Salary of a Independent Pharmacy Owner?

[JOHN!]

Hello everyone, I graduated from college about 8 months ago with a B.A. I am currently a successful sales rep and was potentially interested in entering the field of Pharmacy. I have two questions that I was hoping you could help me with.

1. If you feel comfortable, can a Pharm. D who owns an Independent Pharmacy please give me a ballpark estimate or range of their annual salary.

2. Do you think a Bank would give a fresh Pharm. D graduate with NO debt, a loan to open or buy an Independent Pharmacy?

Thank you for your input!

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[alpha12]

Stay in sales.

 

[mentos]

You're better off franchising a fast food restaurant.

 

[ornithoptor]

Hello everyone, I was hoping someone could help me with a couple of questions I had. I am currently a successful sales rep who graduated with a B.A about 8 months ago. I was interested in pursing Veterinary Medicine like my Dad, but I had some questions.

1. If your comfortable telling me, perhaps a practicing Veterinarian who owns their own Clinic can give me a ball park estimate or range of their annual salary.

2. How long do you think it takes the average D.V.M graduate to start their own Clinic if he or she desires to?

3. This may be difficult to answer but here it goes. If I was accepted into a D.V.M program, I might be able to pay off my Veterinary School loans and living expenses (fingers crossed) by the time I graduate. If my Dad who is a very well establish Vet were to assist me; do you think the Bank would give me a loan to open or buy a Clinic right out of school?

4. Does anyone know what the starting salary range is for a D.V.M in California, who works for a Clinic with less than 3 years experience?

Thank you and I greatly appreciate your advice.

Hi, you have another post expressing your interests in veterinarian medicine at the same time. The information you are looking for are very specific, do you want to open pharmacy or vet clinic?

Any clarifications will be appreciated, have a great day.


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[JOHN!]

Hi, you have another post expressing your interests in veterinarian medicine at the same time. The information you are looking for are very specific, do you want to open pharmacy or vet clinic?

Any clarifications will be appreciated, have a great day.


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Hello, thank you for responding! I am a graduate of college and currently working in the private sector. If I went into Veterinary Medicine I would like to aim towards owning my own clinic; likewise in Pharmacy, I would like to own an Independent Pharmacy. I'm still deciding which path I should take as both fields are fascinating. In a couple days I'll be back in college taking some of the science prerequisite courses I did not pursue while I attend university as an undergrad. If you guys can help me with my questions I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you

 

[ornithoptor]

Thank you for the response. If you have sometime, I strongly recommend you to read through some of other threads regarding pharmacy as a career in general as well as job security and job condition.

Recently someone posted a thread on independent pharmacy being squeezed by the big chain, perhaps you could PM some of the responders.
Good luck.


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[JOHN!]

Thank you for the response. If you have sometime, I strongly recommend you to read through some of other threads regarding pharmacy as a career in general as well as job security and job condition.

Recently someone posted a thread on independent pharmacy being squeezed by the big chain, perhaps you could PM some of the responders.
Good luck.


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Thank you for the advice, I'll take a look at those threads.

 

[Sparda29]

Veterinary pharmacy is a pretty good option I think if the market where you open desires it. It's cash, and you can set fair prices and still make a lot of money with it. Example, my pet birds needed Meloxicam 1 mg/ml for when one of them injured it's leg. The vet wanted to sell it to me for $80 for a 15 ml bottle.

Instead I just got a 15 mg tablet of Meloxicam, crushed it and mixed with ~15 ml sterile water. After that I just kept in in a little bottle and gave a drop to the bird daily ~(50 mcg).

You could sell that for $20-40 and still be very profitable. If you have a decent volume of it and also sell other pet supplies, it would work well.

 

[PieRoller]

Do it! I can’t wait to see Pharmacists (as a group) finally break away from the oppressive chains. It is otherwise a dying profession.

 

[JOHN!]

Veterinary pharmacy is a pretty good option I think if the market where you open desires it. It's cash, and you can set fair prices and still make a lot of money with it. Example, my pet birds needed Meloxicam 1 mg/ml for when one of them injured it's leg. The vet wanted to sell it to me for $80 for a 15 ml bottle.

Instead I just got a 15 mg tablet of Meloxicam, crushed it and mixed with ~15 ml sterile water. After that I just kept in in a little bottle and gave a drop to the bird daily ~(50 mcg).

You could sell that for $20-40 and still be very profitable. If you have a decent volume of it and also sell other pet supplies, it would work well.

That's a very interesting idea, I guess that would be a D.V.M with a residency. I'll look further into that, Thank you for your valuable input!

 

[Pharmacy is a Scam]

That's a very interesting idea, I guess that would be a D.V.M with a residency. I'll look further into that, Thank you for your valuable input!

I know an actual veterinary pharmacist (PharmD, no other degrees like DVM), and while the job itself sounds interesting, keep in mind that these niche jobs are exactly that. You are essentially an independent contractor and have to make a case to every organization why/how you will bring value. In this particular pharmacist’s case, she is part time faculty at many schools of pharmacy (teaching veterinary pharmacy classes/seminars), and have many seasonal engagements at zoos, parks, animal hospitals and whatnot.

Sounds awesome if you don’t mind traveling all the time, but that sort of lifestyle is not for everyone. Not to mention that your “base” income is generated from consulting fees from multiple revenue streams so you’d have to work all these side gigs to maintain your salary. I have yet to see any institution willing to dedicate an entire FTE to a veterinary pharmacist but if someone has insights into this I’d be interested in hearing more.

 

[Modest_anteater]

Hello everyone, I graduated from college about 8 months ago with a B.A. I am currently a successful sales rep and was potentially interested in entering the field of Pharmacy. I have two questions that I was hoping you could help me with.

1. If you feel comfortable, can a Pharm. D who owns an Independent Pharmacy please give me a ballpark estimate or range of their annual salary.

2. Do you think a Bank would give a fresh Pharm. D graduate with NO debt, a loan to open or buy an Independent Pharmacy?

Thank you for your input!

I have heard on average it's 220,000 USD profit per a store. So if you own 4 stores doing 250-300 scripts a day each you should be clearing around 1 million a year in profit.

 

[Modest_anteater]

Veterinary pharmacy is a pretty good option I think if the market where you open desires it. It's cash, and you can set fair prices and still make a lot of money with it. Example, my pet birds needed Meloxicam 1 mg/ml for when one of them injured it's leg. The vet wanted to sell it to me for $80 for a 15 ml bottle.

Instead I just got a 15 mg tablet of Meloxicam, crushed it and mixed with ~15 ml sterile water. After that I just kept in in a little bottle and gave a drop to the bird daily ~(50 mcg).

You could sell that for $20-40 and still be very profitable. If you have a decent volume of it and also sell other pet supplies, it would work well.

>yeah vet biz is profitable

>goes on to describe a way to cheat the vet out of profits

TOP KEK. You're an absolute animal Sparda!

 

[Sparda29]

>yeah vet biz is profitable

>goes on to describe a way to cheat the vet out of profits

TOP KEK. You're an absolute animal Sparda!

A lot of vets overcharge the fk out of people, especially when it comes to meds. Instead it's better for pet parents to demand an Rx to take to a compounding pharmacy to fill.

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

A lot of vets overcharge the fk out of people, especially when it comes to meds. Instead it's better for pet parents to demand an Rx to take to a compounding pharmacy to fill.

Sparda is absolutely right.

 

[mentos]

I'm going to have to disagree a lot. I used to have access to the NCPA financial digest which is the authoritative source on independent pharmacy financial statistics. The last issue I received was for data originating from 2015. It shows that the median earnings for an independent pharmacy owner (salary drawn plus profit reinvested) for an average volume independent pharmacy is about $121k before taxes per pharmacy (0.0355% of sales which average sales of $3,410,404). Keep in mind that is the average per pharmacy and some owners have economies of scale by owning multiple pharmacies which inflates that number. Keep in mind as an owner you get absolutely no benefits whatsoever and have to pay for health insurance, retirement without match, etc. Keep in mind an owner typically works long hours trying to save on payroll and do other non-pharmacist business tasks. Keep in mind reimbursements have only gotten worse since 2015. Keep in mind you have to drop 100k or more in capital just to start the damn thing and you can lose your shirt if it goes to hell. There is a reason virtually all independent pharmacies are for sale now and they're not selling.

However, if you're at the 75th-percentile in terms of profitability the salary plus profit reinvested number goes up to about $231k. If you're smart and know business it's possible to make good money still. Most independents are run by pharmacists who don't know a thing about business so it's not that the competition is tough. The average McDonald's franchise owner takes home about 150k and has to put up $1 million to start the business so you be the judge. You also don't have to pay to go to pharmacy school for 6 years to franchise a McDonalds though.

McDonald's is one of the most expensive franchises and is not a good comparison for an independent pharmacy. You can open a Dunkin Donuts for 250k or start small with a boba milk tea place or food truck, will still be more profitable with less risk than a pharmacy.

 

[Modest_anteater]

McDonald's is one of the most expensive franchises and is not a good comparison for an independent pharmacy. You can open a Dunkin Donuts for 250k or start small with a boba milk tea place or food truck, will still be more profitable with less risk than a pharmacy.

Subway franchise is even cheaper I think than 250k.

 

[Heroic Combo]

The last issue I received was for data originating from 2015. It shows that the median earnings for an independent pharmacy owner (salary drawn plus profit reinvested) for an average volume independent pharmacy is about $121k before taxes per pharmacy (0.0355% of sales which average sales of $3,410,404).

Might be a dumb correction to make, but I think you mean 3.55%

 

[mentos]

The Top 10 Franchises You Can Buy for Less Than $100,000

You can start a 7 Eleven for as low as 37k. Hell I might look into that.