Why Going to the Pharmacy Sucks Now

It's not you. Going to the pharmacy has been a nightmare lately — and it's even worse for your pharmacist.

Pharmacists are sick of being overworked, understaffed, and forced to put your life in danger. And now they’re unionizing to demand better.
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[Outlawrockman]

It’s crazy that we outlawed vertical integration of movie studies, film distributors, and cinemas 100 years ago but we turned a blind eye on the healthcare industry

[LuckyCharms]

Imagine studying 6-8 years to be a trained and licensed pharmacist only to be measured on productivity like you’re a worker at McDonald’s.

[ninjgeek]

Came here because the thumbnail. I used to work for CVS as a store manager. What I'm about to say, I have no proof of aside from my memory, so take it for what you will.

I was at a manager training for my region, and they got to the topic of Unions. They went over tactics and techniques that Union reps might be able to 'exploit' to get information to employees (like there was one thing about not even allowing Boy or Girl Scouts to leave pamphlets for sales, that would be the Union's "in" to leave pamphlets (or something like that)). They gave us this information with the EXPLICIT purpose of making sure that the store DID NOT UNIONIZE.

They finished that "no unions" section by telling every manager there that CVS would "black list" any manager whose store even began the unionization process. That is, fired, then they'd go out of their way to make sure that person never worked in the industry again.

On top of that, I was chastised by my Regional Manager for trying to give my Full Time employees as close to 40 hours/wk as I could possibly do. Usually 38, so they wouldn't go into overtime if they worked over occasionally (which I was yelled at for before). I was told to give them 30, full stop.

The reason for 30, was if their AVERAGE HOURS fell below that for some time period, they'd be reclassified to Part Time, LOSE THEIR BENEFITS AND SAVE THE COMPANY MONEY. It would take keeping over 30 hour average for AT LEAST 1 YEAR before benefits were reinstated.

FUCK CVS.

[WoWFREAK]

It boggles the mind that pharmacists are literally required to hold Doctorate of Pharmacology, and are having to unionize to get reasonable staffing and compensation.

[sonnygower]

This lady is so brave for speaking out on the record against these huge corporations who only care about numbers on the excel sheet. Thank you!

[AuxFace]

Figures. I worked or walgreens before. Chronic understaffing was always a problem, and corporate treated employees poorly. The pharmacy got the worst of it, though.

[michaelgodwin]

Ex pharmacy technician. I have a lot of stories I could tell about the absolutely grueling working conditions, about how I had to regularly keep changes of pants on hand because I have Crohn's disease and couldn't make it to the bathroom. When my co-workers who was a veteran of multiple tours in Iraq said the work was the worst he's ever had to do by far, you know it's time to flee the profession and move on.

[christopherfernandez]

Burnout is an epidemic among almost all workers at this point.

[Firebringer]

I also work at CVS and yeah the "no stool" thing is bs, god forbid your employees be comfortable. Just wish ya'll would show us front store employees solidarity when we try and get our union going.

[jeli]

This is a situation where North Dakota, for once, seems to be ahead of the curve—all pharmacies are required to be majority owned by pharmacists licensed in the state. What that means is all pharmacies, including the few CVS and Walgreens pharmacies we have, are run by people who actually work there—not corporations. Furthermore, Target doesn’t have any pharmacies in the state because they refuse to cede profits on pharmaceuticals to locals. Walmart, Costco, and the like have independently-run pharmacies housed in their stores that have their own prices and staff. There’s no doubt this doesn’t solve every issue, but it’s kinda crazy a law from the 1960s is proving out to be so radically beneficial.

[naturegirl]

As a tech at one of your local chains. Why do your rx take so long? Long answer: hire hire hire but not in the way you think. New employee day 1. Throw em the register. Provide as little help to the new employee from seasoned employee as possible. New employee stays for 3 months give or take, while being cussed out by customers at least once per day, while trying to learn the cumputer system, pharmacy law, pharmaceuticals, learning to read Dr's writing, typing up rx, insurance which a very big PIA, dispensing drugs, etc, etc, etc. The now confused, frustrated, still fairly new tech just stops showing up to work. The pharmacy is already short staffed and doesn't have a lot of seasoned tech.

For me, I was running 2 registers in the front, plus drop off and sometimes drive thru at the same time. How much faster can 2 hands, 2 feet attached to one body can go?

[hegyak]

Of course Corporations are doing this. Gotta KEEP making Profits NO matter what.

[octawussy]

Please build upon this concept. CVS is a monopoly. They run my insurance company, warehousing / shipping for specialty drugs, nursing, and infusion facilities. They own Coram that suddenly let go of ppl who needed feeding tube services summer 2022. They say they wanted customers with specialty prescriptions like for MS, lupus, RA, but that is a sh*t experience, too. I need to act as my own case worker, making sure prior auth goes through, the supplies are ordered and arrive on time, and I have to bring in my own pre-meds for infusion. The on-site supplies in the closet-like infusion suite are travel items. I must carry the IV pole when I go to the bathroom so the tubes don’t wrap the pole. What do disabled people do who do not have project management skills or advocates? How can they use a space that is not accessible? Why has Selma Blair endorsed their product? It’s not right

[jjw]

Pharmacist here. This is pretty spot on and well done. Support your independent and local chains when possible, but nothing short of universal healthcare will be able to fix the issue.

[DragonWithAWagon]

Pharm tech at Kroger here, stools are a necessity!!! All of my pharmacists use them because it’s genuinely unethical to make someone stand for 8+ hours solid. Overlapping of pharmacists allows for thorough counseling! Ridiculous to see such shortages

[OG_McLovin]

CVS is the poster child for all of America's healthcare problems. I never go there, even for a pack of gum.

[cassieoz]

Yup, in all branches of healthcare, there're no shortage of appropriately trained staff. There's a shortage of people willing to work for the conditions being offered. It certainly applies to nurses, midwives, some docs etc. USA has to be one of the most exploitative business cultures in the world. All about shareholders, never about people

[brybryguy]

10+ years behind the pharmacy counter in my time as a tech. I worked for Both cvs and other big chains. 10 hour days, no breaks or lunch, always constantly non stop, getting paid minimum wage, dealing with the abuse from customers for 10 hours straight! My pharmacists, same deal non stop, buring out. It's alot of hard work. Really is, everyone always thinks oh all they need to do is just put pills in a bottle. No. There is sooo much more. I was a lead technician and I did everything under the sun, from managing pharmacy operations to ordering, inventory, billing and adjudication, all along with helping customers and filling. Pharmacy industry gets grossly over looked. I am very happy to see this and brining the spot light on this industry

[joemama]

CVS was by far the worst, most hostile job I’ve ever had. From management and customers. Worse than that wing shop i worked at where one of the cooks kept trying to stab other workers. Walked out mid-shift after 2 years and not a single missed day and many nights staying in the pharmacy after hours regularly.

[KT-bghf]

The awful irony that she had a medical emergency while working on the front lines in health "care, " helping others with their health, and no one cared. We need unions in every industry and universal health care more than ever.