Potential Pharmacy salary and earning potential?

[raptortheballer]

Wondering what the typical salary growth for a newly graduated Pharm student would be? What's the highest salary / earning potential you've heard of for a pharmacist? Thanks!

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[gwarm01]

Just south of $1,000,000 for a year long contract in Alaska. PGY2 required.

 

[farmadiazepine]

Why is every other thread in this forum about how much a hospital or retail pharmacist makes? It's been beaten to death. A simple Google search will give you an answer

 

[Sine Cura]

Larry Merlo makes beaucoup bucks. Aim for those nontraditional roles.

 

[gwarm01]

Larry Merlo makes beaucoup bucks. Aim for those nontraditional roles.

You just have to differentiate yourself by taking leadership roles in your student organizations!

 

[ChalupaBatman86]

You just have to differentiate yourself by taking leadership roles in your student organizations!

Exactly. Salary is highly correlated to the quantity and quality of posters you present at their circle j---I mean conferences.

 

[N974]

Starting 90k-130k depending on location. Max straight salary about 150k, but that is very select locations.

By straight I mean 40 hours per week, not picking up shifts or per diem. Folks make close to 200k that grind out a couple gigs.

 

[that1guy]

Max I've grossed - just under 300k
Averaged around 200k last 3 years. It's really easy to get to 200K in retail IMO if you work hard.

I average about 60-70 hours per week with a chain. Max year I worked about 80 hours per week.

 

[Gombrich12]

Max I've grossed - just under 300k
Averaged around 200k last 3 years. It's really easy to get to 200K in retail IMO if you work hard.

I average about 60-70 hours per week with a chain. Max year I worked about 80 hours per week.

I can barely stomach 40 hours a week working at an easy chain store these days. If they were offering unlimited OT when I graduated I could've done those 60 hour weeks maybe for a year or two though.

 

[radio frequency]

Max I've grossed - just under 300k
Averaged around 200k last 3 years. It's really easy to get to 200K in retail IMO if you work hard.

I average about 60-70 hours per week with a chain. Max year I worked about 80 hours per week.

I'd have to find a second employer to get that many hours. Max I've been offered is about 48 in one week...once.

 

[Tortelloni]

Wondering what the typical salary growth for a newly graduated Pharm student would be? What's the highest salary / earning potential you've heard of for a pharmacist? Thanks!

Best website. Ever.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=pharmacy+salary

 

[one pharmacy call]

Just south of $1,000,000 for a year long contract in Alaska. PGY2 required.

Is a PGY2 in Advanced Antibiotic Suspension Reconstitution good enough?

 

[that1guy]

I can barely stomach 40 hours a week working at an easy chain store these days. If they were offering unlimited OT when I graduated I could've done those 60 hour weeks maybe for a year or two though.

Yeah, I've slowed down lately. School loans are gone, bills are paid, 401k is stout. Plus all the new grads soak up extra shifts fast. I don't think those kind of hours will be available much longer. Then again, it's retail, and the unprepared drop like flies.

 

[Google232]

Hi, I have been admitted to UT's pharmacy school but have been reevaluating my decision. Would you do pharmacy all over again? I have been programming for a year now because I keep hearing about the oversaturation. If you could do something differently in pharmacy school, what would you do?

 

[boriqua]

i make roughly 137k after taxes are taken out working at an independent. no 401k or health insurance though

 

[Momus]

i make roughly 137k after taxes are taken out working at an independent. no 401k or health insurance though

401k match is around 6000 free money. Health insurance for a person can run 300 a person to 1000 family of four/month.

Living in the US without health insurance is really bad. Unless you are on Medicaid, or ultra rich, you are one bad health away to bankrupcy.

 

[boriqua]

401k match is around 6000 free money. Health insurance for a person can run 300 a person to 1000 family of four/month.

Living in the US without health insurance is really bad. Unless you are on Medicaid, or ultra rich, you are one bad health away to bankrupcy.

I actually found a private insurance for relatively cheap. oscar health insurance. premium is only 130 per month. never use it though. pretty much throwing money in the garbage

 

[Momus]

I actually found a private insurance for relatively cheap. oscar health insurance. premium is only 130 per month. never use it though. pretty much throwing money in the garbage

Until sh1t happens. Let's plan your life on luck.

Wait until you need to go to ER, minor procedure, appendectomy, or need it for car accident. 3k-50k time bomb waiting for you anytime. Hope you draw the low end of that range.

 

[Drugsarefun2350]

i make roughly 137k after taxes are taken out working at an independent. no 401k or health insurance though

137 AFTER taxes? Doesn't seem right

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[PharmtoCS]

Hi, I have been admitted to UT's pharmacy school but have been reevaluating my decision. Would you do pharmacy all over again? I have been programming for a year now because I keep hearing about the oversaturation. If you could do something differently in pharmacy school, what would you do?

I would just stick with computer programming and don't look back to pharmacy. The pay, job market, loan burden, and work environment are far better. Computer programming has one of the best job markets right now.

 

[boriqua]

Until sh1t happens. Let's plan your life on luck.

Wait until you need to go to ER, minor procedure, appendectomy, or need it for car accident. 3k-50k time bomb waiting for you anytime. Hope you draw the low end of that range.

well, my deductible for oscar is about 6.5 G's per year before everything is covered so theoretically, i should always draw the low end of that range

 

[boriqua]

137 AFTER taxes? Doesn't seem right

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i like that response. means that my salary is too high to be believable
all i can say is yall should try doing independent pharmacies. if you are tight with the boss, he'll find all sorts of techniques to maximize your pay.
now if only i can one day convince him to throw me some health insurance -_-

 

[297point1]

Is a PGY2 in Advanced Antibiotic Suspension Reconstitution good enough?

Don't give APhA any ideas...

 

[boriqua]

No benefits tho. So maybe?

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some benefits. They pay 200 per month for a parking garage which is in a HUGE benefit in new york. they cover my e-z pass through the bridge everyday from long island to the bronx which runs up to 250 per month. 2 weeks paid vacation with the option to cash out, and 2 bonuses per year(usually weeks worth of salary)

 

[KARM12]

The further I get away from when I graduated, the less I care about making as much money as possible. I don't pick up OT or a second job. At the end of the day I just want to relax and enjoy my time not working.

 

[farmadiazepine]

Max I've grossed - just under 300k
Averaged around 200k last 3 years. It's really easy to get to 200K in retail IMO if you work hard.

I average about 60-70 hours per week with a chain. Max year I worked about 80 hours per week.

It's unsustainable. It's easy to do when you are 24, 25, 26. Once you reach a certain age, your body will start to fail you. You can't work 80 hours a week. To make 200k by working as many hours as possible is smart when you are young, but I don't think it's so smart when you are older. To each his own.

 

[PumpkinSmasher]

The further I get away from when I graduated, the less I care about making as much money as possible. I don't pick up OT or a second job. At the end of the day I just want to relax and enjoy my time not working.

I feel the exact same way. I enjoy my job and work about 40-42 hours/week. I have no interest in spending more hours working, I would rather be relaxing with family and friends, traveling or picking up new hobbies.

80hrs/week blah! My wife had to do that during her medical residency and fellowship and it was torture.

 

[zelman]

Don't give APhA any ideas...

Don't worry. They'd never go for that. Suspensions are PGY-3 material.

 

[PumpkinSmasher]

Don't worry. They'd never go for that. Suspensions are PGY-3 material.

I thought you needed a BCPS for suspensions?! It's for pt safety for the love of all that is holy!

 

[zelman]

I thought you needed a BCPS for suspensions?! It's for pt safety for the love of all that is holy!

No. It's BCRS. Board Certified Reconstitution Specialist. New specialty.

 

[gwarm01]

No. It's BCRS. Board Certified Reconstitution Specialist. New specialty.

To sit for the BCRS exam you must have either a PGY1 or 15 years of equivalent reconstitution experience.

 

[lane one]

To sit for the BCRS exam you must have either a PGY1 or 15 years of equivalent reconstitution experience.

FillMaster is introduced. 15 years of reconstitution experience is replaced by a circuit board, ****ty screen and some tubing.

 

[zelman]

FillMaster is introduced. 15 years of reconstitution experience is replaced by a circuit board, ****ty screen and some tubing.

I can John Henry any FillMaster.

 

[that1guy]

It's unsustainable. It's easy to do when you are 24, 25, 26. Once you reach a certain age, your body will start to fail you. You can't work 80 hours a week. To make 200k by working as many hours as possible is smart when you are young, but I don't think it's so smart when you are older. To each his own.

Yeah, to each his own. People tell me stuff like this all the time, but I never understand it. 80 hours a week is nothing in the right setting, and it's not atypical in other career fields (law, medicine, business).

There was a 6 month period when I lost my staff pharmacist and my sup couldn't find a replacement so I worked every shift, 87 hours per week, for all 6 months. Best 6 months of my career: consistent leadership for the techs, consistent service to our customers, and no prima donna staff pharmacist to clean up after. Those 87 hours were easier than 40 with a bad staff pharmacist or in a bad store.

My hope was to find a 24 hour store to pick up a few longer shifts and break 100 hours in a week. Broke 90 a few times, but I never got to 100. Easy money.

 

[Sine Cura]

I know I wouldn't be able to work all 87 hours if Rx volume were 2,500 sold or higher.

 

[lord999]

Normal maximum on a 40 hour that I've seen in offered contracts at present is $125/hr ($290k) with benefits for a couple of very difficult to place positions last year that students asked me about filling (one in a high crime area where the pharmacy was consistently robbed, one in an area that is truly remote). I'm sure someone on this board that does self-contracts as a locum makes more but it takes some work to do the self-employment thing. That1guy is right about endurance, you can work into it, and I knew plenty of old fashioned workhorses that routinely worked 70-80 hour retail weeks (the ones I can think of either worked in a much more demanding job like the machinist pharmacist who was my preceptor or a former tech where pharmacy was the easier gig after RPh promotion). My father, who was the highest paid hospital staff pharmacist (not management, just pure basement) in AZ for 8 years running, grossed around $290k+ before salary bonuses and deferred compensation before he retired working a consistent 70 hours a week. I would also say that if That1guy's a PIC or equivalent, absolutely I'd rather do the OT myself than have some jackass create more work for me if that was what happened. "Forced" overtime in exchange for not having to deal with a partner's messes is from personal experience worth it.

I myself work a 40 hour week (depending on what academicians or government workers call 'work') as I'm blessed to have no money problems aside from what I want to do with my current spend. I earned the financial security to not work overtime, and I use it accordingly. I'm paid the median, but the working conditions, perks, and deferred compensation make accepting a lower pay worth it. You find though that after the bills are paid, what motivates you to work can change, though some just work because they enjoy the work and its rewards. To each their own, but I have respect for those who do work as capitalism should reward those who will. And to those who think retail is a hard gig, consider yourself fortunate that you haven't been asked to be a laborer at harder work (the skilled trades, agriculture, short order cook, nurse assistant). Retail is demanding, but it isn't as backbreaking as it's made out to be. It's only relative to the institutional pharmacist where retail is a hard job.

There is a difference between forced/involuntary overtime and voluntary overtime. I would be pissed off if I were forced into involuntary overtime when I had other things planned and it isn't a disaster. I think 80 hours/week is quite manageable for voluntary overtime.

 

[Amicable Angora]

Normal maximum on a 40 hour that I've seen in offered contracts at present is $125/hr ($290k) with benefits for a couple of very difficult to place positions last year that students asked me about filling (one in a high crime area where the pharmacy was consistently robbed, one in an area that is truly remote). I'm sure someone on this board that does self-contracts as a locum makes more but it takes some work to do the self-employment thing. That1guy is right about endurance, you can work into it, and I knew plenty of old fashioned workhorses that routinely worked 70-80 hour retail weeks (the ones I can think of either worked in a much more demanding job like the machinist pharmacist who was my preceptor or a former tech where pharmacy was the easier gig after RPh promotion). My father, who was the highest paid hospital staff pharmacist (not management, just pure basement) in AZ for 8 years running, grossed around $290k+ before salary bonuses and deferred compensation before he retired working a consistent 70 hours a week. I would also say that if That1guy's a PIC or equivalent, absolutely I'd rather do the OT myself than have some jackass create more work for me if that was what happened. "Forced" overtime in exchange for not having to deal with a partner's messes is from personal experience worth it.

I myself work a 40 hour week (depending on what academicians or government workers call 'work') as I'm blessed to have no money problems aside from what I want to do with my current spend. I earned the financial security to not work overtime, and I use it accordingly. I'm paid the median, but the working conditions, perks, and deferred compensation make accepting a lower pay worth it. You find though that after the bills are paid, what motivates you to work can change, though some just work because they enjoy the work and its rewards. To each their own, but I have respect for those who do work as capitalism should reward those who will. And to those who think retail is a hard gig, consider yourself fortunate that you haven't been asked to be a laborer at harder work (the skilled trades, agriculture, short order cook, nurse assistant). Retail is demanding, but it isn't as backbreaking as it's made out to be. It's only relative to the institutional pharmacist where retail is a hard job.

There is a difference between forced/involuntary overtime and voluntary overtime. I would be pissed off if I were forced into involuntary overtime when I had other things planned and it isn't a disaster. I think 80 hours/week is quite manageable for voluntary overtime.

If customers weren't so ridiculously rude retail would instantly become 100% more enjoyable.