Yesterday we learned that our store tech hours will decrease from 84 to 31 beginning March 1 because our scripts count decreased siginificantly . We lost more than 40 percent of our customers and now we are doing about 150 a day. 31 hours for 2 full time tech is ridiculous, and the pharmacy opens Monday to Friday from 9 am to 9 pm, and 9 to 5 on Saturday and sunday. I and my partner will be working alone for at a few hours every day. It is ridiculous how walgreens treats their employees.
Walgreens and Tech hours
- Thread starter ancienbon
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2011
- Messages
- 1,083
- Reaction score
- 635
Walgreens f'd up big time. People give them credit for standing up to a big PBM ESI, but honesly, WAGs is not a Rosa Parks. WAGs just raped itself.
To have really made an impact on ESI, Walgreens should have got CVS on board. Together, these 2 retail outlets would have forced ESI to give better reimbursement rates. Wags alone no longer accepting ESI did nothing. It just killed their business.
I see them renegotiating later on though... Either that or they will turn into a 7-11 convenience kinda store
To have really made an impact on ESI, Walgreens should have got CVS on board. Together, these 2 retail outlets would have forced ESI to give better reimbursement rates. Wags alone no longer accepting ESI did nothing. It just killed their business.
I see them renegotiating later on though... Either that or they will turn into a 7-11 convenience kinda store
owlegrad
Uncontrollable Sarcasm Machine
Staff member
Administrator
Volunteer Staff
Lifetime Donor
15+ Year Member
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2009
- Messages
- 25,393
- Reaction score
- 12,074
Would that be collusion?
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2010
- Messages
- 296
- Reaction score
- 9
By cutting technician hours drastically, Wag is basically double penetrating itself. Wait time at CVS and Rite Aid now is ridiculously long. I have several customers convert to Wag because they did not want to put up with the long wait and because we were able to fill their scripts snap fast with all the extra time from the loss of ESI customers. Now Wag wants to cut so many tech hours. We will just be as slow and frustrating as CVS and Rite Aid. This is stupid. The top guys at Wag must have got their degrees online!
Honestly, so that means you're doing around 900 a week still? Assuming you do 75 on a Saturday and Sunday. 31 techs hours for 900 Rx's a week is absolutely ludicrous. Most stores would allow the original number for that many rx's. Good luck....
- Joined
- May 21, 2008
- Messages
- 627
- Reaction score
- 2
I never thought I would hear discussion or a reference to "Double Penetration" on this message board. YOU, my friend, are the Rosa Parks of this message board. Hats off. DVDA forever!
NOOOOOOO, that sounds like TARGET. That's crap. I thought it was just TARGET business college graduates making pharmacy decisions, but Walgreens is run by pharmacists. It is ridiculous. Wait, that sounds like my hours. Is that 31 hours per week?? How the fudge anyone is supposed to go on vacation. I think everyone is going to start realizing working at extremely busy pharmacies might be a "good" thing, at least you have a tech all day
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2011
- Messages
- 321
- Reaction score
- 138
Honestly? Not really. I spend most of the day standing around, waiting for an rx to be dropped off because we get everything done so quickly. Before ESI we used to do 350 a day. We still do about 200-230 scripts a day. Before we dropped ESI, we had 120 tech hours. Now we're down to 100. Then again, our pharmacy supervisor never gave us as many hours as we should have because he knew we could handle it, so our hour cut wasn't as bad. We can still pump out a script in less than 10 minutes. It all depends on the quality of people you work with. Everyone I work with happens to be excellent at what they do. Less hours means less people to cover up other people's blunders, which means everyone will learn how to do their job better, which in turn leads to faster filling. I don't think Walgreens and ESI will ever have a deal again. Walgreens is trying to kill PBMs.So many companies changed out of express scripts companies to others at the end of last year, it's only going to be more at the end of this year. Walgreens has been planning this for a while because prior to this, the last few years they have been developing ways to cut costs and save money. With all that extra money they "found", it will help offset the ESI loss. It's basically a war of attrition and I believe Walgreens will win, however dull it seems right now.
- Joined
- May 7, 2005
- Messages
- 22,783
- Reaction score
- 346
I called WAGS for a copy yesterday and the RPH was working alone. On a Monday morning. 
Also, I'm not sure how I feel about the double penetration reference. Either 😆or
or maybe both.
Also, I'm not sure how I feel about the double penetration reference. Either 😆or
or maybe both.
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2010
- Messages
- 296
- Reaction score
- 9
Not if you work in a neighbourhood of the undead. Even with the best techs and pharmacists in the world, you won't be able to accomplish anything if the phone rings NONSTOP because the callers are either too lazy to learn to use the phone refill system or too lonely that they want to bring up random non medication related questions just to talk to someone at the expense of other patients who are waiting for their medications or have legitimate medical questions.
- Joined
- May 4, 2005
- Messages
- 686
- Reaction score
- 121
That is great for you, honestly. But how many Walgreens stores have you worked at? I have worked at over 40, and guess what, every store is different. It doesn't always depend on the "quality" of your techs or even hours. There is no great formula for every single store, so some stores will always suffer and some stores will be "slow". How busy a store is depends on 1) quality of techs, 2) tech hours, 3) quality of pharmacists, 4) % of E-Rxs, 5) % of controls, 6) % of phone calls per whatever number of scripts filled, 7)% of 90 day scripts, 8)% of customers on text program, 9)% of compounds, 10)% of voicemails
As you can see, there are too many factors. For example, my store has GREAT techs and I mean they are the best at what they do. However, we have too many phone calls, do too many controls, too many voicemails, and not enough E-Rxs. You put all that together and guess what...we at at the bottom of the latter in VBP even when everybody is working at their maximum speed.
I called WAGS for a copy yesterday and the RPH was working alone. On a Monday morning.
Also, I'm not sure how I feel about the double penetration reference. Either 😆or
I'd say more
than 😆- Joined
- Mar 6, 2011
- Messages
- 122
- Reaction score
- 1
WAG is cutting technician hours pretty drastically.It is getting pretty bad.If pharmacists have some spine they should start to refuse shifts like I am thinking to totally quit its not worth it.The torture we have to go through is not worth it plus we have a professional obligation to say no when the conditions are such that there is increased chances of making mistakes.
CVS is proven to be ahead in being worse so I hope there is some professional organization or legislation which can save this profession.
This is happening to our profession because we cant unite and fight for what is right and what is best for public safety.How can a hungry pharmacist standing in front of a computer for 12 hours straight with little help not make a mistake?Yeah we are doing a great job by keeping the mistakes level lower as compared to the unimaginable torture we are subjected to.
Oh WAG is not run by pharmacists we have business people running this company that is the reason its going down, customer service first (15 minutes thing etc) and safety second approach.
They want one technician to work equal to 2 technicians and one pharmacist to work as one technician and as a pharmacist.Great!!!! if I were the general public I would start staying away from understaffed pharmacies for the sake of my life.That includes CVS,WAGS and other chains.
CVS is proven to be ahead in being worse so I hope there is some professional organization or legislation which can save this profession.
This is happening to our profession because we cant unite and fight for what is right and what is best for public safety.How can a hungry pharmacist standing in front of a computer for 12 hours straight with little help not make a mistake?Yeah we are doing a great job by keeping the mistakes level lower as compared to the unimaginable torture we are subjected to.
Oh WAG is not run by pharmacists we have business people running this company that is the reason its going down, customer service first (15 minutes thing etc) and safety second approach.
They want one technician to work equal to 2 technicians and one pharmacist to work as one technician and as a pharmacist.Great!!!! if I were the general public I would start staying away from understaffed pharmacies for the sake of my life.That includes CVS,WAGS and other chains.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2008
- Messages
- 4,191
- Reaction score
- 2,524
One thing I learn in life is that MOST people do not change ever. ****ty tech 10 years ago will still be a ****ty tech today.
You are absolutely right. Today was perhaps the worst day of my life at walgreens. My tech who was supposed to start from 11 am to 7 30 pm called sick ( store opens from 9 am to 9 pm). I was therefore by myself doing drive thru, f4, phone calls, smart count, cardinal and everything. It is so hard to be both a tech and a pharmacist. It was torture for me, i did not get a chance to drink water let alone eat. My partner who was supposed to start at 1 came at 3 as he had a meeting with rx supervisor. It was a disaster.... an experience to remember.
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2011
- Messages
- 122
- Reaction score
- 1
I know exactly what you went through seems like the day I usually have.Usually I cant eat and drink and feel miserable and question that is this something I went 7 years to school for?
I am having those days pretty often and I am subjected to terrifying conditions since I started.I checked with experienced wag employees and discussed my problems they told me that they never had those problems because they always had enough help when they started with wags as according to them those were the good old days.Several people told me the same thing.
CVS recently had a big incidence I hope they face a big lawsuit so whatever they saved by subjecting their employees to miserable inhuman conditions get to the people who were victimized by their understaffing.CVS had the nerve to say that tamoxifen wont harm those children are they kidding.How stupid do they think we are?
I hope that the pharmacist is able to defend him or her self as I see him or her as a victim in all this as we all know how understaffed these pharmacies are and how inhuman conditions they are subjected to.
I do understand profit I do understand that every business needs to be profitable but not by subjecting their employees to inhuman and miserable conditions.Shutting down the pharmacy for lunch should be mandatory and a legislation needs to be passed for staffing enough employees for public safety and for the sanity of pharmacists.
You are lucky if you dont have those kind of days often.I am thinking to quit soon just in an appropriate way.I dont care if I have another job or not although I just started looking I only know that life is too short to subject one self to such torture.What if I make a major mistake then I would be living with a guilt all my life while the corporation will be enjoying big profits.Not worth it.........
Last edited:
I work under very stressful conditions everyday. I literally never eat or drink anything while I'm at work, been doing this for 1.5 years. Just recently, I had a misfill because I was the only one typing, dispensing and verifying all while the phones are ringing and long lines at drive-thru and drop off and pick up. I was rushing and glanced at the prescription and pulled the bottle and typed the rx and filled it because this person wanted her prescription done in 15 mins and it was dropped off over 10 mins ago and the rx still hasn't been typed because we had a long line. I did have a tech with me, but she is one of the most incompetent techs I have ever worked with. I just let her check people out when I work with her and there's a line. Thank God, I didn't dispense something that would seriously harm the patient. The patient ended up taking 2 doses before I caught the mistake. That day had to come one day considering the conditions I'm working under...
I'm seriously tired of having to work understaffed and with incompetent and slow technicians. I find myself getting so frustrated with them that I'm always getting upset with them and telling them that they make my job so stressful and that I will end up in the mental institution or on anti-psychotics because of them. I don't have a partner (other partner left because she couldn't take it anymore), but this one pharmacist who's been filling in at my store said she dreads coming to my store and sometimes wants to kill herself or wishes she was dead so she didn't have to come to my store. I myself has once thought about committing suicide because of work, I actually googled ways to die painlessly.
If I knew I was gonna end up with a job like this, I would have never done pharmacy... How can the boards of pharmacies allow us to work under these conditions? They should make it a law that no pharmacist should work alone without a technician and that we should have sufficient help because we are dealing with people's lives here and working under these conditions just increases our chances of making mistakes.
Last edited:
- Joined
- May 4, 2005
- Messages
- 686
- Reaction score
- 121
Dude, calm down man. I know how you feel, as my pharmacy is the worst out of the 50+ that I've worked at. In an 8 hour shift, I sometimes type over 100 scripts, F4, verify, fill, check out customers, answer phones, do cardinal crap, and put up warehouse at the same time. It's crazy, yes; but don't let it get to you. When you get in a bind, just think that you're doing the best you can.
I feel like even though this thread has a lot of truth and useful information, it has also produced much negativity. I really hope people don't start quitting jobs without alternatives and thinking about suicide.
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2010
- Messages
- 199
- Reaction score
- 2
I had suggested this in the past, perhaps not feasible but an idea nevertheless:
We get paid well to do what we do. Since the bottomline is ALL that counts for these retail places ( ie they dont care about the employee or the patient). Why the hell not pay the pharmacist a buck or two less an hour and use the difference to higher more techs? Im sure its not that simple, but you get the idea.
When I interned at WAGs, I always felt bad for the poor techs making $9/hr hustling and being treated like crap by a pharmacist making $58/hr. Greed.
We get paid well to do what we do. Since the bottomline is ALL that counts for these retail places ( ie they dont care about the employee or the patient). Why the hell not pay the pharmacist a buck or two less an hour and use the difference to higher more techs? Im sure its not that simple, but you get the idea.
When I interned at WAGs, I always felt bad for the poor techs making $9/hr hustling and being treated like crap by a pharmacist making $58/hr. Greed.
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2011
- Messages
- 122
- Reaction score
- 1
rx2010
I understand your frustration as I also go through unimaginable stress and torture.However your life is very precious.Remember we all are bright that is the reason we were able to get into and graduate from pharmacy school.
All we need is legislation that every pharmacy needs to close for lunch break plus a legislation to make sure the pharmacy is properly staffed for public safety.It will take time and is difficult but not impossible
If we all join hands it will be faster and easier.
Again I would say it is not worth your life .Your life is very precious.
Got Em yes I have just started looking for alternatives but I don't know what will happen first quitting or finding .All I am looking for is a job with a lunch break as now eating is considered luxury not necessity .
I understand your frustration as I also go through unimaginable stress and torture.However your life is very precious.Remember we all are bright that is the reason we were able to get into and graduate from pharmacy school.
All we need is legislation that every pharmacy needs to close for lunch break plus a legislation to make sure the pharmacy is properly staffed for public safety.It will take time and is difficult but not impossible
If we all join hands it will be faster and easier.
Again I would say it is not worth your life .Your life is very precious.
Got Em yes I have just started looking for alternatives but I don't know what will happen first quitting or finding .All I am looking for is a job with a lunch break as now eating is considered luxury not necessity .
That's the crazy part about it. If you drop your salary $2/hr x 40 hours, that's $80, which is 8-9 tech hours. I do feel bad for techs, because they put up with a lot of what we do, constant ringing phones, angry patients, etc. Just because the buck doesn't stop with them doesn't make it much less stressful.
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2004
- Messages
- 4,576
- Reaction score
- 339
Where would they go? You eliminated 99.9% of thier choices. The general public could give a crap about pharmacy. All they care about is getting thier vicodin or xanax thier way right away like Burger King. Oh and a $25 gift card on the side like an order of french fries. Its a joke...its dead...we have lost.
Find another job now. In a few years or sooner it will be too late. The time to get on the life boat is before everyone has figured out the ship is sinking. Retail pharmacy is a sinking ship. If you don't get off now you will go down with it.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2004
- Messages
- 4,576
- Reaction score
- 339
If anyone lives in the DFW metro area I have information on two jobs that are open right now. These are not retail positions. The pay is 15k to 20k less than average retail staff RPh salary. No nights, weekends or holidays! PM me if interested.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2010
- Messages
- 380
- Reaction score
- 34
ACKJ the math doesn't quite work that easy- I have been at numerous P.I.C meetings where Pharmacist said they will forge their pay increase and either give it to the techs are use the money to add to the tech budget- now from what I am told- in any business when they have to cut cost the easiest variable to cut or the one they can control is obviously payroll- you have to have a Pharmacist staffed at all times so they won't cut a Pharmacist but they can control techs- also if a tech is full time and let's say making 10 hr- the company in the long run is paying them more than 10 hr- remember it cost companies to provide insurance, vacations , etc.
I honestly think in the long run cutting techs who are the bread and butter of the pharmacy is the wrong way to go- how CVS and WAGS expect to produce the same results and good service with reduce hours is beyond my thinking- CVS in my district has had some stores reduce hours slightly- now my store evenn though I have reduced tech hours from this same period last year- I feel somewhat lucky because I have about 8 super great techs- most stores have on average one or two maybe 3 great techs if lucky so the 8 can handle any situation- but I only do what is given to me.
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2010
- Messages
- 380
- Reaction score
- 34
MPD I agree with your first statement, but can you please tell me where people are going to fill their prescriptions in the next few years? Is everyone going to do mail order??? If things go the way I thin they will in Nov and Obama gets re-elected and the full scale of Obamacare gets passed and you have 30 million(that's the low end) mandated to have insurance- a good percentage of them will start seeing MD's and more scripts will be written- where will they get filled? Prescription use in the U.S has rapidly been increasing- there were nearly 3 billion prescriptions written in 2011 so can you please tell me MPD where are all these prescriptions going to get filled if the blk of them are not going to be filled in retail? Are ATM's going to dispense them- are Pharmacist going to be replaced by illegals? There's no way that Retail is in jeopardy.
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2004
- Messages
- 4,576
- Reaction score
- 339
As always Nupe your youth, inexperince, and CVS brain washing shine through. Look at what is going on and you can see the future.
- Please do not tout Obama care as the savior of retail pharmacy. The bill is a 1000 page horror show. Obama plans to pay for this whole mess with improved efficency and cutting waste out of the system. So far all I have read and heard about cutting waste and improving efficiency is lowering the reimbursement for services and presciptions as low as possible. So you get to fill your 30 million new scripts a year with the same amount or less hours and staff than you have now.
- Express scripts. One of the core issues with Express scripts and Walgreeens was mandatory mail order. I have already seen this on many scripts we have transfered from Walgreens. You get to fill it one time give the customer a $25 gift card and then it rejects the next time and says the patient must use mail order. On $4 for 30 days or $10 for 90 days rx's express scripts customers get them for zero co-pay mail order. Walgreens may be the smartest guys in the room on this Express Scripts mess.
- Walgreens POWER and central fill. This right here is the future of retail pharmacy. This is where the efficiency savings comes in to play. Central fill is the future of retail. Kroger has central fill in several location in the US and is planning on expanding. Walgreens POWER program rumored to be dead is still rolling out here in Texas this year.
-Walgreens PROJECT ONE. Walgreens newest program is designed for one thing only....to get the pharmacist out of the pharmacy. In Project One stores the pharmacist is out front sitting at a desk. They are supposed to counsel, do OTC consults, immunizations and BP screenings ect. There is not a pharmacist in the dispensing area. All maintance Rx's are filled at a central fill location and all new rx's are verified by a pharmacist via video feed from the central fill facility.
I am sorry Nupe. Retail as we know it today is dead. You can bury your head in the sand if you want. CVS looks really smart right now. However, Walgreens is the smartest guy in the room. You watch. All of Walgreens new programs and improved efficency is just what Obama care is based on. Once it gets up and rolling they will bury CVS and CVS will never recover.
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2010
- Messages
- 296
- Reaction score
- 9
You mean we will soon be able to SIT at our job?? SCOOOOOORED!!
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2009
- Messages
- 1,869
- Reaction score
- 14
I don't live in chicago or indy but the nytimes piece had a picture of the kiosk with the rph standing
- Joined
- May 4, 2005
- Messages
- 686
- Reaction score
- 121
You'll sit there for 2 years or so, until they find that it's not profitable for any company to pay $60 per hr for pharmacists to do what a NP or PA can do at $40 per. Meanwhile, it shows that you don't "need" to have a pharmacist in the pharmacy at all. Then you get lobbyists to approve laws that allow remote pharmacists to be the "pharmacist on duty" and guess what? You won't be sitting or standing there anymore. This increases effiency, cuts costs, and is profitable for the company, which will lead to almost all companies copying this concept. Then.....
I'm just playing. This probably won't happen, but you can see something along these lines. The only reason that you don't have something like this is that the "law" keeps the pharmacist on site.
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2010
- Messages
- 380
- Reaction score
- 34
MPD I respectively disagree- now I never said tat Obamacare is a savior tere are tings that I like and things that I don't like in that Bill but I don't want to get too deep in politics- but you have to come to reality there are going to be more people with insurance who will visit MD's or minute clinics- since they predict in 10 years there will be MD shortages like there were Pharmacist shortages- also MPD- do you know for the next 8 years there will be 10,000 people turning 65 every day- I am pretty sure a lot of that 10k population is going to be on meds- so let's just agree that medication use or the need to get meds filled will be there- You really can't be serious about WAAGS Power and Project One????? It will never catch on and the CEO of WAGS made a huge blunder- if he was smart he would kiss up and try to get ESI back at WAGS. I heard from a good source that works for WAGS corp that the CEO was expecting a huge outcry/complaints from ESI customers to put pressure on ESI to get WAGS back in the fold and tat hasn't yet happened- and the longer it drags on the worst it is for WAGS- I am pretty confident that if WAGS kissed and made up with ESI tomorrow that I would still retain 95% of the ESI transfers and I have heard similar remarks from my peers.
Now I hate to tell you this MPD, but I assure you the future for Independents in the DFW area well Texas as a whole is very bleak- I expect many of them to close doors due to Medicaid's pathetic reimbursement which went from 6.50 per script dispensing fee to a dollar and some change- but if you think CVS and Wal-Mart are going to adopt WAGS model than I got some ocean front property to sell you.
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2004
- Messages
- 4,576
- Reaction score
- 339
You should be scared because we think alike. There is no playing. I believe that is exactly the point of thier Project One program. First step POWER to get all the scrpits to cetral fiil. Then Project One to show how the pharmacy can be run without a pharmacist then hello unemployment for 90% of retail pharmacists.
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2010
- Messages
- 296
- Reaction score
- 9
Yes, and WAG better has lubricant readylots of it.
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2004
- Messages
- 4,576
- Reaction score
- 339
Time will tell.
I got a new job dude and you are going to laugh your ass off if I tell you where.
- Joined
- May 16, 2007
- Messages
- 4,499
- Reaction score
- 1,689
Our asses are waiting to know where.....
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2004
- Messages
- 4,576
- Reaction score
- 339
I have double crossed over to the darkside. I now work for a PDM that is 1/2 of the evil empire.
I gave up on retail. I have been looking for anything that is not retail. Came across a unique sounding position with a PBM that could not be any further from retail. I took a massive pay cut but the quality of life improvement will more than makes up for it.
- Joined
- May 7, 2005
- Messages
- 22,783
- Reaction score
- 346
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2005
- Messages
- 1,174
- Reaction score
- 776
Mehh... In my opinion you'll get rising salaries for NP/PA's and salaries that won't keep up with inflation for RPh's. We'll get to a ~$100K salary for all of us midlevels (inflation adjusted). Walgreens isn't going to kick out the pharmacists and the salaries will take care of themselves. We are heading down a path like law, good career for many, but a sizeable percentage will not be able to find employement.
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2004
- Messages
- 4,576
- Reaction score
- 339
Sounds interesting.........
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2010
- Messages
- 380
- Reaction score
- 34
Hmmm why do I have a feeling you wither work for Caremark in ricardson or Prime Therapeutics in Irving?
- Joined
- May 7, 2005
- Messages
- 22,783
- Reaction score
- 346
After spending the last year working for an independent, and fighting PBM abuses, it would be like working for Satan...at least for me.
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2004
- Messages
- 4,576
- Reaction score
- 339
After spending the last year working for an independent, and fighting PBM abuses, it would be like working for Satan...at least for me.
That is what is so funny and ironic. I feel like I am going over to the dark side. Like I am betraying my brothers and all I stand for.
I figure if you can't beat 'm join 'em! I am convinced retail pharmacy is dead as we know it. I am trying to position myself so I have a job when everything goes to chit. One thing is for certain....PBMs are just getting bigger and more intrusive.
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2004
- Messages
- 4,576
- Reaction score
- 339
It isn't hard to figure out. I said you would laugh your ass off because I am working for Caremark. They have offices in Irving, Los Colinas and Richardson.
I am very excited about the new job which I start today in a few hours. I feel kind of dirty though. One its CVS/Caremark and two its a PBM. I will get over it thought because I am out or crap ass retail pharmacy! Hurray for me!!!!!
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2009
- Messages
- 34
- Reaction score
- 0
I'm also seriously considering switching from retail to a PBM for a pay cut... and I'm in a "reasonable" retail environment. Decent volume (most of the time), average to good staff, good community base... but it still sucks! I don't work for Wags but for a company that has gained a lot of business from the fallout. Even though times are good as far as script count goes, I'm still getting hounded by middle-management on a daily basis for a variety of things (hours, metrics, etc.) The only thing I would miss right now is the people I work with and a select few of our customers who actually seem to value my services as an Rph.
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2010
- Messages
- 380
- Reaction score
- 34
MPD congrats the CareMark division is doing very well- I have a lot of friends who worked there- I actually got contacted to go over there to work on the side that does the Medicaid PBM but politely declined- let me know if you run into a Pharmacist named Gus or if you ever meet Merlyn Montero she's a former Sup for CVS- every person I know that has switched from retail to Caremark loves Caremark a helluva lot despite the pay cut- now even with the pay cut the salary is still very good by all means. the Caremark division needs to show the CVS retail division what they are doing right because they(caremark) just a few months ago were hiring tons of techs and Pharmacist and even had OT available where CVS retail were not hiring and cutting back- go figure, but yes I have heard that it's much more laid back- good luck let me know how you are enjoying that aspect of pharmacy.
Well we are all waiting, how was the first day on the dark side????
Did you get to use that thing they call a chair??? I heard some even have wheels and fabric padding!!!
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2004
- Messages
- 4,576
- Reaction score
- 339
I guess I should bury the hatchet since we our working for the same company! Thanks for the kind words. I am very excited to be working there. I have heard the same things you have. Everyone who has transfered over loves it. It could not be anymore different then working in a busy retail pharmacy. It is going to take awhile to adjust.
I met Merlyn Montero today. She is the director of my department. You are correct it is very laid back. The dress code is jeans and polo shirts.
Caremark is expanding like crazy. They not only have overtime but mandatory over time. There are hiring a whole bunch of techs and a few pharmacists. You should come over to the dark side! It is a whole lot more fun than working retail.
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2004
- Messages
- 4,576
- Reaction score
- 339
I sat in a chair all day! When I got off work my legs didnt hurt and I even had enough energy to go out and take a two mile walk with my family.
I am so glad to be out of retail. Today was a very sureal experience. Here I am sitting thru a CVS/Caremark orientation one day after I was a PIC at a very busy grocery store. Oldtimer and Rxnupe you would have loved it. MoutainPharmD the biggest CVS basher in the world is sitting in orientation listening to the HR rep talk about how great CVS is.
Anyway..I am not working for CVS I am working for Caremark. I no longer think CVS is the worst pharmacy chain. I think they all are equally bad and I want nothing to do with any of them!
