Store hour cuts?

Started by Charcoales
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Charcoales

Charcoales

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10+ Year Member
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Seems stores are going to get their hours cut right before flu season pushing for 9-9 at the 8-10 stores and cutting centralized reviewing. one of the busiest stores I've ever been in: line constantly 5-10 deep + drivethru + non-stop ringing phones + mostly new techs because no senior techs want to work there is getting their centralized review cut by like 75% because there is a single midshift RPh... wow.
 
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Charcoales said:
Seems stores are going to get their hours cut right before flu season pushing for 9-9 at the 8-10 stores and cutting centralized reviewing. one of the busiest stores I've ever been in: line constantly 5-10 deep + drivethru + non-stop ringing phones + mostly new techs because no senior techs want to work there is getting their centralized review cut by like 75% because there is a single midshift RPh... wow.
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Just wait until they get rid of the mid-shift RPh!
 
Already some slower walgreens are closing for lunch. I would be very surprised about closing on weekends. Even banks have weekend hours.
 
In reality, business wise, is it worth it for a store to open on a Sunday and only do 80-100 prescriptions? I get that will only lead to less hours for pharmacist, but I can't say I'd mind not having to work Sundays.
 
Charcoales said:
Seems stores are going to get their hours cut right before flu season pushing for 9-9 at the 8-10 stores and cutting centralized reviewing. one of the busiest stores I've ever been in: line constantly 5-10 deep + drivethru + non-stop ringing phones + mostly new techs because no senior techs want to work there is getting their centralized review cut by like 75% because there is a single midshift RPh... wow.
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Yea no kidding...even the mid tier stores are getting killed. i stopped by my home store yesterday to do some shopping and peeked inside....they had like 100 in printed status and it was 9:30 PM...store closes at 10.
 
drakegrad2011 said:
In reality, business wise, is it worth it for a store to open on a Sunday and only do 80-100 prescriptions? I get that will only lead to less hours for pharmacist, but I can't say I'd mind not having to work Sundays.
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Regardless if the store is filling 80-100 prescriptions, there are still lots of other responsibilities and tasks that need to be done- inventory/outdates, waiting bin inventory, scriptpro maintenance, completing online training modules, scheduling, interviewing candidates, hiring/reviewing resumes, etc. in addition to all the people coming in and picking up scripts that they had dropped of during the week.

Cutting hours on the weekend means that these things will still have to get done- either by staying late on the weekday and/or bringing home work with you. If you choose not to, they will simply find a new grad who will. Either way you will likely be "working" on Sunday- the only difference is whether you will be getting paid for it. Besides, if you'd rather work less, all you have to do is let your scheduler know- unless its Holliday, I would be surprised if they have trouble covering it.
 
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At what point does this become dangerous, and who bears the responsibility for oversights? Treading some thin lines...
 
Just got done with a shift... one rph and two tech... line was constant (1 tech for nonstop drive-through and front...) + constant 40-plus to fill, many are waiters and weren't even reviewed yet... worst was constant ringing phones... almost no time to answer when trying to help those already in the store so then people come to pick-up and of course they have issues since when they called no one picked up... now they're in the pharmacy and angry... No way to provide good service with these workloads...
 
I can sympathize and relate. When I worked for a chain, I often felt angry. How can you not when you feel like so many don't treat your like a health care professional that you went to 8 yrs of school to become. I wasn't trying to be a "hero" or "save lives", but felt obligated to counsel pts and in a way improve outcomes through better compliance, call on interactions, actually check rx thoroughly. I felt like my chain didn't care abt that stuff and didn't provide with me enough resources to achieve that. I felt like I gave it all I had in terms of every ounce of energy and effort, but it was never enough for the corporate. When I had customer complaints, corporate never had my back. I felt I deserves better and just walked away.
 
In my neck of the woods, we have something of the opposite problem: lots of hours available due to changes in insurance contracts, but can't seem to hold on to technicians, so not enough bodies to plug the holes in the schedule.
 
hye345 said:
In my neck of the woods, we have something of the opposite problem: lots of hours available due to changes in insurance contracts, but can't seem to hold on to technicians, so not enough bodies to plug the holes in the schedule.
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Same here. I'm not complaining at all
 
Ra1nMak3r said:
Same here. I'm not complaining at all
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Well I am :arghh: We just lost our fastest-producing tech to an independent, the owner was an old boss and mentor, gave her 2 stores to manage, in addition to a handsome raise. On a personal level, I'm happy for her, and wish her all the success in the world, but as the (temporary) PIC, I'm annoyed at the timing... September is gonna be painful.
 
WVUPharm2007 said:
I'm hearing rumors that some Wags stores in Jersey are closing on Sundays now. Can anyone confirm? If so...shew. It really does just keep getting worse.
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Why are you still on this sinking boat? Once the dam break, there is going to be a flood of graveyard pharmacists looking for work. It is time to jump off this boat and look for dry land.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
 
BMBiology said:
Why are you still on this sinking boat? Once the dam break, there is going to be a flood of graveyard pharmacists looking for work. It is time to jump off this boat and look for dry land.


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I'm with CVS, not Wags. And, dude, the entire industry is a sinking boat. And there are no jobs elsewhere in my locale, anyway.

I will say this...if Amazon ever starts to hire, I'm going to try to get on. I'm sure it would be grueling, but I'd rather attach my car to the caboose that's going to make it to the station. Bezos would chew Larry Merlo up and spit him out. Very casually. Like Larry was a sunflower seed. Amazon is the Borg that's coming to get us. I am ready to assimilate.

At least if it all goes sour and I never put another dime in my 401k/IRA, I should still be able to retire with at least a million thanks to saving hard early...so I got that going for me. Worst comes to worst, I can always just move to Puerto Vallarta...
 
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WVUPharm2007 said:
I'm with CVS, not Wags. And, dude, the entire industry is a sinking boat. And there are no jobs elsewhere in my locale, anyway.

I will say this...if Amazon ever starts to hire, I'm going to try to get on. I'm sure it would be grueling, but I'd rather attach my car to the caboose that's going to make it to the station. Bezos would chew Larry Merlo up and spit him out. Very casually. Like Larry was a sunflower seed. Amazon is the Borg that's coming to get us. I am ready to assimilate.
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Maybe so but your ship is going to get hit first. You are like Guam if there is a war with the North Koreans.

Is your wife working full time?


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WVUPharm2007 said:
I'm hearing rumors that some Wags stores in Jersey are closing on Sundays now. Can anyone confirm? If so...shew. It really does just keep getting worse.
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Theres no real reason to bother going to cvs/wag on sunday anyway...the ads are nothing special and you can do 1 stop shop at walmart/kroger. In my area at walmart u can get lunch, haircut,glasses,gasoline,rx. Kroger all the same except glasses.

BMBiology said:
Why are you still on this sinking boat? Once the dam break, there is going to be a flood of graveyard pharmacists looking for work. It is time to jump off this boat and look for dry land.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
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Just got off that boat myself. Most graveyards I know (including myself) have cash. its the new grad floats who be broke, and a good amount of managers unfortunately.

Even tho cvs grave rph does a ton of work it just too easy to lay us off and save 300k per 24hr store per year
 
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quickpic007 said:
Even tho cvs grave rph does a ton of work it just too easy to lay us off and save 300k per 24hr store per year
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It's nothing 3 part time techs you don't have to give bennies to cant handle. Thankfully I've proven myself as someone that can walk into any shift at any store and do a good job, so I'm not really worried about it. The same thing will happen as last time. I'll get laid off...my supervisor will rehire me and toss me into the float pool at worst.
 
WVUPharm2007 said:
Actually, if worst really does come to worst, I can always find a job in the BFE areas of West Virginia. Still got my license there. There are some places they still can't find people. Like *shudder* Mingo County.
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Ah, the last resort.. My home town in rural Arkansas seems to have a perpetual shortage of pharmacists and at least a few jobs offering a sign-on bonus. I keep that knowledge in my back pocket at all times.
 
WVUPharm2007 said:
It's nothing 3 part time techs you don't have to give bennies to cant handle. Thankfully I've proven myself as someone that can walk into any shift at any store and do a good job, so I'm not really worried about it. The same thing will happen as last time. I'll get laid off...my supervisor will rehire me and toss me into the float pool at worst.
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Would you loss your benefits and seniority if you got laid off?


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WVUPharm2007 said:
It's nothing 3 part time techs you don't have to give bennies to cant handle. Thankfully I've proven myself as someone that can walk into any shift at any store and do a good job, so I'm not really worried about it. The same thing will happen as last time. I'll get laid off...my supervisor will rehire me and toss me into the float pool at worst.
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I don't about that. I'm right next to McDowell, Mingo, Wyoming counties and can't buy a job. I would have never believed pharmacy would be this bad and I don't see it getting better for a long time.
 
... So in this thread, there are experienced pharmacists talking about how bad the job market is, even in certain rural/highly undesirable areas, and I'm the one who was exaggerating how bad the job market is. Right.
 
When I worked in SFL they cut 8-10 pharmacies to 9-9 removing mid shift Rph, and now working in NOVA am hearing there will be cuts to certain locations open 8-12 going 8-10, because many pharmacies are already 9-9.
 
BMBiology said:
Would you loss your benefits and seniority if you got laid off?


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Click to expand...

No. I got laid off in early Dec 2015 the first time they started closing 24 hour stores. Rehired in late January 2016, my hire date was rolled back to 2011 and all benefits were turned back on in a few months.

I got a severance package. I basically got a 7 week paid vacation. I took a trip to Iceland in there, too.
 
The dude who was in the Allentown-Easton area stepped down like last Winter some time. I don't know of any other person stepping down. There are several sups in the Philly-ish area and I don't keep track of them all, though.
 
WVUPharm2007 said:
It's nothing 3 part time techs you don't have to give bennies to cant handle. Thankfully I've proven myself as someone that can walk into any shift at any store and do a good job, so I'm not really worried about it. The same thing will happen as last time. I'll get laid off...my supervisor will rehire me and toss me into the float pool at worst.
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yeah thats what actually great about cvs, if u can do a good job you have some security because its just a revolving door. I miss the feeling of knowing that if the scheduler aint blowing up my phone this week she surely will next week.

VA77 said:
I don't about that. I'm right next to McDowell, Mingo, Wyoming counties and can't buy a job. I would have never believed pharmacy would be this bad and I don't see it getting better for a long time.
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I thought you have a california license? they are still doing sign on bonuses out there FYI.

PAtoPharm said:
... So in this thread, there are experienced pharmacists talking about how bad the job market is, even in certain rural/highly undesirable areas, and I'm the one who was exaggerating how bad the job market is. Right.
Click to expand...

IDK man between the companies I have been previously employed at theres like 50 retail postings for Georgia. Not saying all are in ATL but thats 50 120K jobs. If you cant land one of those its kind of um you know...
 
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the whole tri-state area is a joke right now---stay away. You've got like 6-7 schools in PA alone churning out tons of grads.
 
I thought pharmacy was transitioning to value based reimbursement with consideration of star ratings. I'm a little out of the loop at this point, but the Walmart I worked for was increasing staff hours over the course of the last two years. There was a focus on filling on time refills of ACEs, ARBs, Statins, and diabetic meds.
 
WVUPharm2007 said:
I'm with CVS, not Wags. And, dude, the entire industry is a sinking boat. And there are no jobs elsewhere in my locale, anyway.

I will say this...if Amazon ever starts to hire, I'm going to try to get on. I'm sure it would be grueling, but I'd rather attach my car to the caboose that's going to make it to the station. Bezos would chew Larry Merlo up and spit him out. Very casually. Like Larry was a sunflower seed. Amazon is the Borg that's coming to get us. I am ready to assimilate.

At least if it all goes sour and I never put another dime in my 401k/IRA, I should still be able to retire with at least a million thanks to saving hard early...so I got that going for me. Worst comes to worst, I can always just move to Puerto Vallarta...
Click to expand...

or Nicaragua, Argentina, Spain - quite cheap considering you're in Europe; Thailand. You've got options. There's no reason to retire in the US when your hard earned dollars could afford you very comfortable living -live-in housekeepers and driver.
 
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