Drugstore websites and Coronavirus

storewanderer
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Re: Drugstore websites and Coronavirus

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: March 23rd, 2020, 5:51 pm Fewer people are out working late, so most customers go to the stores earlier in the day. Late at night, there were virtually no customers at my local CVS. Everyone seems to be shifting to shopping earlier in the day.

My local CVS store just switched from 24 hours to 9 to 9. This is the first time that the store will close overnight in decades. When it was still the Longs Drugs flagship store it was open 24 hours. The other 24 hour store just switched to 9 to 9 as well.
According to the CVS website, the store in Sparks is still 24 hours now. Maybe it hasn't updated... but the website updated for the other local changes in hours yesterday at the locations. So if that store is still actually 24 hours, that is about the only retail store around here that is open past 10 PM at this time.

Raleys and Save Mart may still have a few 11 PM or Midnight stores quietly staying open late in off the beaten path middle class neighborhood type locations, but as soon as the thieves find them who forced Wal Mart and Smiths to cut hours, I am sure they will cut hours too.
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Re: Drugstore websites and Coronavirus

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I went to CVS at 10 pm just to see if anyone would show up. There was a constant stream of cars parking and people walking up to the closed store with reusable bags. Many people tried knocking on the windows and not leaving until employees inside told them to leave.

I went to Walgreens and found the main store closed, but there was a line of cars at the 24 hour drive thru.
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Re: Drugstore websites and Coronavirus

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Supposedly Walgreens is dispensing merchandise through the 24 hour drive through now. The front end employees scheduled to work overnight are still working, just, the store is not open to customers on the sales floor during that time.

It would have to be limited merchandise given the size of their pass through drawer. But I suppose it works to sell higher margin OTC items through the drive through drawer than mess around in the middle of the night having the store open and dealing with theft and potential robbery for the low margins of selling beer, soda, and chips.

Also have noticed some 24 hour convenience stores in my area, are no longer 24 hours...
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Re: Drugstore websites and Coronavirus

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storewanderer wrote: March 24th, 2020, 8:56 pm Supposedly Walgreens is dispensing merchandise through the 24 hour drive through now. The front end employees scheduled to work overnight are still working, just, the store is not open to customers on the sales floor during that time.

It would have to be limited merchandise given the size of their pass through drawer. But I suppose it works to sell higher margin OTC items through the drive through drawer than mess around in the middle of the night having the store open and dealing with theft and potential robbery for the low margins of selling beer, soda, and chips.

Also have noticed some 24 hour convenience stores in my area, are no longer 24 hours...
Do they only have the drawer as an option?

Having never been to one of those (the only pharmacy drive up I've been to is CVS as a neighbor gets prescriptions there) has a large sliding window above the drawer and normally (including when we stopped a week or so ago) they use that over the drawer (the only time I remember the drawer was this winter one time when it was down around 0 degrees).
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Re: Drugstore websites and Coronavirus

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The former 24 hours Walgreens in my city is the only pharmacy open past 9 pm. There is no other place to get over the counter medications or prescriptions in the entire county. You would have to drive 40 minutes to San Francisco to find another chain pharmacy open. They will not let anyone into the main store after 9 pm. Anyone who desperately needs any kind of medication has to wait in a long line at the drive thru. Former 24 hour convenience stores in the area are also closing early. You used to be able to buy simple things such as Tylenol at convenience stores late at night, but that is no longer an option.

There are some 24 hour Kaiser Permanente pharmacies, but those are very rare and miles away. You would have to go inside the hospitals which are crowded with coronavirus patients right now.
Last edited by Alpha8472 on March 26th, 2020, 2:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Drugstore websites and Coronavirus

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There are still 24 hour CVS in:
Fremont
Burlingame
Salinas
Stockton
Modesto
Greenbrae (this one surprises me a little, would not expect much traffic at night there...)
Fair Oaks

And dozens still in SoCal
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Re: Drugstore websites and Coronavirus

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Starting March 26, many CVS pharmacies have cut hours in the San Francisco Bay Area. The prescription pharmacies are now 9 to 8 weekdays and 10 to 5 weekends. They used to be 8 to 10 weekdays and 9 to 6 on weekends. The stores are also now 9 to 9. Previously they were 8 to 10.

Some CVS pharmacies inside Target stores are closing 1 hour earlier. Target itself closes at 9.
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Re: Drugstore websites and Coronavirus

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I work in a pharmacy and there has been a shortage of masks, alcohol, and hand sanitizer. However, the alcohol does come in every several days.

We got a delivery of masks from a third party vendor. It was packs of 50 masks from China. It looks really scary. I would not want to buy them unless I was desperate.

However there are people who came in sick as ever, and buy them. The flu season is on track to be severe. Last year had the most deaths in at least a decade. A few weeks ago the Tamiflu generic was out of stock. It has since come back in stock and there is no longer a shortage. A lot of family members call the pharmacy on a regular basis and tell us that an elderly customer has passed away. A lot of the older patients have been disappearing. It is disturbing as there are flu vaccinations and pneumonia vaccines covered free of charge and they always refused.

There are some people who have requested that we bring their medication to their cars as they have the coronavirus. Usually it is one person picking up for the entire family as they are all infected. They just pull their car right up to the front door. I can imagine that most people would want to use a drive through pharmacy instead, but you have to pick up the drive thru phone. I would not recommend touching the drive thru phone unless you are wearing gloves. Also use a kleenex if you using the credit card reader.
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Re: Drugstore websites and Coronavirus

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I went to 2 CVS today (I am really asking for it...). But they were pretty much deserted of customers.

First CVS, a store built by CVS, everything was completely normal as if nothing was going on. No weird signs, no employees in masks, same old set up at the front end when paying (no plastic covers or anything).

Second CVS, a few miles from the first one. This was a newer former Longs. Notices all over the door about the virus, that they do not have tests for the virus, and not to enter the store if you have the virus. I walked into the store and noticed the employee had a mask on. After selecting my items and going up to pay, this store since it is an old Longs still has supermarket style large conveyor belt checkstands. They had a bunch of milk crates piled in front of the scanner area, then there was tape on the floor past the milk crates. I wonder how often they clean the milk crates. The pinpad had been detached from the checkstand and it was halfway on the milk crates and half way hanging off the checkstand. The employee before she would get behind the checkstand instructed me to "stand behind the tape." Which I already was, but okay. Then she entered the checkstand and input my items and bagged them and literally threw the bag over to the surface of the milk crate. Then she asked how I was paying and I told her card. She said "okay, as soon as I step back from behind the register you can walk into the taped area and run your card." She stepped back into the customer space of the next checkstand and then after I paid the receipt printed and she asked if I want the receipt. Yes, I want the receipt since it has my earned Extra Bucks on it. So she said okay, then she took the receipt off the printer and pushed it as close to the milk crates as she could then said "okay you can walk forward and take your receipt now." I understand and really appreciate being cautious, but this interaction was really something else.
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Re: Drugstore websites and Coronavirus

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Alpha8472 wrote: March 29th, 2020, 2:40 am There are some people who have requested that we bring their medication to their cars as they have the coronavirus. Usually it is one person picking up for the entire family as they are all infected. They just pull their car right up to the front door. I can imagine that most people would want to use a drive through pharmacy instead, but you have to pick up the drive thru phone. I would not recommend touching the drive thru phone unless you are wearing gloves. Also use a kleenex if you using the credit card reader.
Again it must be the differences in chains/time built and such - the CVS I referred to above has a simple button to push to call the person inside (they do pick up what looks like a phone receiver) - think I've only used it once as generally they are there waiting as they just finished with another customer.

Also, thinking of when we used a card there, and I'm fairly sure the cashier had to run it somewhere by the register (no self pad like you'd see at an interior register).
storewanderer wrote: March 29th, 2020, 7:58 pm I went to 2 CVS today (I am really asking for it...). But they were pretty much deserted of customers.

First CVS, a store built by CVS, everything was completely normal as if nothing was going on. No weird signs, no employees in masks, same old set up at the front end when paying (no plastic covers or anything).

Second CVS, a few miles from the first one. This was a newer former Longs. Notices all over the door about the virus, that they do not have tests for the virus, and not to enter the store if you have the virus. I walked into the store and noticed the employee had a mask on. After selecting my items and going up to pay, this store since it is an old Longs still has supermarket style large conveyor belt checkstands. They had a bunch of milk crates piled in front of the scanner area, then there was tape on the floor past the milk crates. I wonder how often they clean the milk crates. The pinpad had been detached from the checkstand and it was halfway on the milk crates and half way hanging off the checkstand. The employee before she would get behind the checkstand instructed me to "stand behind the tape." Which I already was, but okay. Then she entered the checkstand and input my items and bagged them and literally threw the bag over to the surface of the milk crate. Then she asked how I was paying and I told her card. She said "okay, as soon as I step back from behind the register you can walk into the taped area and run your card." She stepped back into the customer space of the next checkstand and then after I paid the receipt printed and she asked if I want the receipt. Yes, I want the receipt since it has my earned Extra Bucks on it. So she said okay, then she took the receipt off the printer and pushed it as close to the milk crates as she could then said "okay you can walk forward and take your receipt now." I understand and really appreciate being cautious, but this interaction was really something else.
I know someone who was in a store today - this one installed 2 self checks and was asking everyone to use those, though the gentleman working (who had a mask) came over to help as this person is not used to self checkouts.

I did see that Walgreens yesterday had added stacks of bins in front of the counter to increase distance between customer and cashier, and Rite Aid the cashier asked you to put the money on the counter, then placed change and receipt there to avoid direct contact.
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