'Pharmageddon' hits U.S. with walkouts at multiple pharmacies, including CVS and Walgreens

[Afro]

'Pharmageddon' hits U.S. with walkouts at multiple pharmacies, including CVS and Walgreens

This is the third time since September that pharmacists have walked out in response to unsafe staffing levels and severe burnout at chain pharmacies.

www.usatoday.com

Pharmacists protesting deteriorating working conditions inside the nation’s largest retail chains launched their third and largest walkout of the season on Monday with a three-day movement they've dubbed "Pharmageddon."

Organizers estimated the effort has drawn as many as 4,500 pharmacists and pharmacy technicians from multiple chains, including CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens. It also drew support from the American Pharmacists Association, the industry’s largest professional organization, which said in a statement it stands with every participant of the movement.

Representatives from all three companies, however, told USA TODAY they are experiencing zero to minimal disruptions as a result of the effort.

It is the latest walkout to impact the troubled industry so far this autumn. The first closed more than a dozen CVS pharmacies in the Kansas City area in September. The second affected roughly the same number of Walgreens stores from coast to coast in early October.

 

[Toe Jay Simpson]

Aunt Gladys somewhere curled up like the number 6 with drool dripping down her mouth without them meds

 

[Sleepy Floyd]

Damn, just fukk over people who need their meds... got people rationing out their remaining pills like we in the war

Representatives from all three companies, however, told USA TODAY they are experiencing zero to minimal disruptions as a result of the effort.

 

[Ya Sinning Mane]

Aunt Gladys somewhere curled up like the number 6 with drool dripping down her mouth without them meds

“They are experiencing zero to minimal disruptions as a a result of the effort.”

From the article


Aunt Gladys good breh

 

[Piff Perkins]

Man I was just thinking I need to get my flu shot at CVS next time I go. I didn't know they were having staffing issues. Between covid shots, flu shots, RSV shots, and all the prescription shyt...that's the last place you want to be short staffed. Pure greed from the stores/corporate.

 

[Trojan 24]

Retail Pharmacies been abusing Pharm Ds, new grads getting paid less then they were 15 years ago and working harder then ever. With all the new Pharm D programs the demand for Pharmacist fell

 

[Toe Jay Simpson]

“They are experiencing zero to minimal disruptions as a a result of the effort.”

From the article


Aunt Gladys good breh

“We aint having no problems”

Everybody else:

 

[F*ckthemkids]

Strikes everywhere…the little guy getting tired of being kicked around. But at what cost…?

 

[Standing on business]

I’m not going to pretend I know the workings of the industry, but aren’t medicine companies making record profits every year? Isn’t there enough money in the industry to keep the employees happy?

 

[concise]

Damn, just fukk over people who need their meds...

You mean like the corporations who keep cutting staffing at the pharmacies? Keep shutting down pharmacies so that people have to go farther for for their nearest pharmacy and having people waiting 30, 40, 60 minutes to get their meds?

 

[The Intergalactic Koala]

Let me stock up on my shyt before I have me claws cut off.

Damn humans messing with my diabetes

 

[OneManGang]

You mean like the corporations who keep cutting staffing at the pharmacies? Keep shutting down pharmacies so that people have to go farther for for their nearest pharmacy and having people waiting 30, 40, 60 minutes to get their meds?

You seem educated on this. I wasn’t going to say shyt but read the replies. @Trojan 24 post as well.

This is all good bc 10 years ago a walkout was unheard of, but it’s still mostly performative. Nothing will change. CVS essentially has a monopoly (well on their way to a full one with Walgreens issues) on multiple facets of the pharmacy business in America. They are only about their bottom line. Doing whatever it takes to have billions of profits every quarter at the cost of safety, and customer experience.

The pharmacy organizations like APhA are complicit as well. They have weak leadership, taking bribes from these companies to maintain the status quo and allow pharmacists to be taken advantage of. A PharmD is one of the most highly trained healthcare specialists out there (school wise and post grad) not named a MD, yet the nursing organizations have elevated that profession more than we have in decades. Look at all the opportunities an NP, or CRNA can have. That’s down to good leadership.

I can go on and on. But pharmacy is at a crossroad and hopefully something changes

 

[Piffiztheanswer]

Free the Percs! Corpo scum!

 

[Trojan 24]

You seem educated on this. I wasn’t going to say shyt but read the replies. @Trojan 24 post as well.

This is all good bc 10 years ago a walkout was unheard of, but it’s still mostly performative. Nothing will change. CVS essentially has a monopoly (well on their way to a full one with Walgreens issues) on multiple facets of the pharmacy business in America. They are only about their bottom line. Doing whatever it takes to have billions of profits every quarter at the cost of safety, and customer experience.

The pharmacy organizations like APhA are complicit as well. They have weak leadership, taking bribes from these companies to maintain the status quo and allow pharmacists to be taken advantage of. A PharmD is one of the most highly trained healthcare specialists out there (school wise and post grad) not named a MD, yet the nursing organizations have elevated that profession more than we have in decades. Look at all the opportunities an NP, or CRNA can have. That’s down to good leadership.

I can go on and on. But pharmacy is at a crossroad and hopefully something changes

You a Pharm D breh? I talk to pharmacist for work and I feel bad for how they getting treated. The Mom and Pops getting squeezed out with CVS being linked with distributors on one side, then on other side treating Pharm D employees like government mules. Like this shyt can't be legal

 

[OneManGang]

You a Pharm D breh? I talk to pharmacist for work and I feel bad for how they getting treated. The Mom and Pops getting squeezed out with CVS being linked with distributors on one side, then on other side treating Pharm D employees like government mules. Like this shyt can't be legal

Yep. I’ve mentioned it on here a few times what I do. Work for a hospital now. CVS was my first opportunity after graduation. I tell students all the time, instead of waiting for the perfect job if you got nothing lined up, go work for CVS. That shyt is like pharmacist boot camp

You may not learn much clinically, but everything else will have you straight. Stress management, dealing with employees, conflict resolution, insurance skills, etc

As a company though, fukk them! They will chew you up, spit you out, then hire someone else for a fraction of your wages bc they know they’ll get someone who needs to pay their bills. Buying up all the small pharmacies or buying out their clientele, then ruining the experience. Having a mf drive through operation Ya lemme tell you about this medication that could potentially kill you if taken incorrectly through a drive through with a line of 40 cars behind you. Worst invention of all time, straight corporate shyt.

Edit: and yes good point about how they are a pharmacy benefit manager and a pharmacy

Clear conflict of interest! That’s why the small pharmacies can’t compete. They are setting reimbursements so low for prescriptions. The only way to make money is straight volume and other shyt like vaccines and clinics…which surprise surprise, they have the money to invest in