Pharmacist Salary Thread

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phathead said:
Why does it matter? Generally the only time people ask for wages is when they're getting into the field for the wrong reasons.
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seems a little bit idealistic and self righteous to look down on people who ask about salaries. why wouldn't you research wages for a career before you commit 4 years of your life and upwards 30k a year into schooling. i understand it doesn't matter to some people how much money is made, but realistically speaking, money is important, especially if you are wanting to start and support a family in the near future. though it shouldn't be the ONLY reason a person gets into a profession, it can be one of the motivating factors.
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desklamp said:
seems a little bit idealistic and self righteous to look down on people who ask about salaries. why wouldn't you research wages for a career before you commit 4 years of your life and upwards 30k a year into schooling. i understand it doesn't matter to some people how much money is made, but realistically speaking, money is important, especially if you are wanting to start and support a family in the near future. though it shouldn't be the ONLY reason a person gets into a profession, it can be one of the motivating factors.
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True

Kids change your perspective on everything :) . Ask any pharmacist with a family. I'm still a naive and don't think that money is my main motivation for pharmacy...but I think with time, in anything I'll do, my motivation will be to provide for my family as best as I can.

A balanced perspective on everything is the remedy for understanding the true circumstances of reality. If you're idealistic, you're using false hope...which can be both a good or bad thing. Good if it's temporary and you achieve something; bad if you become an egocentric person.
 
Artful Dodger said:
True

Kids change your perspective on everything :) . Ask any pharmacist with a family. I'm still a naive and don't think that money is my main motivation for pharmacy...but I think with time, in anything I'll do, my motivation will be to provide for my family as best as I can.

A balanced perspective on everything is the remedy for understanding the true circumstances of reality. If you're idealistic, you're using false hope...which can be both a good or bad thing. Good if it's temporary and you achieve something; bad if you become an egocentric person.
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I agree. Some people should not be so quick to stereotype and think so negatively every time someone asks about salary.
 
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I'm very interested in becoming a pharmacist and part of that reason is the money. It's not the only reason, but as a family man I have to make enough money to sustain my wife and future child(ren). Another reason is the hours, with a 9-5 job I can be a better father/husband than I am with my current job. I also like drugs(not in an addictive or illegal sense), they are just fascinating.
 
So who else has a spouse heading into the medical field?

My Tara is taking her MCATs in April. Very interested in emergency medicine.
 
No Time To Lift said:
So who else has a spouse heading into the medical field?

My Tara is taking her MCATs in April. Very interested in emergency medicine.
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My wife is a financial reporting manager for several multi billions of dollars health insurance company. Does that count?
 
No Time To Lift said:
I'm very interested in becoming a pharmacist and part of that reason is the money. It's not the only reason, but as a family man I have to make enough money to sustain my wife and future child(ren). Another reason is the hours, with a 9-5 job I can be a better father/husband than I am with my current job. I also like drugs(not in an addictive or illegal sense), they are just fascinating.
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All valid reasons. I am a 30 year old career changer and will be starting pharmacy school next July. Very reasonable if you ask me.

I think Pharmacy is a good choice because you get to help people in a capacity you find to be interesting (so you will love your job), you can make very good money working 40 hours per week and you can leave your work at your job. My best friend is an orthopedic resident and I do not envy him at all.
 
wes011 said:
All valid reasons. I am a 30 year old career changer and will be starting pharmacy school next July. Very reasonable if you ask me.

I think Pharmacy is a good choice because you get to help people in a capacity you find to be interesting (so you will love your job), you can make very good money working 40 hours per week and you can leave your work at your job. My best friend is an orthopedic resident and I do not envy him at all.
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I am taking my pharm tech exam soon so what I read in my 400 page study book sounds interesting, all of it. I am not even afraid of retail, as I am contractor right now and have to deal with ppl's BS all day. Don't even get me started on my Guatemalan.
 
No Time To Lift said:
I am taking my pharm tech exam soon so what I read in my 400 page study book sounds interesting, all of it. I am not even afraid of retail, as I am contractor right now and have to deal with ppl's BS all day. Don't even get me started on my Guatemalan.
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I'm taking the PTCE on Monday :) Good luck to you! I hear that the hospital and the history parts are the thing to focus on as they are the least intuitive.

Mmmmmm.....Guatemalan....I ordered 25lbs of Guatemalan Antigua green coffee beans this week and can't wait to get roasting :love:
 
joetrisman said:
I'm taking the PTCE on Monday :) Good luck to you! I hear that the hospital and the history parts are the thing to focus on as they are the least intuitive.

Mmmmmm.....Guatemalan....I ordered 25lbs of Guatemalan Antigua green coffee beans this week and can't wait to get roasting :love:
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I am taking it in 3 days, on Friday! Btw I agree coffee=good.

Do you have any tips to offer? I am studying the Pharmacy Technician book right now.
 
No Time To Lift said:
I am taking it in 3 days, on Friday! Btw I agree coffee=good.

Do you have any tips to offer? I am studying the Pharmacy Technician book right now.
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It's easy. Make sure you know how many refills of certain drugs are authorized (Accutane popped up twice...), common treatments for common issues, where common drugs are kept and at what temperature (3 or 4 temperature questions I recall), DEA form familiarity and knowing some basic economics crap like revolving profit (I think that's the name? Hell if I know anymore...)... you truly can't go wrong on this test.
 
Passion4Sci said:
It's easy. Make sure you know how many refills of certain drugs are authorized (Accutane popped up twice...), common treatments for common issues, where common drugs are kept and at what temperature (3 or 4 temperature questions I recall), DEA form familiarity and knowing some basic economics crap like revolving profit (I think that's the name? Hell if I know anymore...)... you truly can't go wrong on this test.
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I assume accutane is like schedule IIs as you have to get blood work (and pregnancy test if you are a girl) every month? So only one fill per script? I'm working on my top 200 everyday and what they treat. I need to look at the different forms and start going over practice tests. When I was reading the book, I was super glad that I had so much bio during my undergrad as otherwise it would be a lot of info all at once.
 
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Like passion said....you really can't go wrong on this test...I definately did not know the top 200 or even close to that (you learn that in pharm school) and I did real well..The majority of my test questions involved calculations...Also, I remember a few nitroglycerin related questions...It won't be as bad as you think...But hey,if you have time to learn the top 200, more power to you...I guess that will just save you time in pharm school. Good luck
 
A number of factors would affect the salary of a pharmacist-

1) Settings - in general, retail/ chain pharmacy pay a little higher than hospital. But at the same time, holiday schedule/ benefits are worse in retail. I am not familiar with other settings like industry, academia...

2) Residency/ specialty - Residency-trained pharmacist/ BCPS-certified specialists' starting salary is usually 5-8K higher than a PharmD fresh out of school. (hospital usually does not hire new grads, but I have seen exceptions)

3) State - needless to say - there is geographical varations

4) Willingness to relocate - If you agree to move to an area no one would like to go, you deserve a higher pay.

5) Shift - Overnight/ evening shifts pharmacist may receive differentials
 
this thread is useless without

1) benefits package
2) 401k match info
 
jonniii said:
4) Willingness to relocate - If you agree to move to an area no one would like to go, you deserve a higher pay.
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I think this is the biggest one, I remember seeing a job opening in Lubbock for a hospital pharmacist for a 3 year contract and $40K signing bonus.

Don't bother looking for it, it's been taken.
 
wes011 said:
And at the end of the day, they tell us what we can and can't do. :mad:
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It's just the system. I don't let the "system" bother me. A lot of things from basic laws to healthcare are ******ed but that's alright, life can't be perfect.
 
joetrisman said:
I assume accutane is like schedule IIs as you have to get blood work (and pregnancy test if you are a girl) every month? So only one fill per script? I'm working on my top 200 everyday and what they treat. I need to look at the different forms and start going over practice tests. When I was reading the book, I was super glad that I had so much bio during my undergrad as otherwise it would be a lot of info all at once.
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Accutane is not like a C-II. Not all C-IIs require blood work.

And the test isn't that hard, they've really dumbed it down over the years.
 
For Accutane, it has to do with pregnancy... the FDA was advised to actually remove it from the market, but as a compromise they said, "OK, we'll limit # of refills between which a pregnancy test must be taken."
 
Aznfarmerboi said:
Actually, that is your impression. I NEVER tried to get into hospital pharmacy. I am still under contract with CVS (meaning that I cant work for anybody else). I went into retail because I have been in retail for almost 7 years now. It doesnt make sense for me to go to hospital since I am working on getting a corporate position and will be promoted soon after one to two more years. Heck... its hard to say I am in it for money. After all, when I entered pharmacy school, pharmacist salary was 50-60k. Its surprising how little you know.

The police officer thread was what would you have done if you didnt go into pharmacy. Being that a NY police officer gets paid 30-40k, how does that support your point about money. I was also in ROTC and almost became a military pharmacist.

So tell me bklyn girl, what do pharmacists do?

For some reason, I am starting to hate pre pharm now. All of the new pre pharmacy that I hire bitch about 10 dollars when I got paid 5.15 starting out. Rotation students just want to leave early.
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I have been following SDN for several years now and noticed you didn't get accepted to pharmacy school that long ago. Pharmacists perhaps made about 50-60k was prior to the year 2000, but not around 2002 and up when you know the salary dramatically increased. So when you said you've worked 7 years retail, you were probably including your pre-pharm and intern years too and not actual pharmacist years.

As for you climbing up the corporate ladder, tell me how much patient interaction will you get? Most likely less than what you're doing right now.
 
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In about the year 2000, pharmacists were making about $80k. Pharmacists haven't made $50k a year since the mid-nineties.
$10 an hour is a normal starting salary for techs.
 
GrillRX said:
In Ft. Laud FL i'm making 56.25 an hour at a salary of 117k. I would love to be counseling medications for every patient, but with the mass hour cuts due to power, it is literally impossible. Stores I float at do ~800 a day and with 2 techs it's chaos all day. I don't even have time to make all the Dr calls I need let alone be counseling people. It's a shame it's been reduced to this, but walgreens certainly seems to be turning into a "get in get out" mentality regarding customer service.
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~800 with two techs!? Sweet Jeebus! That's ****ing lunacy!!
 
why did the salary go up in 2002-2003? is it because of the MMA in 2003 that allowed medicare part D to cover prescription medications for 65+ patients?
 
I know many of the people on this board are super concerned about salary. Even I must admit when my friend told me she got an offer, my first question was "how much?"

That number is for a 44 hr work week which I think comes out to $50.xx / hr

I thought I heard that this chains offers are based on grades, so just in case thats true I will say that this person narrowly missed failing out of school.

2zjba08.jpg
 
For my district/region... for the first time, new grads do not make more than experienced pharmacists.
 
NormalSaline said:
I thought I heard that this chains offers are based on grades,
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Well, I'm Rho Chi and graduated making only one B throughout entire RX school... That's why I was offered $176,000 per year salary by a chain.

hth
 
I don't even know what you're talking about. Grades have nothing to do with your salary in retail.

Maybe somebody can fill me in on this one??? *sarcasm*
 
NormalSaline said:
I know many of the people on this board are super concerned about salary. Even I must admit when my friend told me she got an offer, my first question was "how much?"

That number is for a 44 hr work week which I think comes out to $50.xx / hr

I thought I heard that this chains offers are based on grades, so just in case thats true I will say that this person narrowly missed failing out of school.

2zjba08.jpg
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That is SUCH a horrible salary. My salary is more than that working 40 hours per week. Plus, even in Houston and Dallas, the rate is $54-58 per hour. $50 is just horrible for a chain.
 
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I know one graduate from last year's class that is making 150k working at a supermarket chain. I saw it on a survey, so I don't know who the person is.
 
crazybob said:
I know one graduate from last year's class that is making 150k working at a supermarket chain. I saw it on a survey, so I don't know who the person is.
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This is easily do-able for any retail chain. You just have to go to an area with overtime...aka SMALL TOWNS haha. I was on pace to do that, but I decided to stop my OT for now...and enjoy all the time that I have.
 
Got Em said:
This is easily do-able for any retail chain. You just have to go to an area with overtime...aka SMALL TOWNS haha. I was on pace to do that, but I decided to stop my OT for now...and enjoy all the time that I have.
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That in a small town doesn't sound too bad. Unless there's some story to it that I never heard :laugh:
 
Got Em said:
That is SUCH a horrible salary. My salary is more than that working 40 hours per hour. Plus, even in Houston and Dallas, the rate is $54-58 per hour. $50 is just horrible for a chain.
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I actually dont know that my hourly calc is correct. I just divided annual by 52x44...

can anyone verify thats the way to get hourly from annual (or vice versa)
 
crazybob said:
That in a small town doesn't sound too bad. Unless there's some story to it that I never heard :laugh:
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Yeah, I picked a small town so that I get paid more per hour AND there was overtime. However, all the OT dried up where I live, so now I have to drive 70 miles for OT and even that's not available at times. Anyway, just make sure the town is pretty close to bigger cities where you have friends. My town is 2.5 hours from Houston and 3 hours from Dallas, so I'm good to go.
 
Yeah, thats what I did, but is it the correct way to convert annual to hourly? You dont work 52 weeks/yr
 
Got Em said:
Yeah, I picked a small town so that I get paid more per hour AND there was overtime. However, all the OT dried up where I live, so now I have to drive 70 miles for OT and even that's not available at times. Anyway, just make sure the town is pretty close to bigger cities where you have friends. My town is 2.5 hours from Houston and 3 hours from Dallas, so I'm good to go.
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I'm thinking of a small retirement community with 15k people that is 15, 25, and 40 miles away from three cities with around 70k people each. So would that be good enough of a plan? Oh, and those three cities make up a well-known region of my home state.
 
NormalSaline said:
Yeah, thats what I did, but is it the correct way to convert annual to hourly? You dont work 52 weeks/yr
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It is correct. Most places have paid vacation, so it counts for 52 weeks.

crazybob said:
I'm thinking of a small retirement community with 15k people that is 15, 25, and 40 miles away from three cities with around 70k people each. So would that be good enough of a plan? Oh, and those three cities make up a well-known region of my home state.
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Well, since you're graduating in 4 years, it's too early to tell. As long as there is a need for pharmacists there and you don't think you'll be bored to death, then you'll be fine. Try to work as much as you can while you're young and pad your 401k/bank acct. When you have kids and a wife, you probably wouldn't want to work as much.
 
Got Em said:
Well, since you're graduating in 4 years, it's too early to tell. As long as there is a need for pharmacists there and you don't think you'll be bored to death, then you'll be fine. Try to work as much as you can while you're young and pad your 401k/bank acct. When you have kids and a wife, you probably wouldn't want to work as much.
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As in number of hours per week or number of days per week or both?
 
Got Em said:
That is SUCH a horrible salary. My salary is more than that working 40 hours per hour. Plus, even in Houston and Dallas, the rate is $54-58 per hour. $50 is just horrible for a chain.
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You work 40 hours per hour?! That's crazy, you must be soooo tired when you get home. :)
 
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