Yesterday was the first decent weather day we'd had for awhile, so Mrs. swsig and I decided to venture out to our local CVS store to get our RSV shots. I also needed a Shingrix shot. I went to the CVS website, was directed to the Minute Clinic, and got reservations for the late afternoon. Normally we'd be directed to the pharmacy, but I figured pharmacy or clinic, what's the difference, it's all CVS, right? WRONG!

When we got to the Minute Clinic, the nurse told us that they did not accept Medicare Part D payment for vaccinations, and if we wanted to get our three shots there, we'd have to pay nearly $700 out of pocket! Nowhere on the CVS website was this policy mentioned. The nurse told us to go to the pharmacy and see if they had an opening for vaccinations. Fortunately, they did, and 15 minutes later and 15 feet away, we got our shots at no charge, courtesy of Medicare.

Bottom line: If you're on Medicare (and most of you are ) and you go to CVS for a vaccination, make sure you go to the pharmacy. You'll save big!

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What, me worry?

Interesting.

A few years back, I went to CVS to get a flu shot. I have BC/BS insurance but it is from Maryland and I live in Pittsburgh. The local CVS wouldn't accept it, I'd have to go to Maryland.

They were definitely on some good drugs that day. Mine is from Idaho. I live in Texas. Everybody - I mean everybody - accepts it here. Yours should be good to go, too.

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Or something like that . . .

After over 3 decades as CVS customers we switched to Meijer 4 months ago. We were having too many problems with prescription availability and communications with CVS. Meijer has been smooth sailing.

It seems we are not alone:

Ohio Attorney General asks that CVS store be put on probation "for a period of years" - Ohio Capital Journal

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

CVS is a joke around where I live. Takes 4-5 days to get a prescription filled. Change over to Walgreens and it takes about 1/2 hour to fill.

For those of you that have Costco available, their pharmacy is excellent. You don’t HAVE to be a member, but there sometimes is a member discount.

Used CVS for a while but gave up on them. Liked to use the internet to fill prescriptions but their website was a confusing mess. Now use Hy-Vee. Their website is not the best but better than CVS.

I have to get my meds at CVS, which is the only place my health insurance plan uses locally. But that is OK because my plan pays for about everything I take, and 100% on generics. For immunizations and such, I go to the H-E-B supermarket pharmacy. They take Medicare for all immunizations, no hassle. And they charge very little even if you do not have Medicare coverage. Never a wait there.

Seems like drugstores are like common carriers, it depends where you live. My local CVS is great. Walgreens could never keep it straight that my wife had moved.

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Release the Kraken

Went to Walmart last fall for Sr. Flu shot like I had done for several years, Pharmacist said they couldn't give me the shot. Went down the street to my doctor's office, no problem in and out in 10 minutes.

As a retired military I have Medicare and Tri-care for Life. The local pharmacy (two shops) dropped my Tri-care so I move to CVS. Their incomitance has been a real pain. I think they have gotten things straightened out, for now

I use a locally owned pharmacy. I can walk in the door and be done in just a couple minutes often without calling beforehand. I had tried Wal Mart years ago. Nope not doing that again.

I use Larroque's Pharmacy in Jeanerette. Get shots for "free" fill all my scripts there and also his wife collects the dues for the Knights of Columbus. When I used to smoke, I'd go out in the back and share a Marlboro and cup of coffee with the owner and discuss tools. Thank God his daughter is taking it over so I've still have a local drug store until at least I die.

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Forum consigliere

The last "independant" pharmacy closed here. I had picked up prescriptions the prior and no one said a word about closing.
They forwarded info to Walgreen's. I'll see how that works out.
I much prefer and am willing to pay a bit more for the independant.
All gone now...

That happened to me as well. Independent pharmacy in my small town. For decades it was the only pharmacy and then CVS decided to open a store. People abandoned the independent like mad.

Saturday, I pickup up a prescription and I went back on Monday and the store was empty.

I later ran into the pharmacist and commented on the abrupt closing. He said that was part of the deal. CVS bought his business but he couldn't give any advanced warning of closure. He wound up with a job at a research facility which he liked because it was 8-5 M-F.

The CVS near me closes the pharmacy for lunch every day. The pharmacy also closes long before the store does. I'm told that it is because there is a shortage of pharmacists.

I stay with CVS because my prescription coverage is through them and I get a better deal there than if I go to Walgreens.

CVS seems to be just hangin on here, we are keeping an eye on things and if it gets any worse we will go elsewhere. I have been watching what is happening with them and what they say is their big business plan and what I see at the pharmacy we use is not the same.

Only other options here are Walmart, Meijer or Kroger.

I prefer independants...

Never a problem getting my shots at Publix grocery.

All three of those have high customer service ratings. We chose Meijer as they were the closest to our new place. We are well pleased.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

CVS came to town, bought some expensive realestate and built a new fancy store across from the neighborhood Walgreens... big digital sign and everything.. it is an empty shell now, lasted about 4 years... I don't think corporate is very smart at CVS... and a 2 miles north & south are additional Walgreens...

Both CVS and Walgreens are having problems keeping staff around here. One CVS and one Walgreens have recently closed. Others are closing early, closing for lunch, opening late. They both have a reputation of being difficult to work for. My wife is in the business, so I get inside information. She regularly gets offers from both chains to come to work for them at a fairly large increase in wages, but she said there's no way she'd work there unless there was no other choice.

If I'm not mistaken the Minute Clinics are run by a company other than CVS. It's also fairly common for pharmacies inside grocery stores and other big box stores to be run by another company (or in some cases by an independent pharmacist). For example, CVS runs all the pharmacies in Target stores.

There are still several independent pharmacies here as well. Probably will be one less soon, though. The biggest one recently sold out, and the new owners are refusing to accept many insurance plans that the previous owner did. Of course, those customers are transferring their business elsewhere.

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Or something like that . . .

We recently switched to a locally owned independent pharmacy after decades using the local Walgreens' branch. Here's the story:

The Walgreens' pharmacy was closed one Friday when their pharmacist called in sick. They had no backup - they were closed Friday, Saturday and Sunday! All this after the robot phone entity had assured me my RX (a maintenance RX) would be ready anytime that Friday.

The "store" manager said she showed up at 1 p.m. that day to find the pharmacy closed - she had no prior notice of the closure and no idea when the pharmacy would reopen! I muttered a few choice phrases and left.

Got my doc to call a locally owned independent pharmacy to fill the RX and switched everything over to them. Open 7 days a week. Story they told was that Walgreens, CVS were having trouble hiring and keeping pharmacists.

Since then the local Walgreens branch in question is closed both Saturday and Sunday and has reduced their Monday-Friday hours.

Pretty sad if you ask me.

My wife graduated college in 1978, a close friend the next year with a Masters in Pharmacy. Today the Condo two doors down is a series of Pharmacists that are PhD. We ask the family friend if the needed education change that much in 45 years (from a 5-year Master's to an 8-year PhD)?

Her response: The actual info didn't change much, but the cost did! A $5000 degree (The Ohio State University) in 1979 to a $110,000 now! (also OSU) And the affordable ones are all retiring! Maybe the students require longer to get the training or maybe an education conspiracy; probably a lot of both! (I had an immigrant that was a purity inspector for a whole district in a former communist country, our country wouldn't accept his credentials. 15 years ago is was close to $40,000 for him to get certified! (so he painted ghetto apartments, and lived better than in Albania!)

Youngest son's wife has a BS in Chemistry, she's a stay-at-home mom and sell "Collectables" online and is money ahead of being a Cancer Research Chemist or Quality Control Chemist for beauty products.

Ivan

There was actually a time (in Texas at least) when a B.S. was good enough to become a R.Ph. I worked with one who was near retirement many years ago. He was a very good pharmacist with only a B.S. degree. Then it became a Master's and later a doctorate profession. Most pharmacists today have the doctorate. I've known only one who insisted on being referred to as Doctor. I mean, she was a doctor, but . . .

I can also remember when pharmacists were paid around $13 / hour. Now it's closer to $70. Are the new pharmacists that much better than the old ones? Probably not, but there is a lot more to the job than just counting pills.

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Or something like that . . .

"All three of those have high customer service ratings. We chose Meijer as they were the closest to our new place. We are well pleased."

Have to walk to the rear of the store in all three here. Old independant walked in to the counter, got your stuff and out the door.

Walgreen's has 'lunch' break - Everyone out of the pharmacy - Windows closed. Sit and wait or plan your trip accordingly.

Have been reading that many pharmacies are having trouble keeping people.

$70k per year and a PHD? With what a pharmacist has to know and the costs involved, $70k is probably not enough to keep good people.

"All three of those have high customer service ratings. We chose Meijer as they were the closest to our new place. We are well pleased."

Have to walk to the rear of the store in all three here. Old independant walked in to the counter, got your stuff and out the door.

Walgreen's has 'lunch' break - Everyone out of the pharmacy - Windows closed. Sit and wait or plan your trip accordingly.

Have been reading that many pharmacies are having trouble keeping people.

$70k per year and a PHD? With what a pharmacist has to know and the costs involved, $70k is probably not enough to keep good people.

CVS always busy on refills. use their automated refill, but I do call ahead of time to see if any other scripts are ok to fill!! received RSV and flu at the same time this year.

My brother-in-law and my oldest granddaughter are both pharmacists. Neither ever considered working in a retail pharmacy. My BIL (now retired) worked for a mail order pharmacy, and even though it had sweatshop-like working conditions, he said it was still better than working retail. My granddaughter heard so many horror stories about retail, she took a year-long post-doctoral residency at a med school hospital so she could get certified as a hospital pharmacist. Those are the most desirable jobs, and she's currently the ICU pharmacist for a highly regarded hospital.

My granddaughter spent two years taking pre-pharmacy undergrad courses and was admitted to pharmacy school after her sophomore year. Pharmacy school is four years long. She was awarded a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree after her second year, and a Doctor of Pharmacy degree (PharmD) when she finished. I don't know exactly what her salary is, but $70/hr works out to about $150k per year, which sounds about right. She's rapidly paying off her student loans, which makes her dad very happy.

And here's some useful information from my granddaughter the hospital pharmacist. If you're ever hospitalized, be sure your list of medications is accurate. She regularly has to block doctor-ordered medications from being administered to patients because they would interact with existing medications and would result in the death of the patient. She's well-paid, but she earns it.

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What, me worry?

Good advice. Ruthie is my medical advocate both as a wife and an LPN. The times I have been hospitalized she has gone over and verified my med list with the attending doctors and nurses.

She is my corner gal.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

Not $70K / year. $70 / hour =$145,600 / year or more with OT.

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Or something like that . . .

Just remember Big Brother is watching out for pharmacies too.

Walmart for us mostly. The Pharmacy in Cody is good and after a while you know the pharmacists and techs. First name basis too. But we do get certain meds online

$70k / yr - My bad.

$70 / hr - Better.

CVS screwed up when they got into competition with Walgreens for #1 and started buying out small / independent pharmacies. They pooped on the CVS employees to have the capital to do this. Of course, the plandemic impacted their workforce too; people being paid to stay home and not work.

Oldest son is a PhD pharmacist and started working at CVS as a PharmTech while in undergraduate college. Back then there were at least 4 PharmTechs every day. By the time he became a pharmacist, CVS had cut the support staff back to 1 or 2 PharmTechs per day. At his last store, he only had 1 PharmTech per day, and a lot of times they would call in sick or go home early, claiming to be sick, etc. So, he had to run things by himself. If he had to go to the bathroom, he had to close the pharmacy. He finally had enough and told CVS to FO and went to work at Winn Dixie. Well, then Aldi bought WD and shut down all the WD pharmacies. He was out of work for a couple of months (CVS called and offered him a pharmacy 100 miles away, which he declined), but now he has gotten into Nuclear Pharmacy at a hospital.

I had one script that I got at a local Winn-Dixie market. They got bought out by Aldi and the first thing they did was close the pharmacy. They sent all the scripts to CVS. My script cost me $20.00 a month at Winn-Dixie. I called CVS to renew my script and they told me it was going to be $1,050.00. I told them no way, I would do without it before I paid that. The clerk said "Oh wait, I've got a discount coupon on that one." The discounted price was $750.00. Still won't work. Maybe I missed something, but if I did they didn't tell me about it. I called a family owned drug store and they quoted me $22.00 for the same script. After dealing with them for three months I was impressed enough with their service that I moved the rest of my meds from Walmart to Mom and Pop. I was tired of Walmart constantly being out of stuff and screwing up what they had anyway. I don't know what is going on with CVS and don't care because I will never darken their door.

We had a intersection close by with a Rite-Aid, Walgreens and CVS occupying 3 or the four corners. All that remains is the Walgreens. The other 2 corners are now a Dollar Tree and a Starbucks. If that's a step up from the pharmacies, they must have really sucked. We've used the local Wegmans Pharmacy for decades. We are in the market almost every day anyway and their excellent customer service carries over to their druggists. They too offer various free shots.

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