Drug Store Operations

Alpha8472
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Drug Store Operations

Post by Alpha8472 »

Drug stores seem busier now due to the rush of customers trying to buy COVID self tests. When people buy the test kits, they also pick up some other items as well. It really increases the sales.

Even people who are just looking for the tests seem to buy other stuff even though the store may be out of stock of the test kits. People who would never set foot in an expensive drugstore are going there now.

The program to sell the COVID self tests at cost ended in December. The drugstores and pharmacies can now sell them at full retail price.

CVS had an entire table piled with $9.99 single COVID tests. They must sell a ton.
storewanderer
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Re: Drug Store Operations

Post by storewanderer »

CVS was charging 23.99 for the Abbot COVID Tests for the past couple of months.

I never saw any COVID tests at Wal Mart or Smiths. I did hear from others they were available at Wal Mart, but never personally saw any.

CVS was keeping them behind the counter initially. Then they realized that may not be such a great idea because it forced the customer buying a COVID test to interact with the employee and they realized it would be better to have those customers using the self checkout. But over the past few weeks they moved them back behind the counter again and started to enforce a quantity limit per customer, generally limit 2.

As far as the drugstores go, I think CVS and Walgreens are significantly busier than they used to be. However certain departments of the store appear to get less action than previously (such as cosmetics and seasonal). So I am not sure if the increased sales of snack foods and medicines make up for the sales they have lost in some other higher margin departments or if it just sort of evens out for the merchandise area. But the additional revenue from COVID shots, COVID tests, is clearly a huge thing for the pharmacy side of the business. Rite Aid seems to have really missed out on a good portion of this additional action with the lack of inventory and what seems like a lack of customer interest in going to Rite Aid for these services despite Rite Aid offering all of these services and tests.

The one thing I notice is all of these drugstores have really deemphasized liquor. Walgreens hasn't really pushed it since they added it back in, CVS seems to price very uncompetitively on liquor and not sell much of it, and Rite Aid historically has been pretty competitive on liquor but lately at least in the store I go to, they do not even put liquor in their ad every week anymore. They appear to have a few promotions but you have to go into the store to see. When I think of the amount of liquor Sav-On and Longs used to sell...
Alpha8472
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Re: Drug Store Operations

Post by Alpha8472 »

I went to the former Longs Drugs Flagship store in Walnut Creek, California tonight. It has just finished a total remodel into a CVS HealthHub. The liquor section has been greatly reduced. Longs Drugs used to have 2 huge aisles devoted to liquor. Now it is just a small area. CVS used to lock the aisles with a metal gate to prevent grab and run thefts. Now it is unlocked and there is not much to steal.

The single COVID tests were a cheap looking generic brand on a table right at the front door. It was a mess with empty boxes thrown on the floor. There was a limit of 6 per household, but it was not being enforced as there were 5 brand new self checkout machines. Might as well grab 20 at a time. There were still tons at 7 PM.

Walmart has COVID tests probably every couple of days early in the morning. It gets restocked in the morning and as soon as it is stocked, the online orders are enabled and the employees use them all to fill in store pickup orders. I saw about 50 of them at one Walmart at 8 in the morning with Walmart employees using them for pickup orders.

I had not seen former Flagship Longs Drugs store so busy since Long Drugs was running it before 2009. People were buying COVID tests looking like they had won the lottery. The parking lot was packed.

I work at a pharmacy and the phone rings off the hook all day from people asking if there are COVID tests. Somehow this CVS store scored a jackpot of hundreds. I think people must be sharing the location on social media. People are driving in from all over the San Francisco Bay Area. There was a huge line at the checkout area with employees yelling at customers that there was only one line and 2 cashiers for the entire store. It seemed like there were only 2 employees in the retail part of the store, not including the ones filling prescriptions.

I do like the new carpet patterns and the cosmetics beauty decor looks like a rip off of Target's new decor.

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Re: Drug Store Operations

Post by ClownLoach »

Alpha8472 wrote: January 6th, 2022, 12:50 am I went to the former Longs Drugs Flagship store in Walnut Creek, California tonight. It has just finished a total remodel into a CVS HealthHub. The liquor section has been greatly reduced. Longs Drugs used to have 2 huge aisles devoted to liquor. Now it is just a small area. CVS used to lock the aisles with a metal gate to prevent grab and run thefts. Now it is unlocked and there is not much to steal.

The single COVID tests were a cheap looking generic brand on a table right at the front door. It was a mess with empty boxes thrown on the floor. There was a limit of 6 per household, but it was not being enforced as there were 5 brand new self checkout machines. Might as well grab 20 at a time. There were still tons at 7 PM.

Walmart has COVID tests probably every couple of days early in the morning. It gets restocked in the morning and as soon as it is stocked, the online orders are enabled and the employees use them all to fill in store pickup orders. I saw about 50 of them at one Walmart at 8 in the morning with Walmart employees using them for pickup orders.

I had not seen former Flagship Longs Drugs store so busy since Long Drugs was running it before 2009. People were buying COVID tests looking like they had won the lottery. The parking lot was packed.

I work at a pharmacy and the phone rings off the hook all day from people asking if there are COVID tests. Somehow this CVS store scored a jackpot of hundreds. I think people must be sharing the location on social media. People are driving in from all over the San Francisco Bay Area. There was a huge line at the checkout area with employees yelling at customers that there was only one line and 2 cashiers for the entire store. It seemed like there were only 2 employees in the retail part of the store, not including the ones filling prescriptions.

I do like the new carpet patterns and the cosmetics beauty decor looks like a rip off of Target's new decor.

A massive line of customers all with COVID tests in hand - gosh, I wonder why they can only get two cashiers to come to work?

I'm sorry but I wouldn't go anywhere near that job unless you put me in a full biohazard suit complete with respirator. Otherwise I say if you need to buy a COVID test then your transaction will be self checkout only - and I'd have a pressure washer of disinfectant to hose down those kiosks.

There is no way you are not going to get infected if you ring up a couple hundred customers in an 8 hour shift especially when there is an extra high likelihood they are infected (otherwise why buy the test?). Especially now that customers deliberately stick their head out and crane their neck around the plastic shields to make sure the cashier hears them (and ensure that the cashier inhales as many respiratory droplets as they can spew out). It's even more fun to watch when the customer pulls down their mask after invading the space of the cashier to make sure they are heard. Never underestimate the ignorance of the general public. I would get in a lot of trouble if I had to hop on a register right now.
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Re: Drug Store Operations

Post by storewanderer »

ClownLoach wrote: January 6th, 2022, 1:38 pm

A massive line of customers all with COVID tests in hand - gosh, I wonder why they can only get two cashiers to come to work?

I'm sorry but I wouldn't go anywhere near that job unless you put me in a full biohazard suit complete with respirator. Otherwise I say if you need to buy a COVID test then your transaction will be self checkout only - and I'd have a pressure washer of disinfectant to hose down those kiosks.

There is no way you are not going to get infected if you ring up a couple hundred customers in an 8 hour shift especially when there is an extra high likelihood they are infected (otherwise why buy the test?). Especially now that customers deliberately stick their head out and crane their neck around the plastic shields to make sure the cashier hears them (and ensure that the cashier inhales as many respiratory droplets as they can spew out). It's even more fun to watch when the customer pulls down their mask after invading the space of the cashier to make sure they are heard. Never underestimate the ignorance of the general public. I would get in a lot of trouble if I had to hop on a register right now.
Yeah, I had this at CVS this week. There was one employee working front store. Two other customers in line who wanted to pay with cash (self checkouts say card only) for items. I had items but they scanned wrong since CVS can't keep up on price changes from months ago, so I had to abandon self checkout and get in the back of this line. Customer at register wanted to buy 12 COVID tests. Employee said limit 2. Customer argued, eventually said okay charge me for 2. Then after he paid for 2 with a card, he asked if he can buy 2 more but use cash and not use his CVS card. After some back and forth the employee said he'd sell him one more only. The customer kept insisting he wanted 2 more. Finally the employee agreed to sell him 2 more then he pulled his wallet out and figured out he didn't have enough cash. The employee said he didn't care if he paid with the same card again. The customer then said "I don't want you to get in trouble so I'll pay cash just charge me for one." Finally the guy left with his 2 bags/2 receipts and 3 COVID tests and seemed very pleased.

I think some retailers need to redesign their checkouts to allow for more distance between the customer and employee. These drugstores with the checkout counters are some of the worst. Ironically a drugstore is exactly the type of place where you need to have some good distance between the customer and employee. The side benefit of this is it also allows for more work space for the transaction to take place.
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Re: Drug Store Operations

Post by ClownLoach »

storewanderer wrote: January 6th, 2022, 11:32 pm
ClownLoach wrote: January 6th, 2022, 1:38 pm

A massive line of customers all with COVID tests in hand - gosh, I wonder why they can only get two cashiers to come to work?

I'm sorry but I wouldn't go anywhere near that job unless you put me in a full biohazard suit complete with respirator. Otherwise I say if you need to buy a COVID test then your transaction will be self checkout only - and I'd have a pressure washer of disinfectant to hose down those kiosks.

There is no way you are not going to get infected if you ring up a couple hundred customers in an 8 hour shift especially when there is an extra high likelihood they are infected (otherwise why buy the test?). Especially now that customers deliberately stick their head out and crane their neck around the plastic shields to make sure the cashier hears them (and ensure that the cashier inhales as many respiratory droplets as they can spew out). It's even more fun to watch when the customer pulls down their mask after invading the space of the cashier to make sure they are heard. Never underestimate the ignorance of the general public. I would get in a lot of trouble if I had to hop on a register right now.
Yeah, I had this at CVS this week. There was one employee working front store. Two other customers in line who wanted to pay with cash (self checkouts say card only) for items. I had items but they scanned wrong since CVS can't keep up on price changes from months ago, so I had to abandon self checkout and get in the back of this line. Customer at register wanted to buy 12 COVID tests. Employee said limit 2. Customer argued, eventually said okay charge me for 2. Then after he paid for 2 with a card, he asked if he can buy 2 more but use cash and not use his CVS card. After some back and forth the employee said he'd sell him one more only. The customer kept insisting he wanted 2 more. Finally the employee agreed to sell him 2 more then he pulled his wallet out and figured out he didn't have enough cash. The employee said he didn't care if he paid with the same card again. The customer then said "I don't want you to get in trouble so I'll pay cash just charge me for one." Finally the guy left with his 2 bags/2 receipts and 3 COVID tests and seemed very pleased.

I think some retailers need to redesign their checkouts to allow for more distance between the customer and employee. These drugstores with the checkout counters are some of the worst. Ironically a drugstore is exactly the type of place where you need to have some good distance between the customer and employee. The side benefit of this is it also allows for more work space for the transaction to take place.
Maybe the tests could go in a vending machine? It's funny how they put little shipping containers out in the parking lot to administer tests away from the store along with HUGE signage DO NOT ENTER IF YOU ARE HERE FOR A COVID TEST. But now the COVID test customer is invited in the building. Seems to invalidate the signage that begs you not to shop today if you have any COVID symptoms. I doubt many want or need these tests unless they're feeling sick. Can't imagine there are hordes of people who want to swab their nasal cavity just because. If they're buying the test the odds are high that they are feeling sick.

I have seen the same thing suddenly, no staffing at any of the drugstores. The message they're sending to the employees is "we don't care about your health anymore" after making what seemed like decent attempts to protect their health previously. Might as well start doing the COVID test at the pharmacy counter too at this point if the safety of the employee doesn't matter anymore.

Makes me wonder if this is a twisted way for them to try to cut payroll by getting the long tenured, higher paid employees to quit.
Alpha8472
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Re: Drug Store Operations

Post by Alpha8472 »

I work in a pharmacy, and luckily my pharmacy has not had any recent COVID cases. However, the rest of the store employees are testing positive for COVID like crazy in the past few days. In California, you have to quarantine for 5 days. If you test negative in the fifth day, you can go back to work. If you test positive, you have to quarantine 10 days. There is a staffing shortage of cashiers.

Yes, many of our older employees have quit. There are very few elderly cashiers now. Even floor employees who were seniors have quit. Retail is now made up of mostly younger people, but as always people get hired and they do not last more than a few months. It is very difficult to retain workers these days. Many employees are around 18 years old now.

Drugstores may have to set up a cashier booth inside the store that is sealed airtight with bullet proof glass. You would have a bank teller style counter where the employees would speak to you through a microphone and speaker. This is the only way to keep the cashiers from catching COVID.

Too bad for the customers as waiting in long lines will probably expose them to COVID.

Does CVS still do curbside pickup? There would probably be 50 cars outside waiting to pickup COVID tests ordered for pickup.

I would think that pharmacy drive thru windows would be crowded with cars that want to buy COVID tests.
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Re: Drug Store Operations

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: January 9th, 2022, 1:00 pm

Drugstores may have to set up a cashier booth inside the store that is sealed airtight with bullet proof glass. You would have a bank teller style counter where the employees would speak to you through a microphone and speaker. This is the only way to keep the cashiers from catching COVID.

Too bad for the customers as waiting in long lines will probably expose them to COVID.

Does CVS still do curbside pickup? There would probably be 50 cars outside waiting to pickup COVID tests ordered for pickup.

I would think that pharmacy drive thru windows would be crowded with cars that want to buy COVID tests.
CVS does not do curbside pick-up anymore and hasn't since before the pandemic after a test that they tried and shelved. Walgreens and some Rite Aids do curbside pick-up.

I am also a little curious about the disposal of used COVID tests. Certainly in a lab or pharmacy I assume proper disposal methods are being utilized (biohazard?). But for folks who, for instance, take a COVID test at home, send it in via UPS/USPS to a lab for testing, how does that work? You have this contaminated package circulating through all these trucks/facilities/people handling them? Also what about the consumer using an at-home test they just throw it in the trash when done. How does that exactly work from a sanitation standpoint? I guess the contaminated COVID test is no different than throwing a kleenex you sneezed into when sick into the trash. Maybe it isn't a big deal.

I still see quite a few (very) old people working at Wal Mart either as cashiers, self checkout, or greeters. Some of these people are easily 80+ and move very slowly. They have worked there for a long time and they keep on going. I notice them more at night now than before, probably due to the staffing shortages.

I have noticed a number of older clerks leave CVS in the past six months.
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Re: Drug Store Operations

Post by Alpha8472 »

Used COVID tests are treated like used kleenex. You can throw them in the trash. In fact, a used bloody bandage or bloody cotton ball from a vaccination also is allowed by law to go in the trash. There are laws for what goes in the trash, and blood or other bodily fluids are allowed in regular trash along with gloves and masks.

Batteries and other hazardous items cannot go in the trash. Used needles and syringes have to go in a sharps container. Prescription pills cannot go in the trash. They need to be taken away to be incinerated by a professional drug disposal service. Yes, those pills turn into air pollution.

Kaiser Permanente used to have patients do fecal tests at home and mail the poop samples via mail in an envelope in the 90s. Yes, your mail is very dirty. That is why you should wash your hands after touching mail.

Walmart apparently has very good airflow systems. I was in a Walmart and there was a fire nearby. The entire store smelled like smoke in minutes. The store apparently blows in outside air constantly. It is safer than recirculating virus laden air.
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Re: Drug Store Operations

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: January 9th, 2022, 6:57 pm Used COVID tests are treated like used kleenex. You can throw them in the trash. In fact, a used bloody bandage or bloody cotton ball from a vaccination also is allowed by law to go in the trash. There are laws for what goes in the trash, and blood or other bodily fluids are allowed in regular trash along with gloves and masks.

Batteries and other hazardous items cannot go in the trash. Used needles and syringes have to go in a sharps container. Prescription pills cannot go in the trash. They need to be taken away to be incinerated by a professional drug disposal service. Yes, those pills turn into air pollution.

Kaiser Permanente used to have patients do fecal tests at home and mail the poop samples via mail in an envelope in the 90s. Yes, your mail is very dirty. That is why you should wash your hands after touching mail.

Walmart apparently has very good airflow systems. I was in a Walmart and there was a fire nearby. The entire store smelled like smoke in minutes. The store apparently blows in outside air constantly. It is safer than recirculating virus laden air.
Many of these stores with the exposed ceilings have excellent air flow. Reno has had fires and smoke a lot over the years, and there is a real noticeable smoke smell during smoke season in, say, a newer Wal Mart building, than an older (drop ceiling) Wal Mart. A couple of Wal Marts in Reno have what seems like a strong odor of vapor rub when you enter the stores. It is only around the entry area they have this odor, and I have only noticed it since COVID started. I have assumed it is some kind of disinfecting process.

The worst airflow? Those stuffy, smelly, former Longs Stores. Just awful.
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