- Joined
- Sep 24, 2004
- Messages
- 23
- Reaction score
- 1
Thinking about going from Target to Safeway. Any input on Safeway? Pharmacists seem to stay with them forever. Thanks.
Target vs. Safeway
- Thread starter JadeCA
- Start date
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2004
- Messages
- 4,576
- Reaction score
- 339
It may be different in California but here in Texas you would be crazy to move from Target to Safeway.
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2010
- Messages
- 380
- Reaction score
- 34
For once I agree with MPD I was told by a former Manager at Target who is the HR Dept with CVS that Target when he worked for them never even had a budget for the Pharmacy department meaning they got what ever hours that wanted and no matter how slow the Target store was there was a tech on duty all day.
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2007
- Messages
- 4,342
- Reaction score
- 73
That's faulty logic. My old boss has been with Walgreens for over 25 years. 😱
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2009
- Messages
- 41
- Reaction score
- 0
Safeway is horrible, stay at Target!! Do not make the mistake of going to Safeway. Their customer service expectations are unreasonable...you get secret shopped like crazy!
Can you even do that to a pharmacy? I know it happens all the time at fast food restaurants, but anybody could be ordering food. If you try to do that to a pharmacy you're giving them a forged Rx and then going to argue with the rph when they don't fill it.
owlegrad
Uncontrollable Sarcasm Machine
Staff member
Administrator
Volunteer Staff
Lifetime Donor
15+ Year Member
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2009
- Messages
- 25,393
- Reaction score
- 12,070
You don't think secret shoppers can have real scripts? 😕
Hopefully the company uses people with prescriptions to be the secret shoppers.
I suppose they could, but if it was a valid rx with a real patient name, wouldn't you know the name to be an employee? I know most of the names of pharmacists and managers in the district, maybe not the techs from other stores, but I don't know that a company would have them do that. I've never experienced a secret shopper in a pharmacy before, so I'm not really sure what the process is.
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2004
- Messages
- 23
- Reaction score
- 1
Considering the move from Target because it has gotten so exhausting with the expectations on customer survey scores and the stupid customer questions literally every 5 minutes about where something is in the store -- go freaking look for youself for once! And now with all the groceries they have at all Targets, I have to give a consultation after I ring out their frozen dinners and ground beef -- it's so lame. They're also cutting back on tech hours
owlegrad
Uncontrollable Sarcasm Machine
Staff member
Administrator
Volunteer Staff
Lifetime Donor
15+ Year Member
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2009
- Messages
- 25,393
- Reaction score
- 12,070
Yeah a secret shopper is a normal customer (or one that the company recruits) who gets paid to complete a "mystery shop". It is NOT a regular employee and they certainly wouldn't have fake scripts. I don't like the process, but it is not as absurd as it may sound.
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2009
- Messages
- 41
- Reaction score
- 0
Yes, they can. They get employees from other districts to shop your pharmacy. They don't necessarily have a script, but rather they ask you questions, expect you to make eye contact, expect you to offer to do certain things, and this happens WAY TOO OFTEN. There is absolutely no autonomy, you are micromanaged on every single aspect. I worked for Safeway for a few months and quit because I knew I would go crazy If I continued to work there. Plus they offer minimum tech hours. I know target is becoming more efficient and cutting tech hours, but I don't think they are worse than Safeway. The old pharmacists you see at safeway are there because they are stuck, believe me, they would leave the first chance they got. I think you need to consider another grocery store retail chain. Just my sincere advice to you, take it or leave it. 🙂
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2010
- Messages
- 380
- Reaction score
- 34
Wow that sucks- it's good to know that CVS isn't the only chain tat micromanages- this is y point I have been making all along- NO PHARMACY is perfect they all have their flaws- I am surprised that Target is now cutting tech hours- guess everyone is feeling the pain.
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2004
- Messages
- 4,576
- Reaction score
- 339
Oh yes Safeway's secret shopper program. Ahhh the memories. Safeway uses a third party company that sends people into the store to do secret shops. They have a predefined list of behaviors and conditions they are looking for. Ridiculous is not a strong enough word to describe it. The company is psyco crazy about it.
According to Safeway if a customer asks an employee where an item is you have to escort them to the item, show it to them and then ask them if there is anything else you can help them with. If you tell them where it is at or point to it you get counted off on your secrect shop. The pharmacy is a maganet for people to ask questions because we are confined to a little space and usually speak English unlike the rest of the store employees. Your staff spends all day escorting people all over the store because you do not want to get counted off.
Just before I got hired there was also a suggestive sellling item of the day. Once you escorted the person to the item they asked about you then had to say "Is there anything else I can help you with and did you know we have our super absorbant tampons on sale today with your club card. Would you like me to show you where they are at?" I am so sorry I missed out on the fun of that!
I have 100's of stories about the stupid crap that happened at Safeway. The company is a joke and will be out of business in the next 5 to 10 years. I put them in the same category as Rite Aid...avoid like the plague!
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2004
- Messages
- 4,576
- Reaction score
- 339
I call it the CVS trickle down effect. CVS gets away with it and all the other chains follow along. CVS is is the industry standard for all that sucks.
The level of micromanagement I am subjected to is insane. I work for a freaking grocery store and non-pharmacist store managers are up in my **** all the time. My company is audit happy. I have some idiot store manager in the pharmacy at least once a week "auditing" us. Then there are auditors from the general office, auditors from the district office and auditors from the regional coroporate office. My wife jokes that I am not the Pharmacy Manager but the Audit Manager because it seems like all I do is prapare for audits.
owlegrad
Uncontrollable Sarcasm Machine
Staff member
Administrator
Volunteer Staff
Lifetime Donor
15+ Year Member
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2009
- Messages
- 25,393
- Reaction score
- 12,070
Ah yes, it was the same at the grocery store I used to work at. If it wasn't the district office, it was the corporate office. If for some reason neither of them came for a week then it would be someone from the warehouse. Everyone looking at different audit sheets, impossible to know what new thing they were looking for this time or if it would be the same as last time. If you score too low the store gets "fined" (the company charging itself, it is as dumb as it sounds I assure you). I don't miss that. 👎
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2004
- Messages
- 4,576
- Reaction score
- 339
I have never had it this bad. The level of interference from non-pharmacist corporate middle manages is insane. I think we have surpassed CVS in BS corporate micromanagement. It has gotten to the point where store management just breezes in and out of the pharmacy whenever they like with out so much as word to anyone. This past week I had the store manager and a corporate middle manager from the district office just walk right into the pharmacy while I was on the phone and start messing around with stuff. They were doing another audit for like the 14th time and just walked right in like the pharmacy was the deli cooler or the bakery.
