Walgreens

[nikei3ball]

I work for Walgreens in the NY/NJ area. And they're shi*ing in their pants over this whole ESI deal. The company is looking for someone to blame for loss of RX sales (blaming pharmacists for not "keeping up with the business") when it was the dumb f*cks at the top who decided to cut ties with ESI as all of the customers go to CVS and Rite Aid. How can this company be so stupid?? Anyone else have to deal with nonsense from the higher ups (i.e. lets make up for lost sales by pushing free blood pressure checks and selling snicker bars next to the register)? I've never seen such a stupid business decision and such stupid ways to make up for lost business. How much longer will this charade continue?

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[Unchained]

I feel for you guys at WAGS. The brown stuff has to be flowing downhill in epic proportions. It will get even worse if Medco and Express merge. I don't see how they will make up for lost revenue. I have to give them credit for taking a stand however. I wish other chains would join you. Instead of them blaming you it should be a shared movement. A kind of we are all in this together environment.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

They are blaming the pharmacists? What total douchebags.

 

[BrightLight]

Not just blaming, I heard that they also had cut floaters' hours. I have been having difficulty with getting 40 hours a week recently, though I am not completely sure if it is part of the aftermath of the ESI deal.

Anyway, what a great way to motivate the company's pharmacists. I surely will continue to recommend Walgreens' generic OTC products over other brands to customers.

 

[pharaday]

Not just blaming, I heard that they also had cut floaters' hours. I have been having difficulty with getting 40 hours a week recently, though I am not completely sure if it is part of the aftermath of the ESI deal.

Floaters in my district are being laid off, and several pharmacists with many years of experience are being forced to work 32 hours despite having more seniority than others who will remain at 40 hours.

 

[NAPLEXON]

It will only get worse. I work under extremely stressful environment. It is like, one mistake, and you are fired.

 

[ValeRx]

I don't think other companies will negotiate lower reimbursement rates. The temporary gain by increased volume will be gone should ESI only offer decreased rates from here on out unless everyone else takes a stand.

 

[Its Z]

My buddy who works for wags is vigorously looking for a different job.

 

[PumpkinSmasher]

I surely will continue to recommend Walgreens' generic OTC products over other brands to customers.

You should be doing what is in the best interest of the customers who come in to your store. If there is an equivalent and more cost effective alternative to the branded product, then that is what you should recommend.

 

[30Percent]

What % of Walgreen's prescriptions were ESI?

 

[Ackj]

You should be doing what is in the best interest of the customers who come in to your store. If there is an equivalent and more cost effective alternative to the branded product, then that is what you should recommend.

Brand name + coupon is nearly always cheaper than a generic. Unless there are coupons for the generics, but those aren't as common. The same goes for general grocery purchases too, and Cheerios tastes better than Rolling O's any day.

 

[joetrisman]

And to think I was called a doom and gloomer a few weeks back for saying Wags was cutting full timers back to 32...

 

[iFarm]

Walgreens deserves credit for standing up to ESI. Reduced reimbursement from the PBMs would eventually make it down to the pharmacists in the form of reduced pay/benefits/hours. Basically, they're trying to take a bite out of our piece of the pie.

All pharmacists should support Wags for the decision. The company employs 10000+ of us and generally offers very good salaries/benefits. Furthermore, we should ALL question the usefulness of PBMs. Both patients and pharmacies could benefit financially if PBMs simply disappeared.

Disclaimer: I do not work for Wags, nor do I have plans to seek employment with them in the next 72 hours.

 

[StevePerry]

What % of Walgreen's prescriptions were ESI?

They lost about 6% of their same-store sales in January according to their January earnings report...

DAWWWWWWWWWWG! Love that ****in' avatar brah.

 

[StevePerry]

My buddy who works for wags is vigorously looking for a different job.

Just curious, is he staff or in a management/supervisor role like you?

 

[PharmDstudent]

They lost about 6% of their same-store sales in January according to their January earnings report...

DAWWWWWWWWWWG! Love that ****in' avatar brah.

It's not just ESI. According to a Walgreens article, it's also been a more mild flu season.

 

[Rph888]

I don't think other companies will negotiate lower reimbursement rates. The temporary gain by increased volume will be gone should ESI only offer decreased rates from here on out unless everyone else takes a stand.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20111230-706668.html

"Walgreen would become the most expensive pharmacy for basically doing the same thing that other pharmacies do"

express scripts is claiming that wags wants more reimbursements per rx than all other chains. I believe this to be true.

essentially all other chains have already accepted lower reimbursements. wags held out and lost express scripts business.

margins on rx are poor, front end is where its at in walmart/kroger/etc. thus the $4 plan...walmart/kroger won't fight express over this...
unless wags differentiates itself, its done at this rate.

 

[TonyRx]

As much as I agree and back WAGS and hate PBM's in general, I can easily see both sides of the argument. I work with an Rx Manager who has family members that work with ESI and Medco and from I have heard WAGS was demanding higher rates to make up for their decreasing 'front-end' sales. Obviously, it is not ESI's responsibility or obligation to dish out more money for the front-end sales, their only concern is the direct sales/production of the Rx dept. It's not ESI's problem if WAGS has a crappy front-end business model that is failing to produce adequate profit margins. Granted ESI's rates overall might not be great, but from what I have heard they were adequate enough. Considering this ESI deal cost WAGS $6 Billion a year, I think playing ball and buying time until a smarter and more efficient alternative could be reached would have been the better approach.

Bottom line is, WAGS has a specific agenda of how they want to progress the company...whether that agenda is worker/Pharmacist friendly I think is highly debatable right now. Lastly on a side note, word inside Medco/ESI is that they will likely merge despite FTC intervention...it's all politics and money driven as such is life. I've been with the company for many years, I don't like what I have been seeing but I am staying hopeful.

 

[Farmercyst]

I'm suffering from a combination of lost volume and increased manpower. My hours are dropping to below full-time starting next week. Of the 4 stores in my immediate area, most have lost ~20% due to the number of employer-based plans and a couple county plans being ESI. Then they hired 1 float to take care of a shortage I had been covering at 3 days/wk and another came up from the bay area while I was out on paternity leave.

 

[guitargrl]

Sorry to say....the ****ting will continue. And the victims, in no particular order, will be: employees (you get to do 10 times as much with less people), the patients (how many babies will die?? who can fill 15 Rx's in 15 minutes??)..and it looks like all the competitors will soak up the excess, only to have those poor patients suffer even more, as the lines at CVS and RiteAid (yes, even them) will grow...people MAY go back to Walgreens, only to find people trying to hang onto their jobs killing themselves to try to look like nothing is wrong. But believe me, it is. And, thanks APhA and Board of Pharmacies for letting the profession die at your watch....what do we have now....15 pharmacy schools in Florida?? Good luck to any new grads....it can be done, but I predict salaries will plummet, and somehow if anyone does the research, they should find all the major chains behind all the new, unneeded schools.

 

[PharmDoner]

GASP! I just got into Pharm School. This thread scares me!!!!!!

 

[PharmDoner]

Sorry to say....the ****ting will continue. And the victims, in no particular order, will be: employees (you get to do 10 times as much with less people), the patients (how many babies will die?? who can fill 15 Rx's in 15 minutes??)..and it looks like all the competitors will soak up the excess, only to have those poor patients suffer even more, as the lines at CVS and RiteAid (yes, even them) will grow...people MAY go back to Walgreens, only to find people trying to hang onto their jobs killing themselves to try to look like nothing is wrong. But believe me, it is. And, thanks APhA and Board of Pharmacies for letting the profession die at your watch....what do we have now....15 pharmacy schools in Florida?? Good luck to any new grads....it can be done, but I predict salaries will plummet, and somehow if anyone does the research, they should find all the major chains behind all the new, unneeded schools.

Ya know... some of the schools I interviewed at did feel more like a for profit school rather than an educational institution... but I'm sure that I'm getting off topic for this thread so I'll stop now...

What is going on definatly makes me worry about getting my PharmD tho... and from the looks of things after reading through this thread... with good reason.

 

[guitargrl]

yes

 

[Aznfarmerboi]

Sorry to say....the ****ting will continue. And the victims, in no particular order, will be: employees (you get to do 10 times as much with less people), the patients (how many babies will die?? who can fill 15 Rx's in 15 minutes??)..and it looks like all the competitors will soak up the excess, only to have those poor patients suffer even more, as the lines at CVS and RiteAid (yes, even them) will grow...people MAY go back to Walgreens, only to find people trying to hang onto their jobs killing themselves to try to look like nothing is wrong. But believe me, it is. And, thanks APhA and Board of Pharmacies for letting the profession die at your watch....what do we have now....15 pharmacy schools in Florida?? Good luck to any new grads....it can be done, but I predict salaries will plummet, and somehow if anyone does the research, they should find all the major chains behind all the new, unneeded schools.

I cant speak for Rite Aid but at CVS in the NY/NJ area, they gave us the okay to use as many extra hours as we want to help the customer. This means more tech hours than what our normal flex would be. The memo was simple, use what you have to help the express scripts customer. We are also okaying more RPH hours. Just dont go crazy overboard.