Overpaid and Underworked?

[shaq786]

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1. Unrelated question, I was curious how much you Sams Club/Wal Mart Pharmacists are making in the U.S.?

I just landed a job as a tech in GA, and I'm getting 11/hr at Sams Club, without any prior experience. We usually do 150 - 200 scripts/day. I hear walgreens, eckerds, and other places do like 300 - 400 a day, and their techs get paid much less. So I was wondering how you feel about this pay scale and whether us Sams club folks are overpaid? We also have 3-4 people in the pharmacy on those "big" days.

 

[alwaystired]

1. Unrelated question, I was curious how much you Sams Club/Wal Mart Pharmacists are making in the U.S.?

I just landed a job as a tech in GA, and I'm getting 11/hr at Sams Club, without any prior experience. We usually do 150 - 200 scripts/day. I hear walgreens, eckerds, and other places do like 300 - 400 a day, and their techs get paid much less. So I was wondering how you feel about this pay scale and whether us Sams club folks are overpaid? We also have 3-4 people in the pharmacy on those "big" days.

this could be why so many pharmacists want to work for sams club. walgreens will have one tech and one rph and do 150 in a day...ouch.

 

[shaq786]

I have no clue how you guys manage. You would be especially screwed if the tech was new and cluless about 90% of the things. 😱

 

[rxlynn]

1. Unrelated question, I was curious how much you Sams Club/Wal Mart Pharmacists are making in the U.S.?

I just landed a job as a tech in GA, and I'm getting 11/hr at Sams Club, without any prior experience. We usually do 150 - 200 scripts/day. I hear walgreens, eckerds, and other places do like 300 - 400 a day, and their techs get paid much less. So I was wondering how you feel about this pay scale and whether us Sams club folks are overpaid? We also have 3-4 people in the pharmacy on those "big" days.

I'm assuming from the $11 figure that you are at least in the metro Atlanta area? Yes, I can confirm that you are being paid much better than CVS techs to start in that market - did you have experience somewhere else before? CVS typically starts tech in Atlanta with no experience at 8.50 or 9 /hour, and then they will sometimes up that a bit once the tech goes through the CVS certification process, which usually takes a couple or 3 months.

 

[undertow]

damn, how come there isn't any Sams Club in NYC

 

[CuriousPharmD]

this is a question many are looking the answer for...why would you want to work at a WAGS where you work your ass off (and high stress situation) your whole shift for $50/hr. when you can work at a slower pharmacy (lower stress) for $45/hr. People would like to find out what those slower retail pharmacy chains are generally??? From my knowledge those would be retail chains not known for their pharmacies like sam's, target, k-mart and costco. anyone have any advice or thoughts on this????

 

[BME103]

^^ I know the difference of just $5 an hour doesn't sound much but if you work 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, the difference is actually $10,400 a year. Also, the sign on bonus and other benefits tend to be a lot more generous in the retail settings as well.

I am not saying retails are better, but the pay difference is significant.

 

[undertow]

10k isnt much when you're makin 100k/yr

 

[BME103]

^^If you are making $45 an hour, your salary is closer to 90 k than to 100k a year. I guess it depends on you but I think 11% difference in salary is significant. But you know what? It is the same everywhere you go. If you hate working for Walgreens, then you will also hate working for Sams Club. Don't think just because you work in a low volume store, you are not going to get crap from management either. They are always looking for ways to make more money and you will find yourself doing other crap since you have "so much time" like trying to get people to sign up for the store credit card. It is a retail afterall.

 

[DrugDealer]

So I was wondering how you feel about this pay scale and whether us Sams club folks are overpaid?

No, you are not overpaid. The big chains just underpay their employees.

 

[dgroulx]

this is a question many are looking the answer for...why would you want to work at a WAGS where you work your ass off (and high stress situation) your whole shift for $50/hr. when you can work at a slower pharmacy (lower stress) for $45/hr. People would like to find out what those slower retail pharmacy chains are generally??? From my knowledge those would be retail chains not known for their pharmacies like sam's, target, k-mart and costco. anyone have any advice or thoughts on this????

I would work for WAGS because they have a better benefits package. The 10-year stock option is great. They match your 401k. You can put more into your 401k. Big stores like Target, K-Mart, Walmart have many more workers at a lower wage which lowers the 401k contribution for highly compensated employees. Right now, you can only put up to $5,000 in your 401k if you are a pharmacist at Target. Also, WAGS does not make you work 12-hour days. Twelve hours on your feet at a slow store is agonizing. When you're actually working, you don't think about the pain. The 8-hour days at WAGS are reasonable. You are not as fatigued and make less mistakes.

 

[GatorRxGirl]

Big stores like Target, K-Mart, Walmart have many more workers at a lower wage which lowers the 401k contribution for highly compensated employees.

This is really a regional thing. In north FL, Wags and CVS are the 2 lowest paid stores. Target and K Mart (as well as Publix) pay the most. Again, this isn't the case everywhere. If you want a job based on pay alone, check in your area because these figures differ.

 

[shaq786]

I'm assuming from the $11 figure that you are at least in the metro Atlanta area? Yes, I can confirm that you are being paid much better than CVS techs to start in that market - did you have experience somewhere else before? CVS typically starts tech in Atlanta with no experience at 8.50 or 9 /hour, and then they will sometimes up that a bit once the tech goes through the CVS certification process, which usually takes a couple or 3 months.

Actually I work in the suburbs. I had no experience in pharmacy nor do I have a tech certification.

 

[med-i-cal]

I was a CPhT for Wags for 4 years before med school started. I knew quite a few pharmacists who had to work double shifts to cover stores who were short. If you work in a city with multiple stores, you are almost required to cover for each other if something happens.

To the person that thought 150/day for a tech and pharmacist was bad, it's not. As long as it is fairly spread out, and doesn't require too many custom compounds it's pretty easy. Our busy stores (especially on a Monday-pharmacists and techs will learn to hate Mondays) will hit 800, especially at a 24hr store.

More power to you folks, I saw the life of a chain pharmacist and that's what changed my mind to medicine. I could never be a bean counter again...

 

[freshbeatschris]

To the person that thought 150/day for a tech and pharmacist was bad, it's not. As long as it is fairly spread out, and doesn't require too many custom compounds it's pretty easy. Our busy stores (especially on a Monday-pharmacists and techs will learn to hate Mondays) will hit 800, especially at a 24hr store.

Amen to that. The WAGS that I worked for (only 3 months) did 600 to 800 a day. They were 24 hours and most of my 8 hour shift was spent stooping over the drive thru window. I had such hideous back problems that it rendered my body virtually useless.

I would be curious to see if I wouln't mind working at a slower store. Hopefully I will find that out on rotations.

Chris

 

[med-i-cal]

Amen to that. The WAGS that I worked for (only 3 months) did 600 to 800 a day. They were 24 hours and most of my 8 hour shift was spent stooping over the drive thru window. I had such hideous back problems that it rendered my body virtually useless.

I would be curious to see if I wouln't mind working at a slower store. Hopefully I will find that out on rotations.

Chris

Well I worked at many different stores, as I was a floater for a couple of summers. If we are still talking about WAGS here, then yes, it is much nicer at a slower store. But as the pharmacist, be protective of your techs, I can't even tell you how many times one of the store-front managers would come back and try to steal me away to do some meaning-less job that had nothing to do with pharmacy just because we weren't busy. It came to the point where I would work slower to prolong the work because I knew the pharmacist wouldn't say no to the managers (who have no control over pharmacy matters).

Basically the slower stores are nice because you have more time to talk to patients, don't spend 100% of your time counting/verifying, and you can actually do some reading.