Turned down PIC position at CVS

[pillpharmer14]

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Did I just commit professional suicide?

 

[WVUPharm2007]

Nah.

 

[BenJammin]

You'll probably never get offered a PIC position at CVS ever again. Is that a bad thing? Hell no.

 

[Sparda29]

Did I just commit professional suicide?

Are you currently employed?

 

[type b pharmD]

You may have just saved your life !

 

[pillpharmer14]

Are you currently employed?

Yep. Probably destined for a rough store though

 

[ineeddrug]

Is being PIC that bad? Just curious..
Most PIC that I met at CVS wanted to step down, and company or Sup never let them.
For last one year, I have seen three PIC leave CVS.

And now, I am a floater but my Sup offered me to take PIC only until they find another PIC.
I really don't want to but I also am thinking like.. 'Why not? Just for couple months wouldn't hurt..'
What do you think? Should I take the offer?

 

[MountainPharmD]

Smart decision!

 

[wagrxm2000]

Bad move, take the extra money and delegate the extra tasks. Win, win

 

[Auriel619]

Is being PIC that bad? Just curious..
Most PIC that I met at CVS wanted to step down, and company or Sup never let them.
For last one year, I have seen three PIC leave CVS.

And now, I am a floater but my Sup offered me to take PIC only until they find another PIC.
I really don't want to but I also am thinking like.. 'Why not? Just for couple months wouldn't hurt..'
What do you think? Should I take the offer?

Once you become the PIC, there's no incentive for your supervisor to find another PIC, and you'll stay there for a while. I'd say that's a bad move.

 

[type b pharmD]

I had the choice between bad store staff , no-guarantees float, or terrible store pic, I chose the PIC , haven't regretted it, store is turning around ..

Ultimately you gotta pick if you want a career and a ladder or a relax and punch the clock type job . The money and the responsibility and pressure are only beneficial for those who want them.

Sometimes I envy staff at good (smooth) stores .. but when I compare pay rates , I think the extra money more than compensates for the stress. Staff would get boring, for me, ... But I've met an awful lot of pharmacists who wouldn't touch PIC with a 10 ft pole. They are enjoying life to the max and not sweating pretty much anything ! The ultimate question is, will their positions still be there in 10, 20 years?

At wags in my market , staff is a lot more competitive to get than PIC .. you will likely get another chance if you want it down the road .. it's doubtful you offended anyone by turning it down.

As a CVS PIC , you should take it if any of the following ring true for you..

1. You want to manage in general, for any company , or an indie .. in the future.

2. You plan to stay with CVS for your whole career, you will make a hell of a lot more money with PIC

3. You value job security above all else... If you succeed at PIC your position is basically guaranteed by law.. Staff Rph can ALWAYS be cut. Central fill and remote verify limit the long term security of any staff job. I haven't even been working a year at this place and I am already facing the loss of 1.25FT Rph to float pool just because of budget cuts and "workflow enhancements". They are great Rph, we just happen to not need them according to the corporate strategists. Personally I'm glad now I didn't take that staff job !

 

[Momus]

PIC at CVS is probably about $5 extra + bonus. I don't think that's enough compensation to be one.

 

[zelman]

PIC at CVS is probably about $5 extra + bonus. I don't think that's enough compensation to be one.

It's more like $1+bonus.

 

[doublehh03]

It's more like $1+bonus.

If you're a good PIC ,they pay you very well.

 

[sosoo]

its a pretty big bonus if u manage it well. otherwise, u take a lot of heat from the sup, and your bonus will be $700.

 

[Lnsean]

If you're a good PIC ,they pay you very well.

Not really. All of this depends on location and the volume you do (a lot of which you cannot control, regardless of how good you think you are). I know ****ty managers that pull in 30k bonuses because they're at busy stores...and a lot of these stores are just in good locations...you cannot help but meet your metrics...just don't piss customers off and you're golden. Don't get me wrong, if you're a horrible pharmacist and manager, you will definitely lose the business...but a lot of pharmacy managers give themselves way too much credit.

 

[doublehh03]

Not really. All of this depends on location and the volume you do (a lot of which you cannot control, regardless of how good you think you are). I know ****ty managers that pull in 30k bonuses because they're at busy stores...and a lot of these stores are just in good locations...you cannot help but meet your metrics...just don't piss customers off and you're golden. Don't get me wrong, if you're a horrible pharmacist and manager, you will definitely lose the business...but a lot of pharmacy managers give themselves way too much credit.

I'm not talking about bonuses. I'm talking about hourly wages.

 

[SpartanLaser]

I left CVS 2 months after PIC. Before that I happily worked for them for 5 years. Stay far far away! Not to say managing is bad, but with all the crazy metrics u gotta balance and new ones to come every few months, it's more stress than it's worth. I took a 20 k/year paycut from 140 k down to 120 k year at an independent and I have not regretted it at all!

 

[Estrace]

I don't know about CVS , most WAG RXMS I know are not looking to step down.
I don't know any RXM who has ever been fired for poor metrics. What exactly is stressful about being a RXM?

 

[Sunshine98]

Being a PIC doesn't make your job any more secure than staff or anyone else. I've worked with pharmacists through the years who stand around like a stick and nothing happens to them. In my opinion being a PIC is just not worth it. When it comes to bonuses all they do is keep inching the #'s up each year to try and make them unattainable so they wont have to give out the max. Spend less + save more = Live Smart

 

[Gombrich12]

Being a PIC doesn't make your job any more secure than staff or anyone else.

I've seen more PICs fired than staff or floaters since they are responsible for metrics, legal compliance, and internal policy compliance. Staff pharmacist is where it is at, or floater in an area where hours are easy to come by.

 

[SClENCE]

As already stated PIC has less job security. More responsibility = More ways to get fired.

The extra pay isn't worth DM/RM breathing down your neck imo.

Then again it all depends on the company your work for, your personality and ability, your co-workers, and even your individual DM. PIC isn't a death sentence and some people do great and pocket some extra pay/benefits.

 

[pillpharmer14]

Bad move, take the extra money and delegate the extra tasks. Win, win

I considered that, but I currently have to do half of the technician duties as it is because tech hours are so short. There is no one to delegate the extra work to. There aren't even enough bodies to do the normal work.

Also, there's more to the story. The technicians at the store I was offered are lazy. The staff Rph is slow and is constantly pages behind. Definitely not things I could fix by becoming the RXM.

I just couldn't find a good enough reason to try and fix that store. I'm not afraid of responsibility, I just think it should appropriately compensated.

 

[Sine Cura]

Simply working > 150-200 hours over base for the year (which I already have) = max possible PIC bonus, which is mostly driven by % increase in script volume. The "stress" in my case is only from having to work a lot because if I scheduled the floaters I have available to drive to this ****hole narcotic-addled hinterlands, they would leave only destruction in their wake (19 pages of QP with 7 pages in red, etc. and **** actually in QT). Fill 500-550, sell 450-500 a day and verify only 300 a day. Good luck with that.

It's only "worth" it if you get an easy-street store with competent techs and a good staff pharmacist (or pharmacists), in addition to a reasonable pay increase, so with this being CVS, in 99.9999% of cases it's not

 

[wagrxm2000]

I considered that, but I currently have to do half of the technician duties as it is because tech hours are so short. There is no one to delegate the extra work to. There aren't even enough bodies to do the normal work.

Also, there's more to the story. The technicians at the store I was offered are lazy. The staff Rph is slow and is constantly pages behind. Definitely not things I could fix by becoming the RXM.

I just couldn't find a good enough reason to try and fix that store. I'm not afraid of responsibility, I just think it should appropriately compensated.

If they can't get it done, write them up. While you can't fire your staff rph, you can certainly force your supervisors hand. I've done it and now have a good staff rph. I do absolutely no extra tasks except detail but always on the clock which I love since its less hours at the store.

All people do is complain but they are too lazy to write up their employees

 

[ancienbon]

If they can't get it done, write them up. While you can't fire your staff rph, you can certainly force your supervisors hand. I've done it and now have a good staff rph. I do absolutely no extra tasks except detail but always on the clock which I love since its less hours at the store.

All people do is complain but they are too lazy to write up their employees

You sound like a craZy ass manager and out of touch

 

[nana007187]

I was recently resigned or maybe better to say forced to step down, I was in a store with 3 people quoting and they kept pressuring on how i don't meet the numbers. make the long story short now I am floating, will they ever place me in store to be staff mph or even PIC again or am i pre much done.