Comments on: Pharmacy Optimization With Enterprise Re-engineering: My Disdain, Thoughts, and CALL TO ARMS

By: Tuckrph

Tuckrph — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:34:59 +0000

Great stuff! You have just summarized why I got out of retail. Ended up crying on my way to work every day.

By: pharmacist

pharmacist — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 19:12:21 +0000

I found your site on Google and read a few of your other entires. Nice Stuff.
Iâ€™m looking forward to reading more from you.

By: Ozzie West

Ozzie West — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:39:47 +0000

I love that marquee thing! I am putting on mine at my store.

However, the profession is dead. We were sold down the river by whoever signed the first PBM contract. That person is dead/retired now.

Pretty soon the PBM’s and Chains will pay off the right politicians, whack the licensing requirement and fill all Rx’s with robots and techs.

Then the average RPh wage (hospital too, due to the excess RPh supply) will be just a little bit south of Social Worker. Pay off your loan with that.

Good Luck,
Oz

By: WAGslave

WAGslave — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:51:21 +0000

Chicago was unionized and did a fairly good job of standing up for themselves from what I’ve heard. Then a few years back, WAG offered them a ton of cash to dissolve the union … and they did. Thanks to those pathetic douchebags for selling the rest of us out.

Phamacists have been complaining about work conditions for years, and things don’t change … they’re only getting worse. What’s it going ot take for things to improve? Media reports of deaths due to overworked pharmacies? 20/20 did a report a few years back … and nothing happened. Our state bords of pharmacy? Those spineless fucks are utterly useless. ( I pointed out an issue with WAG’s computer system that was a violation of state law, and they did NOTHING!) So what choice’s are left? Unionize. That’s the only way I can think of that would add some desperately needed clout to our profession. Thanks Angriest, for suggesting it. You’d think that all of us pharmacists who’ve complained relentlessly over the years would be posting their support in droves to your suggestion here. But the deafening silence on this issue from our pears speakes volumes as to how likely that will occur. Pharmacists really need to learn to stand up for themselves, as a group, or they will continue to get screwed by corporate bullies who are only concered with the bottom line and not with the front line.

Anyway, Angriest, I’d vote for you. Or maybe the Drug Monkey, if he’s up for it. Or Jim Pagliakis would do. Should we give him a call?

By: marsha

marsha — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:28:56 +0000

ME, ME!!! I’ll be the sacrificial lamb… it’s really simple, pick a time and day and have the 220,000 pharmacists- and I’m sure techs too-to simply walk around the mini-mall for ten minutes on day one. Then a week later, for 20 minutes, etc. Management would be shitting in their pants and run to meetings.

By: BlueTech

BlueTech — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:05:33 +0000

Come to think of it, Walgreens had a union at one point…long before I worked there, of course. From what my [former] coworkers told me, it hindered workflow. Riiight.
Seriously, I’ve been considering organizing a strike for some time, but what stops me is that there are too many people unwilling to take a stand. Damn, I hope Obama’s reform goes through…it wont fix everything, but it’s a start. *Dreams of Canada, where the reimbursement claims flow like wine*

I’ve heard that certain geographic areas were unionized within WAG — mainly, Chicagoland. I heard that the union within WAG was quite the powerhouse and went on strike several times resulting in major losses by the company.

By: STEVE

STEVE — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:45:02 +0000

11 Comments Â»
Mark says August 30th, 2009 at 5:19 am
If you think things are bad in pharmacyâ€¦an engineering degree roughly involves the same amount of debt, yet most engineers only start at $50-$60k/year (or in $/hour, $24/hour), *if* they can even find jobs.

answer to mark: Engineer doesn’t have same liability like us, engineer doesn’t work in same workload pressure without proper lunch break like us.

I dunno about that…if you build a bridge or tall building and it collapses, would you not be just a little bit liable? Maybe not, but you’d prolly feel a little bad about being responsible for the death of all the innocent women and children…when an RPh screws up, he only kills one….An Engineer kills hundreds…