I've had issues at my local Walgreen's. Out of stock, closing early, and worn out people. They were really busy a year ago. Now, you add administering vaccines and all that drama and you'll get burned out pharmacists and over stressed employees.
Who else is having issues in getting prescriptions filled? Supply/labor shortages.
- Thread starter mrsilv04
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My Walgreens lost 4 Techs in 2 weeks. I know the lead Pharmacist, and he is at a breaking point. It's bad.
Pharmacy has really changed in the past ten or twenty years. Automation and central fills have given the bean counters the idea that less staff is needed. Most retail operations run on shoestring staffing.
Both pharmacists and techs in most states are now required to get a certain number of hours of CE each year which is an additional burden.
At the hospital I worked at we went from 30 full time techs to 22 and during that time with the automation put into place we filled for five hospitals instead of just our own. Efficiency, Productivity, the usual buzzwords every manager stressed during that time. It was a complete paradigm change.
I had dealt with mostly Rite Aid pharmacies for many years but had to switch to CVS a couple of years ago. Other than the occasional nasty Pharmatech or cashier, I mostly had good polite service at Rite Aid. I felt bad for them when they were embezzled into bankruptcy by a former CEO some years ago. The Pharm insurance plan that I wound with for some years is owned by CVS. It has coverage at a lot of different chains, but the co-pays were always a bit lower if you used CVS. It wasn't enough to make me go to a CVS. Then, about 2 years ago, the CVS owned plan really jacked up the co-pays at non CVS stores and financially forced me to go there. The smaller town CVS I use is OK, but they sometimes fail to fill Rx's that I've been informed are ready. Or can't find when I get there. They often seem to be in some sort of trouble with Medicare or the whistleblowers to the DOJ. I'm sure they're not the only Pharm in occasional legal trouble.
Moving into the future there will be less and less pharmacies. (I think anyway)
Robotic Pharmacies/mail order will grab a significant amount of prescriptions. Companies like CVS / Walgreens maybe turn into health centers for minor illness. CVS is already starting on that, closing stores and renovating into a medical type establishment, Walmart as well.
There are a number of start ups in Robotic Pharmacies and one that caught my attention from and investment standpoint and this thread just reminded me about it, forgot the name but should be easy to find. Was an upstart on the West coast and now on the move to more locations.
Yeah, the days of people putting pills in a bottle are almost over, I do hate walking into my local CVS and recently switched to Walgreens for a more pleasant experience. Our local CVS feels like a factory, gone is the friendly help, not their fault and I dont blame them, they are stressed with the NEVER ending line of people looking to get their medicine. Short staffed by the mother corporation, to me, they look like they are already treated like robots, only human. Its really quite a scene, never do I see a smile on any of their faces or any time for them to even converse among themselves.
Robotic Pharmacies/mail order will grab a significant amount of prescriptions. Companies like CVS / Walgreens maybe turn into health centers for minor illness. CVS is already starting on that, closing stores and renovating into a medical type establishment, Walmart as well.
There are a number of start ups in Robotic Pharmacies and one that caught my attention from and investment standpoint and this thread just reminded me about it, forgot the name but should be easy to find. Was an upstart on the West coast and now on the move to more locations.
Yeah, the days of people putting pills in a bottle are almost over, I do hate walking into my local CVS and recently switched to Walgreens for a more pleasant experience. Our local CVS feels like a factory, gone is the friendly help, not their fault and I dont blame them, they are stressed with the NEVER ending line of people looking to get their medicine. Short staffed by the mother corporation, to me, they look like they are already treated like robots, only human. Its really quite a scene, never do I see a smile on any of their faces or any time for them to even converse among themselves.
My wife works at a fulfillment center as pharmacy tech. Due to the mandatory vaccinations they lost at least 6 on her shift alone and for a period of time they forcing everyone to work 9-10hrs and weekends. Since then they've recalled all those employees so things have eased up. She hasn't said anything about lacking meds. She might even up leaving eventually.. she's tired of the spinning wheel of which job she'll have to do that day. Unfortunately for her she's good worker and they take advantage of it.
We've been using USave which is locally owned and love it. When we transferred from Hy-vee my wife started saving hundreds of dollars a year.
I'm getting ready to retire next year and will start using the VA for my scripts which should save me a bunch of money as well.
I'm getting ready to retire next year and will start using the VA for my scripts which should save me a bunch of money as well.
