CVS announces Pay decreases for pharmacists nationwide.

[sozetone]

CVS stated due to "High surplus of pharmacists" and to "stay aligned with competition" they would be decreasing salaries across the board for pharmacists. However most major chains have already cut salaries and hours such as WM (which i manage one so i vouch for that). WG, ...on and on.

To you new graduates, I could have hired you for a staff position of 80 hours at 65 an hour in 2017 and up until mid 2018. Now you get 50$ maybe 55 if your VERY experienced and talented, (god only knows what that means in retail pharmacy). And Remember, no matter how much you dont want to do it, 75% of the pharmacist employment sector is RETAIL. Sadly, most of you will end up here ( or try to) regardless of your grand plans to be clinical specialists, Hospital grand rounds...etc. And when your PGY3 residency is done, look forward to bagging scripts, and licking and sticking, if that is how retail pharmacy actually looks in 5 years.

Unfortunately, many of you will experience Long periods of unemployment, until you are drowning in debt and defaulting on your 200K loan.

Hey at least CVS was honest right? "TOO MANY PHARMACISTS". This is the same company that advocated the "opening of more pharmacy schools just a few years ago" in an actual statement. This was the grand plan all along. Over-saturate and decrease pay.

I tell you, the graduating class of whatever, this info to only help. I would report positive growth if there was any to report. You still have a chance to turn this around before its too late. Do your research, talk to friends who are pharmacists...etc. before you finalize this failing career path..Take care, be well. Oh and TELL YOUR FRIENDS.

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[APN-59 rph]

You..numbah one cherry boyz...read and heed....Do NOT say you were not warned.

 

[UGAZ]

This should be sticky..However, the pre-pharm students will ignore it anyway since they try to go for an easy route....not so easy after all eh?

 

[TerryTerry]

Schools, Deans and retailers, they all win big time. Students lose and they are more than happy to pay top dollars to lose even now. Sad.

 

[MatCauthon]

54,000 per year to go to usc, cost of living and accrued interest not included. retail rph <45 per hour, only 20 to 32 hours, 40 hours only for pics and extreme rural areas. day of reckoning coming. 32 hours per week at $50/hr is 83k per year. many new grads only getting 16 to 24 hours per week. plus we believe wages will continue down into the low 40s range as overhead supply of rphs increase. if you are going into pharmacy school dont have any expectations of making more than 75k per year. also expect some downwhat growth trajectory in hospital as well, especially as more and more residency slots are created-- even more seasoned rphs have been looking to go back to residency in the last couple years.

 

[pharmBear]

CVS stated due to "High surplus of pharmacists" and to "stay aligned with competition" they would be decreasing salaries across the board for pharmacists. However most major chains have already cut salaries and hours such as WM (which i manage one so i vouch for that). WG, ...on and on.

Can I get a source for this article?

 

[Momus]

Can I get a source for this article?

Stop by any random CVS you see on the street and you can ask any rphs. There was a conference call about it.

 

[sozetone]

Can I get a source for this article?

No i dont have one either.....but let me know if you figure it out. regardless salaries are dropping and thats all that matters. Also, i think we can both agree we have a surplus no? so even if they never said it, its true. happening now !

 

[Mad Jack]

F

 

[sozetone]

F

U

 

[Timbo]

Where did CVS release that statement? Can we get official source?

 

[JustFillIt]

U

C

 

[nafcillin]

K

 

[JustFillIt]

K

Haha I see what you did there!

 

[sozetone]

Y

 

[sozetone]

Where did CVS release that statement? Can we get official source?

No i already said i don't have an official source. That said, it happened and is happening. I myself manage a WM and will verify WE cut salaries across the board to "Stay competitive" . So you can search for an official statement, either way the salaries dropped and are dropping, so it's not even a point. Go ask someone at CVS that you know and they will tell ya. Theres your source.

 

[projektreverb]

2019 new grads are getting 55$ an hour in the upper Midwest. Semi major city.

 

[sozetone]

2019 new grads are getting 55$ an hour in the upper Midwest. Semi major city.

used to be 60/65$

 

[projektreverb]

used to be 60/65$

Yup I graduated in 2018 and my classmate got 61 in the same city.

 

[JustFillIt]

Y

O

 

[sozetone]

O

U

 

[JustFillIt]

U

B

 

[Modest_anteater]

CVS stated due to "High surplus of pharmacists" and to "stay aligned with competition" they would be decreasing salaries across the board for pharmacists. However most major chains have already cut salaries and hours such as WM (which i manage one so i vouch for that). WG, ...on and on.

To you new graduates, I could have hired you for a staff position of 80 hours at 65 an hour in 2017 and up until mid 2018. Now you get 50$ maybe 55 if your VERY experienced and talented, (god only knows what that means in retail pharmacy). And Remember, no matter how much you dont want to do it, 75% of the pharmacist employment sector is RETAIL. Sadly, most of you will end up here ( or try to) regardless of your grand plans to be clinical specialists, Hospital grand rounds...etc. And when your PGY3 residency is done, look forward to bagging scripts, and licking and sticking, if that is how retail pharmacy actually looks in 5 years.

Unfortunately, many of you will experience Long periods of unemployment, until you are drowning in debt and defaulting on your 200K loan.

Hey at least CVS was honest right? "TOO MANY PHARMACISTS". This is the same company that advocated the "opening of more pharmacy schools just a few years ago" in an actual statement. This was the grand plan all along. Over-saturate and decrease pay.

I tell you, the graduating class of whatever, this info to only help. I would report positive growth if there was any to report. You still have a chance to turn this around before its too late. Do your research, talk to friends who are pharmacists...etc. before you finalize this failing career path..Take care, be well. Oh and TELL YOUR FRIENDS.

Yeah not too much "licking and sticking," going on in 2019. Mostly just checking and sticking. But over all expected news. 15,000 new grads a year with 1,500 new jobs a year. The math isn't hard here guys. How can we profit from these unemployed new PharmDs? that is the question. What about a special marijuana degree that you get after your PharmD that makes you an expert on THC, sativa, indica?

 

[Modest_anteater]

Schools, Deans and retailers, they all win big time. Students lose and they are more than happy to pay top dollars to lose even now. Sad.

actually the real loser is the tax payer and the fed goverment. Many of these new grads will return home and live NEET lives without paying more than 10% of their loans back over their lifetime.

 

[BC_89]

actually the real loser is the tax payer and the fed goverment. Many of these new grads will return home and live NEET lives without paying more than 10% of their loans back over their lifetime.

Didn’t you make it clear that this is exactly your plan?

 

[Modest_anteater]

Didn’t you make it clear that this is exactly your plan?

That's not my plan at all. Why plan to fail? It's simply a plan for if we fail.

Why waste all the time in school when I could have just been relaxing at Starbucks / Panera Bread all day? My plan is to get a FE job at a retail store in the north east within 12 months of today. I'm way behind on my wikipedia donations because I almost ran out of ramen and potable water. But now I got the lifestraw community water filter so I should be back on tract financially.

If anyone has a copy of The McGraw-Hill Reader: Issues Across the Disciplines 12th Edition please let me know. Have been trying to get this book for awhile but it's prohibitively expensive. Thanks!

 

[BC_89]

That's not my plan at all. Why plan to fail? It's simply a plan for if we fail.

Why waste all the time in school when I could have just been relaxing at Starbucks / Panera Bread all day? My plan is to get a FE job at a retail store in the north east within 12 months of today.

So keeping in mind your stance of the job market, what’s the details of your primary plan that excludes you from living the NEET life and paying 10% of your loans over a lifetime like the rest of the new grads? Is their something specific with this retail job in the northeast 12 months from now that won’t have you troubling the tax payers and fed government?

 

[Modest_anteater]

So keeping in mind your stance of the job market, what’s the details of your primary plan that excludes you from living the NEET life and paying 10% of your loans over a lifetime like the rest of the new grads? Is their something specific with this retail job in the northeast 12 months from now that won’t have you troubling the tax payers and fed government?

My student loan debt is relatively low, maybe even exceptionally low given my schools low tuition and my low financial requirements. It could be paid off in one year assuming I am able to find a job. I am wiling to move quite far. I will live in extreme poverty / rural areas as long as there is internet and electricity.

 

[BC_89]

My student loan debt is relatively low, maybe even exceptionally low given my schools low tuition and my low financial requirements. It could be paid off in one year assuming I am able to find a job. I am wiling to move quite far. I will live in extreme poverty / rural areas as long as there is internet and electricity.

I fact-checked it: definitely impressive rating..

For the sake of anonymity, I won’t state the institute but if your getting instate tuition at the current rate listed then your easily better off than the majority of students tuition wise. Just don’t apply to the same rural areas I want lol

 

[Modest_anteater]

I fact-checked it: definitely impressive rating..

For the sake of anonymity, I won’t state the institute but if your getting instate tuition at the current rate listed then your easily better off than the majority of students tuition wise. Just don’t apply to the same rural areas I want lol

I'm still willing to accept there is around a 30% chance i will not find a job and a 60% chance I will not find a full time job. I just like school for the adventure and being around people. Before I went to school I was depressed and alone now I have a structured way to interact with people and try to positively engage myself in society.

 

[jjcayce123]

CVS stated due to "High surplus of pharmacists" and to "stay aligned with competition" they would be decreasing salaries across the board for pharmacists. However most major chains have already cut salaries and hours such as WM (which i manage one so i vouch for that). WG, ...on and on.

To you new graduates, I could have hired you for a staff position of 80 hours at 65 an hour in 2017 and up until mid 2018. Now you get 50$ maybe 55 if your VERY experienced and talented, (god only knows what that means in retail pharmacy). And Remember, no matter how much you dont want to do it, 75% of the pharmacist employment sector is RETAIL. Sadly, most of you will end up here ( or try to) regardless of your grand plans to be clinical specialists, Hospital grand rounds...etc. And when your PGY3 residency is done, look forward to bagging scripts, and licking and sticking, if that is how retail pharmacy actually looks in 5 years.

Unfortunately, many of you will experience Long periods of unemployment, until you are drowning in debt and defaulting on your 200K loan.

Hey at least CVS was honest right? "TOO MANY PHARMACISTS". This is the same company that advocated the "opening of more pharmacy schools just a few years ago" in an actual statement. This was the grand plan all along. Over-saturate and decrease pay.

I tell you, the graduating class of whatever, this info to only help. I would report positive growth if there was any to report. You still have a chance to turn this around before its too late. Do your research, talk to friends who are pharmacists...etc. before you finalize this failing career path..Take care, be well. Oh and TELL YOUR FRIENDS.

Glad I dont work for you debbie downer. I work in hospital and I'm at 57.66 an hour. I get lunch breaks and if I want to work overtime I can. 5 weeks vacation.

 

[jjcayce123]

54,000 per year to go to usc, cost of living and accrued interest not included. retail rph <45 per hour, only 20 to 32 hours, 40 hours only for pics and extreme rural areas. day of reckoning coming. 32 hours per week at $50/hr is 83k per year. many new grads only getting 16 to 24 hours per week. plus we believe wages will continue down into the low 40s range as overhead supply of rphs increase. if you are going into pharmacy school dont have any expectations of making more than 75k per year. also expect some downwhat growth trajectory in hospital as well, especially as more and more residency slots are created-- even more seasoned rphs have been looking to go back to residency in the last couple years.

why would you pay private tuition for pharmacy school when the same degree is available at multiple public schools. Are you flat out stupid?

 

[sozetone]

Glad I dont work for you debbie downer. I work in hospital and I'm at 57.66 an hour. I get lunch breaks and if I want to work overtime I can. 5 weeks vacation.

I manage a WM and get lunch breaks at 70/hr. I'm doing fine until they rip the rug out from under me. I was only trying to illustrate that slaries are dropping. Which they are at WM. we now pay maybe 50/hr for staffs, and they drive all over and get less hours and PTO. I cant wait to see what the class of 2019 encounters and how they respond. eventually these newbies are gonna revolt.

 

[beautifulrobot]

why would you pay private tuition for pharmacy school when the same degree is available at multiple public schools. Are you flat out stupid?

Cause they can just get federal loans to cover the higher cost of tuition and not have to worry about it until later.

The bigger question is why do we as taxpayers allow the feds to provide higher loan amounts to students who go to private schools, and not require a cap on these loans.

 

[BC_89]

Cause they can just get federal loans to cover the higher cost of tuition and not have to worry about it until later.

The bigger question is why do we as taxpayers allow the feds to provide higher loan amounts to students who go to private schools, and not require a cap on these loans.

^^^ or furthermore: cap fed loans in general and let tuition amounts balance themselves out by closing new schools and lowering tuition of any reputable programs. (Then we gotta deal with how Sallie Mae will take advantage of the difference).

 

[morenife]

Glad I dont work for you debbie downer. I work in hospital and I'm at 57.66 an hour. I get lunch breaks and if I want to work overtime I can. 5 weeks vacation.

Wow! Are they still hiring?

 

[sozetone]

^^^ or furthermore: cap fed loans in general and let tuition amounts balance themselves out by closing new schools and lowering tuition of any reputable programs. (Then we gotta deal with how Sallie Mae will take advantage of the difference).

Sallie Mae? i thought they sold out to uncle sam along with every other lender around 2009? they still in the game?

 

[sozetone]

Glad I dont work for you debbie downer. I work in hospital and I'm at 57.66 an hour. I get lunch breaks and if I want to work overtime I can. 5 weeks vacation.

yeah is sobering to hear that, but you are absolutley right. Now the companies have to finish their master plan and do one last thing.....turn over their existing pharmacist stock who are getting paid 60,65,70+/hr, why would they continue paying these wages when they know they can pay far less? it does not make econimc good sense right? but how do you do it? my guess? seriously understaff, change schedules, alter peoples life styles....this causes people to quit very often. they start making mistakes, they cant meet their metrics, whatever right? or they simply burn out trying....and in comes the new grad happy to do my PIC position for 50 bucks, and 40 hours PTO, never knowing the last pharmacist (me) was getting 70/hr and 180 hours PTO.....lol Its happening now, salaries were just dropped within the last 12 months or so.....now comes the "cleansing" phase.....

 

[mentos]

yeah is sobering to hear that, but you are absolutley right. Now the companies have to finish their master plan and do one last thing.....turn over their existing pharmacist stock who are getting paid 60,65,70+/hr, why would they continue paying these wages when they know they can pay far less? it does not make econimc good sense right? but how do you do it? my guess? seriously understaff, change schedules, alter peoples life styles....this causes people to quit very often. they start making mistakes, they cant meet their metrics, whatever right? or they simply burn out trying....and in comes the new grad happy to do my PIC position for 50 bucks, and 40 hours PTO, never knowing the last pharmacist (me) was getting 70/hr and 180 hours PTO.....lol Its happening now, salaries were just dropped within the last 12 months or so.....now comes the "cleansing" phase.....

I've been saying this all along and got a lot of backlash for it. They called us doom and gloom but I call it facts and reality.

 

[BC_89]

Sallie Mae? i thought they sold out to uncle sam along with every other lender around 2009? they still in the game?

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[sozetone]

Graduate Student Loans

Sallie Mae offers a variety of private graduate student loans designed specifically for your planned field of study. Learn more about Sallie Mae's grad student loan options today.

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yeah but those are private loans......VERY high interest and VERY hard to obtain. They sold out the big FEDERAL loans back in 2009 because they knew it was going to be bad debt.....

 

[sozetone]

I've been saying this all along and got a lot of backlash for it. They called us doom and gloom but I call it facts and reality.

I'm watching it happen at wal mart. They are doing nothing more than cutting to the point you cant manage successfully anymore, initiaiting new accountability programs for easier firing of employees, and loading you down with more metrics, sales goals, IMZ goals, whatever ya know? all the while my DM says, "we know the processes need to be streamlined, and they are bringing in new technology to help you do your job more efficiently"......OK WHERE IS IT!! ??? all i see is the company burning people out. They just cut my 3rd pharmacist (and a tech) and now it's single coverage.....I will try it for a few months, but if performance becomes an issue, and i go from high performer to below, I AM AUDI 5000.....not screwing up my work record because wal mart wants to make a few bucks more for the CEO's gold plated toilet seat.

 

[Sine Cura]

As far as Walmart goes, they can't fire everyone at the same time. They have a long way to go to get rid of trash RPH before they get to me.

 

[sozetone]

As far as Walmart goes, they can't fire everyone at the same time. They have a long way to go to get rid of trash RPH before they get to me.

Agreed, but you never know man. Money is money. They are simply looking at this from a cost perspective. Whoever screws up is gonna make the accountability list....lol And since Dm's now have more discretion over how it's handled (effective July 19) who knows what they are thinking? i feel like the cutting they just did is a way to shake things up and get others uncomfortable, hence they will leave. The best way to screw with employees is to alter their schedules, working conditions, and so on...they have done that and elliminated trash RPH's at the same time. NOW, they have to turn over the remaining staff to get RPH costs in alignment with current market pricing. Am i stretching here? conspiracy theory? How long do you think they want to keep paying 65$/hr for what could be a 50$/hr staff? or less....so push em hard till they break, or get held accountable for some nonsense that was unavoidable due to the poor wokring conditions they left you with. They are setting us up for failure, it's pretty clear.

No they can't fire EVERYONE at once, that would be an obvious lawsuit. So this is what they do....slowly over a year or so.....All the big guys and even the grocery chains are doing the same thing from what i hear. Time for the "reckoning".......lol

 

[mentos]

Anyone making over $60/hr at any chain has a target on their back. That's the truth.

 

[sozetone]

Anyone making over $60/hr at any chain has a target on their back. That's the truth.

You think they will mess with managers? pic's? i mean, once you lose a decent pic, the whole store can spiral out of control. especially now. You think they care?

 

[mentos]

You think they will mess with managers? pic's? i mean, once you lose a decent pic, the whole store can spiral out of control. especially now. You think they care?

If they cared then they wouldn't cut tech hours every week. Replacing a $70/hr pharmacist with a $50/hr pharmacist is a lot of tech hours worth of pay.

 

[BeerMe]

Does anyone know what CVS omnicare offers in Portland, OR? I hate that they ask compensation expectations in the video interview. Idk your standards now CVS, you tell me what your range is

 

[sozetone]

Does anyone know what CVS omnicare offers in Portland, OR? I hate that they ask compensation expectations in the video interview. Idk your standards now CVS, you tell me what your range is

I would just say " compensation is dictated by the pharmacist demand market now, and it's constantly evolving, so i would be open to negotiations with you, i'm sure you have a standard set pay at this point in time for different levels of pharmacists roles and responsibilities?" .... lol leave it at that.

 

[BeerMe]

I would just say " compensation is dictated by the pharmacist demand market now, and it's constantly evolving, so i would be open to negotiations with you, i'm sure you have a standard set pay at this point in time for different levels of pharmacists roles and responsibilities?" .... lol leave it at that.

Yea I mentioned I’m open to discussing with the hiring manager what their standards are