Which one new grad Cvs or Wags

[skegee12]

Sooo is cvs really that bad? I was just given an offer that I have yet to officially accept (they gave me 14 days). The reason I haven't accepted it is bc I was waiting to hear back from Wags but they want be able to get back to me until next week (DM is on vacation) which puts me at Day 15+ they have not given me an offer but someone on the inside is really trying to get me one (she has a lot of pull) I've worked for Walgreens before (intern) I'm nervous about cvs bc everyone hates it. I haven't seen or heard anything positive about the company. Also I live in Georgia where it's over saturated. I'm confused on what to do

Cvs offer:$60/hr 30hr/wk full time the store is 9-9pm and closes at 6 on weekends

Wags: from what I was told from the DM last year... $48/hr ??hr/wk full time OR $58/hr part time
24hr store across from hospital

***georgia salaries are low $48 is the lowest I've heard but most are only $51 (in my area outside of Atlanta)

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[owlegrad]

Leaving CVS is one of the great joys of my life. I never worked at Walgreens though so I can't properly compare. You could always accept CVS and then back out if you hear from Walgreens. One in the hand being worth more than two in the bush and all that.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

It depends on who the district pharmacy manager/supervisor is. Working for either company can be either tolerable or complete hell.

 

[supharma]

Seeing things in your plate.
Accept CVS offer especially with those student loans.
I resigned few days back,Its best feeling,I was so anxious and scared working with CVS.
If you would like to go for nice pay with less quality life sign the offer.
Good luck.

 

[VA77]

I think really knowing your DM, techs, script volume, and metrics would be just as important as the salary and benefits if not more. If the money is really high or low then something is up...find what it is.

 

[Rouelle]

Retail is retail. One has the full potential to be just as bad as the other.

 

[awval999]

I mean, take what you can get, according to PAtoPharm there's literally ZERO jobs in ATL so this must be a unicorn needle in the haystack.

Accept CVS for now, see if WAGs offers 40hr/wk full time. If so, take that. Tell CVS, I need "full" full time, I'm going with WAGs if you cannot match. Done.

 

[ancienbon]

So cvs is offering 60 and wags 48 for full time. Please take the 60 dollars. There is not a big difference between the two to justify a 12 dollars difference.

 

[awval999]

So cvs is offering 60 and wags 48 for full time. Please take the 60 dollars. There is not a big difference between the two to justify a 12 dollars difference.

There's no way those wages are correct.

No way two chains could be that out of wack in the same market. It's a 25% difference!

 

[ancienbon]

I previousy worked for wags for 3 years before switching to Cvs. I can tell you i would take cvs any time over wags. Thank God i made the switch . In my area so many wags rph got laid off last year. Yes cvs tends to be busy,and there is so much to do.

 

[sosoo]

if Wag is offering you a 24-hr store, it will be a lot of chaos. take it if you plan on moving to a better tomorrow. similarly with cvs, most of the chaos and hatred is from under-staff at high volume store. if you work at a low volume cvs, you're gonna be in heaven. unless as a new grad you come to them fresh and clueless.

 

[skegee12]

There's no way those wages are correct.

No way two chains could be that out of wack in the same market. It's a 25% difference!

It's true no need for pharmacist here at all. I was surprised cvs offered that much grocery stores offer the $51/hr well Publix does. Publix has no room for hiring they let all of their interns go

 

[Gombrich12]

That's some brazen stuff by Walgreens if they're really offering you $48/hr. I guess they want to test how low wages can go before they get no one or are scraping the bottom of the barrel.

 

[Rouelle]

$12/hr is huge. And you have to consider the future too. Think of the difference after a couple years getting, say, a 2% raise per year. The gap will widen even more. Plus, keep in mind that the 30 hr per week thing is a guaranteed minimum. You can usually pick up shifts pretty easily. The only reason to consider a $12 pay cut is if you're switching practice types (hospital vs retail, chain vs grocery store, etc). CVS and Wags are the same beast, just wearing a different costume.

 

[Sparda29]

Question for the CVS Pharmacists out there: how much do you guys take home after the tax-man takes his cut? Only way I'd ever see myself working for CVS is if I'm taking home $10k a month.

 

[PAtoPharm]

It's true no need for pharmacist here at all. I was surprised cvs offered that much grocery stores offer the $51/hr well Publix does. Publix has no room for hiring they let all of their interns go

Yes, this is EXACTLY what a Publix DM who works in GA told me. In fact, me and you probably spoke with the same DM. Everyone likes to accuse me of exaggerating what I hear and/or what I've been told, so I'm glad to see that someone else in GA (or the southeast in general) is repeating exactly what I was told. There are pharmacy chains in GA that literally have no more than 0-10 job openings across all locations.

 

[quickpic007]

I previousy worked for wags for 3 years before switching to Cvs. I can tell you i would take cvs any time over wags. Thank God i made the switch . In my area so many wags rph got laid off last year. Yes cvs tends to be busy,and there is so much to do.

Rare opinion, how do you come to this conclusion? WG was offering a good size bonus but I passed on it. Whats the biggest drawback w/ WG?

 

[PharmDBro2017]

Yes, this is EXACTLY what a Publix DM who works in GA told me. In fact, me and you probably spoke with the same DM. Everyone likes to accuse me of exaggerating what I hear and/or what I've been told, so I'm glad to see that someone else in GA (or the southeast in general) is repeating exactly what I was told. There are pharmacy chains in GA that literally have no more than 0-10 job openings across all locations.

The other day my boss mentioned having a friend who owns LTCs in GA, he said they are paying their pharmacists $38/hr.... srs.


Wtf is wrong with your state PA2Pharm2PA

 

[PAtoPharm]

The other day my boss mentioned having a friend who owns LTCs in GA, he said they are paying their pharmacists $38/hr.... srs.


Wtf is wrong with your state PA2Pharm2PA

This is the sort of thing I used to talk about on here, and people would always argue with me. My understanding (according to DOPs and other pharmacists I know locally) is that hospital/clinical/LTC jobs have just always paid less (much less) than retail jobs. That's why I originally started out with the "plan" to pursue non-CVS retail jobs. What is even more unbelievable is that pharmacy students are scrambling to apply to residency programs so they can eventually qualify to be hired for those $38-$44/hr LTC/hospital/clinical jobs.

 

[Lnsean]

Yes, this is EXACTLY what a Publix DM who works in GA told me. In fact, me and you probably spoke with the same DM. Everyone likes to accuse me of exaggerating what I hear and/or what I've been told, so I'm glad to see that someone else in GA (or the southeast in general) is repeating exactly what I was told. There are pharmacy chains in GA that literally have no more than 0-10 job openings across all locations.

Yo people keep saying "RELOCATE! RELOCATE! Tons of jobs"....but that was like 2010. All the new grads have been relocating since then....people keep forgetting this...those markets are getting saturated.

 

[hye345]

Question for the CVS Pharmacists out there: how much do you guys take home after the tax-man takes his cut? Only way I'd ever see myself working for CVS is if I'm taking home $10k a month.

$7k-8k/month, depending on availability of extra shifts/OT. Joys of CA taxes...

 

[PAtoPharm]

Yo people keep saying "RELOCATE! RELOCATE! Tons of jobs"....but that was like 2010. All the new grads have been relocating since then....people keep forgetting this...those markets are getting saturated.

Now that the southeast is on the verge of becoming saturated (as the OP is finding out), I wonder where new grads will go to find jobs when the last remaining job market respite (I.e., the midwest and Alaska) is likely saturated in a few years?

 

[PAtoPharm]

Midwest has been saturated for years.

In that case, where does that leave aside from Alaska and a small handful of other states?

 

[lord999]

Have you worked for either company? It'd help if you did make the decision. It's really not necessarily the company, although I think CRW/WAG is technologically superior and CVS is more humane about their labor allocations, it's the store that you are allocated and the people you work with. Both chains have good and bad stores and good and bad supervisors.

Both companies though are not the bedrock of stability. They always go through periods of feast and famine, and depending on what you think is worse (CRW historically uses constructive termination meaning that they make the environment unacceptable to practice and accepting the lawsuits involved, CVS cuts hours and truly lays off personnel), it may influence your decision.

 

[BenJammin]

One thing I've learned from this forum is that your boss plays a large role in whether or not you'll enjoy the job. There are some people who think working for CVS is the best ever because their DM is awesome and some people think working for CVS is worse than working for Hitler because their DM is awful.

 

[6GodPharm]

Question for the CVS Pharmacists out there: how much do you guys take home after the tax-man takes his cut? Only way I'd ever see myself working for CVS is if I'm taking home $10k a month.

I take home roughly $9800 a month on avg this year so far but it usually takes me about 12-14 hours of OT a week. Pre tax i'm making about 16-18K a month. But i'm getting taxed more than last year it seems. CVS gets a bad rep but this is a ridiculous amount of money we make. I make more in 2 months than A TECH makes in a whole year lol so I really don't mind retail.

 

[6GodPharm]

One thing I've learned from this forum is that your boss plays a large role in whether or not you'll enjoy the job. There are some people who think working for CVS is the best ever because their DM is awesome and some people think working for CVS is worse than working for Hitler because their DM is awful.

I've been through a ton of boss's and they really don't matter. If you can do your research and reach the metrics (they are actually really easy now to reach) no one will bother you. My store health is really easy now that they took MCP out of it. Getting a 3.0 is easier than ever. Learn the metrics and align your teams and your boss doesn't matter. I've been thru plenty in a short time and all were clueless. They just left me alone because I was hitting eteics

 

[trailerpark]

The one metric we are constantly harassed on is expanded IMZs aka anything besides a flu shot. Every conference call is about IMZ and MTM. There's barely any talk about anything else that we do 99% of the time in the pharmacy.


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[Sine Cura]

When I worked at CVS as PIC I had zero conference calls, compared to at least 6 a month at WM, and for expanded immunizations CVS required a token 1-5 shots a month outside of flu shot season for KPI as opposed to 30 a month as the "regional" goal for WM.

 

[dblock05]

In the midwest and take home is roughly 6k a month after taxes at 40 hours/wk....

Would love to make 8-9k a month....

 

[hick2672]

Do not take CVS offer! Very ugly at CVS and getting uglier by the minute!


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