Retail pharmacy in a small town?

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tablet

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Does anyone work for CVS/WAGS/RiteAid/Walmart/grocery chain in a small town or rural area? Is it less miserable to work for the big chains in a smaller town. Are there any stores that fill, say 50 rx/dayor less, where you have a little more time to do a good job and have an organized pharmacy? Every retail pharmacy I have worked at has been high volume anarchy from open to close, there must be exceptions somewhere.
 
tablet said:
Does anyone work for CVS/WAGS/RiteAid/Walmart/grocery chain in a small town or rural area? Is it less miserable to work for the big chains in a smaller town. Are there any stores that fill, say 50 rx/dayor less, where you have a little more time to do a good job and have an organized pharmacy? Every retail pharmacy I have worked at has been high volume anarchy from open to close, there must be exceptions somewhere.
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Nope, no exceptions. It sucks everywhere.
 
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I did a rotation in a Harris Teeter that did less than 20/day in a very populated area. They built the thing in the underground parking garage of an apartment complex. That honestly really sucked, but the preceptor was nice.
 
tablet said:
Does anyone work for CVS/WAGS/RiteAid/Walmart/grocery chain in a small town or rural area? Is it less miserable to work for the big chains in a smaller town. Are there any stores that fill, say 50 rx/dayor less, where you have a little more time to do a good job and have an organized pharmacy? Every retail pharmacy I have worked at has been high volume anarchy from open to close, there must be exceptions somewhere.
Click to expand...

Common misconceptions, every time I work in small town, I do not do less than 200 a day; I work at many stores in smaller town and they average 300-600/day... The number of pharmacies in town are way less and far apart.

When I work in a city where competition is fierce (WAG/CVS/RAD next to you, Groceries, costco/WMT nearby), 150-400/rx is a good number.
 
Doing LESS a day is much more tiring b/c you will be under staffed like crazy.

I worked at a Walgreens that did 150 a day and it was MUCH more tiring and stressful than doing 800 a day at Walmart.

Walgreens was extremely under staffed and it was only me and the pharmacist with no other help. 150 was a lot if they all come in at the same time! 😱

Walmart I intern at did 800 a day and it was in a rural town (Rome, GA) and it wasn't bad at all since we always had 2 or 3 pharmacist on staff and TONS of techs and cashiers in the front. It was a breeze working there versus Walgreens even though they only did 150 a day.

The WORST part is your job security will be ZERO if you work at a slow store. I worked at Target once and that was a SLOW store that did less than 100 a day...sometimes only 50 a day....and a few weeks later I went to say hey to the pharmacy manager and found out she was FIRED b/c the store was so slow....they want to find someone that can better improve business so she was let go.

If you work at a slow store your boss will hate you and think you are bad with business since the store is so slow and you will likely get fired.
 
I've worked Wags in rural towns, and some of them are fairly busy. Some of the busiest stories in our district are in the rural part of it.
 
SHC1984 said:
Doing LESS a day is much more tiring b/c you will be under staffed like crazy.

I worked at a Walgreens that did 150 a day and it was MUCH more tiring and stressful than doing 800 a day at Walmart.

Walgreens was extremely under staffed and it was only me and the pharmacist with no other help. 150 was a lot if they all come in at the same time! 😱
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Why, of all people, do pharmacists complain of having no help. What could a pharmacist possibly need help with? I personally think that society's professionals are getting lazy.

Examples:

1. Teachers are crying for bigger paychecks (teachers got the easiest job in the world, and they get two months off for god's sake)
2. Pharmacists complain about not having pharmacy technicians (one technician is enough, not to mention they are overpaid)
3. Being a cop is risky (give me a break, you talk about the risk that comes once in 5 years, if even that, and yet I don't hear cops complaining about all the benefits they get. You would think they feel guilty about all those benefits, and complain that they should get less benefits)

As you can see, the trend is that the people of every profession complains in a way that serves their own best interests.
 
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sodiumd said:
Why, of all people, do pharmacists complain of having no help. What could a pharmacist possibly need help with? I personally think that society's professionals are getting lazy.

Examples:

1. Teachers are crying for bigger paychecks (teachers got the easiest job in the world, and they get two months off for god's sake)
2. Pharmacists complain about not having pharmacy technicians (one technician is enough, not to mention they are overpaid)
3. Being a cop is risky (give me a break, you talk about the risk that comes once in 5 years, if even that, and yet I don't hear cops complaining about all the benefits they get. You would think they feel guilty about all those benefits, and complain that they should get less benefits)

As you can see, the trend is that the people of every profession complains in a way that serves their own best interests.
Click to expand...

This post screams hey I am 17 years old and still in high school and think i know everything when in reality I don't know ****!
 
MountainPharmD said:
This post screams hey I am 17 years old and still in high school and think i know everything when in reality I don't know ****!
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Why do you have to resort to insulting other members if you disagree? I didn't expect this from someone who is a pharmacist. I am ashamed of the school that certified you.
 
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Small towns have less competition and lower staffing so it more or less evens out. Even if it's slow you're not necessarily less busy. The store with the lowest script volume in my district, which is in a town of less than 10,000 people, is more challenging than most because they hardly get any staff and there's only one other pharmacy in town.

I knew someone who had a grocery chain job which was slow enough that he didn't get or need any techs, but that was near the downtown area of a major city, not a small town.
 
Some of the smaller chains, especially in grocery stores or that have durable medical equipment, have contracts with group homes, LTC facilities, or even the county jail, and this is how they stay in business. Others advertise free scheduled delivery, which senior citizens love.
 
I work part-time covering the weekend for WM-express pharmacy in a small city, and I fill 75 Rx Sat/12 hr shift, 45/6 hr shift Sun. When I started, I had to learn to be at all Windows (drop off, input, four point, Filling, Visual, check out, and a cashier); yes, I do it all, no help no techs on Weekends and no time to get bored. But I love it, and I'm planning to become full time.
 
tablet said:
Does anyone work for CVS/WAGS/RiteAid/Walmart/grocery chain in a small town or rural area? Is it less miserable to work for the big chains in a smaller town. Are there any stores that fill, say 50 rx/dayor less, where you have a little more time to do a good job and have an organized pharmacy? Every retail pharmacy I have worked at has been high volume anarchy from open to close, there must be exceptions somewhere.
Click to expand...

Define Rural. I'm only aware of 1 pharmacy in this town and it supposedly does more than 200/day.
 
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