WAG removing scales

[Fenderplayer108]

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Hi everyone, I thought I would ask for some input on this subject.

I just found out today at work that we will be removing scales company wide. This comes from the complaints recieved about scales being off, and shorting customers of their pills.

Any comments on this?

 

[letjin]

I think it won't affect the filling process much at all, since many drugs come in stock bottles now and most stores have Yuyama or baker cells. I found scale to be inaccurate and slow anyways, it's much faster to count to 30 with hand. I think it's a good move by walgreens... less people will think their pharmacist shorten them pills... 👍

 

[PharmDstudent]

There's only one problem that I can think of and it's: is it any faster when you have to count more than 30 pills? With all of these 90 day Medicare Part D plans, I'm hesitant to say that it's faster to count. I used to work for a store at another chain which had a laser counter. You could count anything and fast too. It was awesome!

 

[SCCpharm]

^^I can say it is true...The scales are off on some medications.

 

[KARM12]

At my chain we count everything by hand. I am a super counter now. 240 Vicodin, double counted? I'm on it.

Seriously, it is not that big of a deal. I did a rotation at Walgreens and thought it took more time to use the scales. Add more, oops too much, take some off, oops too low now, add more.... Plus half the time the scales were "off" so we would add cotton to make them "right." Walgreens, seriously shady...

 

[letjin]

There's only one problem that I can think of and it's: is it any faster when you have to count more than 30 pills? With all of these 90 day Medicare Part D plans, I'm hesitant to say that it's faster to count. I used to work for a store at another chain which had a laser counter. You could count anything and fast too. It was awesome!

For Qty #90 drugs...you either use 3 bottles of 30 or take 10 out of 100 stock bottle. For drugs that comes in 500,1000 count bottles, 98% of times they're top 200 drugs so the machine counts them anyways.

 

[PharmDstudent]

For Qty #90 drugs...you either use 3 bottles of 30 or take 10 out of 100 stock bottle. For drugs that comes in 500,1000 count bottles, 98% of times they're top 200 drugs so the machine counts them anyways.

I knew someone would say that. Since I work at pharmacy that hasn't been updated since 1982, we only have 50 cassette "Baker cells". There are plenty of large quantity bottles(500# or 1000#) that aren't Baker at my store.

This is exactly what the cassette dispenser looks like:

 

[KARM12]

I knew someone would say that. Since I work at pharmacy that hasn't been updated since 1982, we only have 50 cassette "Baker cells". There are plenty of large quantity bottles(500# or 1000#) that aren't Baker at my store.

This is exactly what the cassette dispenser looks like:

Baker cells? That is high technology...we don't even have that and we are a decent sized retail chain.

 

[PharmDstudent]

Baker cells? That is high technology...we don't even have that and we are a decent sized retail chain.

It's more like a Baker Cell. You have to change the cassettes between fills, because there's only one "counter". I've seen better automation. My original store had Baker Cells and a laser counter. Each medicine had its own counter.

Double counting controls was super easy. First I would count them on the tray, and then I'd pass them through the laser counter.

I used to work at a hospital that had this Canadian pre-packing system. It was crazy. The $1.5 million machine would play a Swedish tune when it was being refilled with packaging paper. There were a few hundred "counters" in it, but you could only pre-pack one drug at a time.

 

[McZyprexalynn]

Wow, I hadn't heard this yet and it surprises me. Did corporate send out an email? You would think with all the money they put into them that they would want to continue to use them. I was told by some higher up that the the company figures (figured?) that the error margin with counting was about the same as human error. When we first got them, the big wigs got pretty annoyed when I even suggested that they weren't all that accurate. However, I've found them to be pretty accurate unless it is a large quantity (#100+), in which case I will first count the tens amount and then use stock bottles for the hundreds. We don't get many customer complaints about shorted pills. Certainly not any more than when we hand counted everything.

What about the NDC scan check? That has cut down drastically on misfills in my store alone. Plus, the label doesn't even print out until after you do the NDC check. Are they getting rid of that system too?

 

[genesis09]

During my internship, they said they were in the process of changing the scale system. There will be another similar system coming down the pipeline.

 

[dgroulx]

You still have to use the scanners that are attached. Scan the leaflet, then scan the stock bottle. The thermal laser label will print out. You just count the pills manually. If something comes from a Parata, Yomama (or whatever that robot is called), Baker cells or Baker cassettes, you don't have to recount. Of course all CII-CIV's are always double counted, anyway.

It shouldn't slow anything down.

The biggest news is the Prescription Savings Club. You get a 90 day supply of meds for only $12.99 (including alprazolam, diazepam, & lorazepam). I was talking about this earlier, how you need to give away cheap controls. This has been rolled out in all Florida stores and a few other stores in the US.

 

[vardenafil]

Hi everyone, I thought I would ask for some input on this subject.

I just found out today at work that we will be removing scales company wide. This comes from the complaints recieved about scales being off, and shorting customers of their pills.

Any comments on this?

its not that people are complaining of being short pills. the bean counters at walgreens decided that they were giving away too many free pills. it was costing them more money than they were worth. at my pharmacy 3 out of 4 times if the scale was off it was showing more pills than there actually were. its all about money, not customer service.

 

[Pharmpills]

Alot of pharmacies are struggling to keep up with the massive amount of rx comming in and a scale does make it easier. counting by hand will slow down the filling station plus the parata has alot of problems and usually u have to grab the bottle from the shelf but how the hell would u cound 120 pills by hand from a 1000 pill bottle??? it will take forever. this is a stupid move, they just want to save money (bc less pills will be lost) thats y they cut pharmacist and tech hours even though the company makes so much profit. it comes down to them wanting to increasing their profit for stockholders.

whats amazing is that some stores are so shot staff bc the company wants to save money that they end up losing more money bc customers get frustrated.

 

[jawnly211]

our store is just making the techs recount after using the scale 😱

 

[dgroulx]

Alot of pharmacies are struggling to keep up with the massive amount of rx comming in and a scale does make it easier. counting by hand will slow down the filling station plus the parata has alot of problems and usually u have to grab the bottle from the shelf but how the hell would u cound 120 pills by hand from a 1000 pill bottle??? it will take forever. this is a stupid move, they just want to save money (bc less pills will be lost) thats y they cut pharmacist and tech hours even though the company makes so much profit. it comes down to them wanting to increasing their profit for stockholders.

whats amazing is that some stores are so shot staff bc the company wants to save money that they end up losing more money bc customers get frustrated.

The Parata does have problems. The Yomama (sp?) is much better. I'm covering this weekend at a Yomama store. It is awesome.

Counting 120 pills is no big deal. It's the 90 day supply of Renal Gel that kills you.

 

[PharmDstudent]

this is a stupid move, they just want to save money (bc less pills will be lost) thats y they cut pharmacist and tech hours even though the company makes so much profit. it comes down to them wanting to increasing their profit for stockholders.

whats amazing is that some stores are so shot staff bc the company wants to save money that they end up losing more money bc customers get frustrated.

When the stock dropped $8/share in September or October, one of the pharmacists that I know lost $150,000. That's a lot of money to lose in one day. He would have done better at a casino.

 

[genesis09]

When the stock dropped $8/share in September or October, one of the pharmacists that I know lost $150,000. That's a lot of money to lose in one day. He would have done better at a casino.

That's why you should diversify your holdings. You shouldn't put too much into one basket.

 

[jawnly211]

my walgreens store has a yohama (nicknamed YO MAMA- yes i currently work in the ghetto) machine..........we are open 8am-10pm M-Sat and 9-6 on Sundays........store does about 600-700 rx's/day..........so it can get CRAZY busy at times

the machine kills so much time...........WHEN IT IS FUNCTIONING CORRECTLY..........it has about 15 cells so it really pumps them out........it holds about 200 different fastmovers.........

some negatives...........when there is an error in the machine.........like if it runs out of label stickers..........when a vial gets stuck in the machine..........it only uses 20 and 40 dram vials (so 6 viagras in a 20 dram vial is a waste)...........when a drug runs out and u need to refill the cassette (very tedious process of entering NDC, manu #, count, etc).........

but like i said, it it very very helpful and you can fly through a stack of leaflets in no time 👍

 

[dgroulx]

When the stock dropped $8/share in September or October, one of the pharmacists that I know lost $150,000. That's a lot of money to lose in one day. He would have done better at a casino.

Yes, but his stock options were matched by Walgreens. The stock would have to drop to below 50% of its value to actually lose money. He lost money on paper only. Unless, of course, he bought Walgreens stock on his own which isn't a good idea.

My option price is $39.65, which was the price at closing on 10/31. Since it's matched, I get 2 shares for $39.65. The stock would have to drop to below $20 for me to lose money.

 

[Pharmpills]

When the stock dropped $8/share in September or October, one of the pharmacists that I know lost $150,000. That's a lot of money to lose in one day. He would have done better at a casino.

wow he must have aton of shares, that fat cat. he shouldve put his money in cvs stock what a dork. it went from 28 to around 39 haha.

 

[Old Timer]

http://chart.bigcharts.com/custom/wpost/big.chart?symb=WAG&sid=5320&time=1yr&freq=1dy&type=64&comp=CVS&compidx=aaaaa%7E0&ma=0&maval=60&uf=0&lf=268435456&lf2=0&lf3=0&style=2052&size=3&mwpage=chart&mocktick=1&country=US&doChartIV=0&rand=8317
That's all you need to know about the financial performance of the two companies. Walgreens is having some serious problems....

 

[kkelloww]

That's all you need to know about the financial performance of the two companies. Walgreens is having some serious problems....

Walgreens has been trading at a premium for quite some time based on stellar performance and fundamentals such as same store sales growth, zero debt, sales per sq. foot, and industry leading margins. What are you drawing your claim of "serious financial problems" from? Is it the $2B in profit this YTD? Is it the complete lack of long term debt vs. CVS with $8B in long term debt? Or is it the fact that they have only missed earnings 1 time in 10 years?

If anything, this market correction should probably be viewed as an opportunity because WAG is a company with seriously healthy financial performance.

 

[Old Timer]

It is the performance of the stock. Look at the stock performance over any period you want:

CVS:

• 1 Year.: +42%
• 2 Years: +52%
• 5 Years: +220%
• 10 Years +150%

WAG:

• 1 Year.: -10%
• 2 Years: -19%
• 5 Years: +25%
• 10 Years +150%

All Sourced by the Washingtonpost.com interactive charting. Read this article on why Walgreens is in trouble. I'm not implying Walgreens is going out of business. I am just saying they are struggling right now to control their expenses. They did not do a good job with the Happy Harrys acquisition in Delaware. I'm not a Walgreens insider so I don't know all of the details, just what rumors I hear in the pharmacy community and what I read in the financial sections on line. The same quarter that CVS made 45 cents per share, Walgreens lost 40 cents per share. Right now, CVS management is boxing their ears. Instead of setting the trend, Walgreens is reacting to what CVS is doing in the market place. From big things like the Caremark and Minute Clinic Acquisitions to small things like taking the Walgreens Rebate booklet and making the CVS rebates print at the register. No mailing required.

Walgreens has always been a well run company they Just lost their way. You can see more than 5 years ago, Walgreens had it all over CVS and now the tables are turned. For the first time Walgreens has real competition to be the premier chain operator in the nation. We'll see how it plays out.

 

[dgroulx]

Walgreens drug losses are all to Walmart here in the Tampa Bay area. We see customers hit their doughnut hole and we transfer their scripts out. They all come back in January. There's always a big drop in scripts filled starting around September. Retail sales, however, have increased. We have lots of people who just come in to shop.

Several of our Take Care Clinics open this month. The one in New Port Richey will open tomorrow. Lots of times when I triage a patient, I refer them to a walk-in clinic. Now they can walk 10 feet away. We'll see how well it works out.

CVS is spending a lot of money to expand into our area. They have several stores under construction in Pasco county. This is probably because all their stores here are old Eckerd stores. None of them were new and they were all lacking in space. There was no room for any clinic.

 

[genesis09]

CVS bought its marketshare in the Chicago area. It bought all the free standing Oscos a few years ago. Walgreens started in Chicago and is headquartered in a Chicago suburb, Deerfield. That's why when you do the training CDs all the streets and towns are real streets and towns in the Chicago area.

 

[acetyl]

CVS is spending a lot of money to expand into our area. They have several stores under construction in Pasco county. This is probably because all their stores here are old Eckerd stores. None of them were new and they were all lacking in space. There was no room for any clinic.

I thought Rite Aid bought Eckerd. Why would Rite Aid not want to keep the old Eckerd building, but CVS would?

 

[Old Timer]

I thought Rite Aid bought Eckerd. Why would Rite Aid not want to keep the old Eckerd building, but CVS would?

CVS got the Eckerd stores in the south and Rite-Aid got the stores in the North East. Nobody thought CVS would be able to get out from under anti-trust issues as they already dominate the NE.

 

[Jeddevil]

My option price is $39.65, which was the price at closing on 10/31. Since it's matched, I get 2 shares for $39.65. The stock would have to drop to below $20 for me to lose money.

I believe you are looking at this totally wrong. You were granted 2 stock options for every share you bought on oct 31 at $39.65. You do not get two shares for buying one. You get the 'option' to buy two additional shares at 39.65 in the future (after 2 years I believe). If the stock does not go up over 39.65 in the next 10 years (time you have to exercise the options by) those options will be worthless and you will not exercise them unless you want immediate losses.

This whole has "to drop to below $20 for me to lose money" is totally wrong. For you to benefit from stock options, the stock will have to rise. If the stock is at 50 in a couple years, you can exercise your options to buy 2 more shares for each bought on oct 31. You will pay the options price of 39.65 for each of those shares. You can then hold them all, having 3 shares with cost basis of 39.65, or you can simultaneously exercise the options through buying at 39.65, selling at market and locking in the difference.

If you thought you were getting an extra shares for buying on Oct 31, you are going to be disappointed. Hope this helped. This info is contained in the brochure sent out to all eligible to participate in Share Walgreens for the current cycle. Anything below 39.65 and your options are worthless and stock is losing money.

 

[dgroulx]

Okay, that makes more sense. I expect the stock to increase by the time I can exercise my options. I have up to 10 years.

 

[DASicari]

Has anyone had any experience with the ScriptPro machine? I'm a technician at CVS and that machine makes filling 700+ scripts a day so much less frustrating.

 

[npage148]

rite aid uses them. They do great 90% of the time