.

This forum has to be the most toxic, fear-mongering, waste of time that exists.

Why did I think this was even a reasonable place to have a discussion?

Times have changed since 12 years ago. you came here looking for answers, this is our reality, we live it every day. Dont be mad because you dont like what you hear. If times were good we wouldnt even be having this conversation.

 

[mentos]

Times have changed since 12 years ago. you came here looking for answers, this is our reality, we live it every day. Dont be mad because you dont like what you hear. If times were good we wouldnt even be having this conversation.

Typical response here, we tell the truth and they get mad. Times are tough but when OP first posted this, the stock market was at all time highs. Things are just beginning to get real bad.

 

[Sine Cura]

It's so obvious retail pharmacy is in terminal decline (as well as society at large) so anyone actually working in chains shouldn't even bat an eye at the turmoil in the financial markets

 

[SoylentGreen]

In 12 years I’ve never heard of a pharmacy closing, or a position being eliminated, and a pharmacy manager not being given a full time position in the aftermath.

This forum has to be the most toxic, fear-mongering, waste of time that exists.

Why did I think this was even a reasonable place to have a discussion?

I knew a guy who had this exact thing happen to him - his slow NHM where he was the pharmacy manager shut down (the whole store), and he did indeed wind up with another pharmacist job at another walmart in the area.

OTOH with the last round of mass layoffs last year they did lay off pharmacy managers, which was very surprising to me.

Who knows these days?