Hey there. Looking for some opinions. I've worked in retail pharmacy for 11 years; enjoy it actually. Started out with Smith's (Kroger) in Las Vegas in 2010. I thought it was the best company I've ever worked for. I really hated living in the desert so was desperate to get back to the east coast; tried to transfer with the company to one of their stores in North Carolina where I was moving to, but there were no openings. Got an offer at an independent pharmacy and took it (that was in 2014).
Long story short, ended up meeting my husband and moving to Pennsylvania in 2016 with CVS. I actually enjoyed working there the first 3 years; the high-volume and that level of stress suited me. Then they got a new district manager that just was awful (from mail order, had no idea what retail was about) and that just really made things miserable there. That's when I went to Wal-mart in 2020.
After a learning curve with their computer system and the way things are set up, I find that I love working there. Where I'm at there's good overlap; I find Connexus to be a great computer system to work with, with so many safety features so it's good for catching errors.
So what happened between moving here to PA and now is that my husband passed away in 2018. I enjoy living here, but sometimes the grief gets really bad and lately this past fall it was at it's worst since the first few months after he passed away. I visited my family in NW Indiana over the holidays and it was the best time I ever had. I thought about moving back to be closer to them (closer would be in Bloomington, IN where I went to undergrad; couldn't stand living in utterly flat and scenic-less NW Indiana). I tried to transfer with my company--they only have a floater position which I can't do much anymore because I have trouble driving for long distances at night.
I also applied with Kroger there and got a job offer. They are offering $12 more per hour. My base at Wal-mart is 64 and that is the same for Kroger with the opportunity to pick up more hours. That is what I prefer. My loans are mostly paid off and I'm not looking for 80 hours/pay period all the time. If it's there I'll take it; if not I'll enjoy the time off to do other things.
I'm just so torn between the two places. I really don't remember how Kroger's computer systems were (worked with countless computer systems to feel comfortable with them after learning how to use them. In fact, I didn't want to leave CVS because I was so familiar with the job there and didn't look forward to having to learn a new computer system. With Kroger though I should be somewhat familiar with it).
What I'm also worried about is how the stress environment is at Kroger. Where I was in Las Vegas, it was good for the most part. We had overlap every day and plenty of techs. The one rph would come in 8 to 6 and the other 11 to 9, how it is here at Wal-mart. Hear that Kroger's starting to go the way of CVS with no overlap. Not sure about tech coverage either. I spoke with the guy I'll be working with at Kroger and he says there's 3 to 4 techs there during the day (but they're mostly new, which is a pain. I'm worried too that they're not paid enough so that it makes it tough to hire and keep on workers in such a high-stress level position). We have generally 4 techs and 2 cashiers at Walmart. However, we do high 500s to mid 600s per day. The Kroger store does about 2200 per week which seems to me would work out to the mid to high 300s per day (if you figure in on doing less on the weekends). That is the same volume of the Kroger where I worked in Las Vegas.
The main draw of course is the huge pay increase. And property taxes are so much lower in Indiana than in Pennsylvania. I'll be closer to my parents who are older and will probably not be around for much longer. I'll be closer to a church whereas right now I live a half hour away from it (and wouldn't want to move closer because I love thunderstorms and they're on the wrong side of the mountain for them. So I'm about as close as I want to be to them).
But I love the area here too. I love the foothills/"mountains". There's hills in Bloomington, but nothing like around here. That is mainly what I will miss about the area. There's surely plenty of places to hike around Bloomington, just hadn't done that while I was an undergrad there. And of course, I think I've got a great set-up at the Wal-mart where I'm at. Of course, that can always change and generally retail pharmacy progresses to getting worse and worse.
I've been thinking about it for a week and keep going back and forth between moving there and staying here. So just looking for some thoughts. Hope to hear from you guys. Thank you in advance and sorry about the long post. Just trying to give information which may be helpful.
Long story short, ended up meeting my husband and moving to Pennsylvania in 2016 with CVS. I actually enjoyed working there the first 3 years; the high-volume and that level of stress suited me. Then they got a new district manager that just was awful (from mail order, had no idea what retail was about) and that just really made things miserable there. That's when I went to Wal-mart in 2020.
After a learning curve with their computer system and the way things are set up, I find that I love working there. Where I'm at there's good overlap; I find Connexus to be a great computer system to work with, with so many safety features so it's good for catching errors.
So what happened between moving here to PA and now is that my husband passed away in 2018. I enjoy living here, but sometimes the grief gets really bad and lately this past fall it was at it's worst since the first few months after he passed away. I visited my family in NW Indiana over the holidays and it was the best time I ever had. I thought about moving back to be closer to them (closer would be in Bloomington, IN where I went to undergrad; couldn't stand living in utterly flat and scenic-less NW Indiana). I tried to transfer with my company--they only have a floater position which I can't do much anymore because I have trouble driving for long distances at night.
I also applied with Kroger there and got a job offer. They are offering $12 more per hour. My base at Wal-mart is 64 and that is the same for Kroger with the opportunity to pick up more hours. That is what I prefer. My loans are mostly paid off and I'm not looking for 80 hours/pay period all the time. If it's there I'll take it; if not I'll enjoy the time off to do other things.
I'm just so torn between the two places. I really don't remember how Kroger's computer systems were (worked with countless computer systems to feel comfortable with them after learning how to use them. In fact, I didn't want to leave CVS because I was so familiar with the job there and didn't look forward to having to learn a new computer system. With Kroger though I should be somewhat familiar with it).
What I'm also worried about is how the stress environment is at Kroger. Where I was in Las Vegas, it was good for the most part. We had overlap every day and plenty of techs. The one rph would come in 8 to 6 and the other 11 to 9, how it is here at Wal-mart. Hear that Kroger's starting to go the way of CVS with no overlap. Not sure about tech coverage either. I spoke with the guy I'll be working with at Kroger and he says there's 3 to 4 techs there during the day (but they're mostly new, which is a pain. I'm worried too that they're not paid enough so that it makes it tough to hire and keep on workers in such a high-stress level position). We have generally 4 techs and 2 cashiers at Walmart. However, we do high 500s to mid 600s per day. The Kroger store does about 2200 per week which seems to me would work out to the mid to high 300s per day (if you figure in on doing less on the weekends). That is the same volume of the Kroger where I worked in Las Vegas.
The main draw of course is the huge pay increase. And property taxes are so much lower in Indiana than in Pennsylvania. I'll be closer to my parents who are older and will probably not be around for much longer. I'll be closer to a church whereas right now I live a half hour away from it (and wouldn't want to move closer because I love thunderstorms and they're on the wrong side of the mountain for them. So I'm about as close as I want to be to them).
But I love the area here too. I love the foothills/"mountains". There's hills in Bloomington, but nothing like around here. That is mainly what I will miss about the area. There's surely plenty of places to hike around Bloomington, just hadn't done that while I was an undergrad there. And of course, I think I've got a great set-up at the Wal-mart where I'm at. Of course, that can always change and generally retail pharmacy progresses to getting worse and worse.
I've been thinking about it for a week and keep going back and forth between moving there and staying here. So just looking for some thoughts. Hope to hear from you guys. Thank you in advance and sorry about the long post. Just trying to give information which may be helpful.
