CVS Plastic Wrapping Pharmacy

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Alpha8472
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CVS Plastic Wrapping Pharmacy

Post by Alpha8472 »

I went to the CVS in Walnut Creek, California and the pharmacy was wrapped in plastic wrap. There was plastic wrap from ceiling to counter. It was the thin blurry kind and you could barely see the person behind the plastic. There were no gaps. They would lift up the plastic to give you your prescriptions. It looked really cheap. They also put the credit card reader on a table in front of the pharmacy so that customers are at a distance from employees.

This was formerly the Longs Drugs flagship store. It was very sad looking.
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Re: CVS Plastic Wrapping Pharmacy

Post by mjhale »

I was in a DC area CVS at the end of March and they had started to do this but not to the extent that you describe. There were two metal poles about 3 feet high on either side of each pharmacy register. There was plastic wrap between the two poles around the height of where the average person's head would be. They had a row of those plastic banquet tables to keep you at a distance from the clerk. The credit card swipe terminal was on top of the banquet tables. The whole setup looked cheap - especially the plastic wrap "barrier" - and screamed that CVS is unwilling to invest in keeping their people protected right now.
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Re: CVS Plastic Wrapping Pharmacy

Post by storewanderer »

CVS has too many store locations and many were through acquisition. When you have to make this magnitude of changes to the stores now to protect employees which are in various configurations it is very hard to do it. Some have checkout counters, some have supermarket style belt registers, some pharmacies are with a lower counter and raised back prep area, some pharmacy counters are angled, some are straight, different heights, etc.

What I find most funny about CVS is how some locations have what I would call very "heavy" protective efforts taking place and other locations seem to have no efforts. I do know the corporation has told them all employees are supposed to be wearing masks and they seem to generally be complying with that order. But as far as barriers and protective distancing efforts, the CVS Stores have a hodgepodge of efforts ranging from business as usual to extreme measures like setting up tables, milk crates, boxes, or whatever they can to distance the customer from the employee. Some have moved the bags out front and have the customer hold items up then the cashier scans the items and the customer bags their own items.

I went to another Walgreens yesterday and it was like business as usual in there. They have two registers, one register (the cigarette one) had this funny little plastic shield which protected about 15% of the surface of the register counter (but you stand right in front of the cashier to use the pinpad...). That register was closed and the other register (the smaller register out in the open) was open which had no barrier. I was standing about 1-2 feet from the cashier trying to use the pinpad. The cashier had no mask on, no gloves. The employee in a gray vest (manager) also had no mask on and no gloves. I didn't go look at the pharmacy.

I did notice Rite Aid has very nice plastic barriers on their checkout counters... they are large and have a good sized hole/pass through slot at the bottom. I am guessing where Rite Aid has mostly common layout checkout counters now, this works. At those few stores that may still have checkstands, this probably does not work too well.
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Re: CVS Plastic Wrapping Pharmacy

Post by BillyGr »

Our supermarket did the plastic curtains for the pharmacy (both the drop off window, where they no longer take the bottle, just have you read the number off and the pickup area). Seems to work OK, and with the pickup it comes down from the ceiling to just a bit above the counter, leaving space to slide the bag out under it, with the pad (where you sign no matter how you are paying to show you authorize the pickup) on your side of the curtain, and money can be slid under as well.

No clue on what the drugstores here did pharmacy wise - I've been in but only do prescription at the supermarket (since they have one of those cheap generic programs).

Probably actually surprising that as many stores have gotten the stiffer shields as did, since it doesn't seem like an item that was in much demand before so that there were that many around (unless they just went to the local hardware stores and bought sheets of plexi-glass and made their own - I guess that would have worked better for supermarkets that didn't need slots in them)?
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Re: CVS Plastic Wrapping Pharmacy

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

storewanderer wrote: April 27th, 2020, 7:59 pm CVS has too many store locations and many were through acquisition. When you have to make this magnitude of changes to the stores now to protect employees which are in various configurations it is very hard to do it. Some have checkout counters, some have supermarket style belt registers, some pharmacies are with a lower counter and raised back prep area, some pharmacy counters are angled, some are straight, different heights, etc.
Some of the pharmacy counters are curved (in the mid 2000's model Sav-on/Osco stores).
I'm guessing CVS is doing the plastic wrap to save money, instead of using plexiglass barriers.
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Re: CVS Plastic Wrapping Pharmacy

Post by Alpha8472 »

The plexiglass at pharmacies also deters robberies. Walmart installed plexiglass and the specifications stated that the gap must be no wider than 10 inches at the bottom so that robbers cannot slip inside.

CVS should consider plexiglass as their pharmacies are robbed very often. It will save money in the long run.
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Re: CVS Plastic Wrapping Pharmacy

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: April 28th, 2020, 9:39 pm The plexiglass at pharmacies also deters robberies. Walmart installed plexiglass and the specifications stated that the gap must be no wider than 10 inches at the bottom so that robbers cannot slip inside.

CVS should consider plexiglass as their pharmacies are robbed very often. It will save money in the long run.
No Plexiglass at the Wal Marts in Reno yet.

Those pharmacies are kind of deep in some of the stores and it isn't really easy to get in and out of there, what kind of idiot would rob a pharmacy where they have to walk past 50 people to get out of the store then deal with a congested parking lot?

There are a couple where the pharmacy is right alongside the exit and there is direct access to pharmacy without actually going into the store area. But most of the locations have built shelves so you sort of have to walk in a reverse L shape from the entry to get to pharmacy. A couple locations have pharmacy in the middle of the store.
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