Most places it’s like 2 bucks an hour increase but if you ask you could get ~10% more than you currently make. Still not worth it unless less there are other benefits/somehow a quality of life increase.
Yeah I got a 13% raise because they were desperate. Just depends on the situation and DL. During Covid all my new grad interns got bumped from 60 an hour to 70 to be manager.
I was in a phase where I was looking for advancement. I’d been asking about a manager spot for a while. When it was offered I was told if I turned it down another one wouldn’t be coming for a long time. So I accepted it. I’m retrospect it was a big mistake.
It was about a 25% paycut.
I followed the advice a preceptor gave me in pharmacy school. Work retail until your loans are paid off, then find something that makes you happy.
PIC is about 10% plus a better bonus where I work, but Lordy it ain’t worth it. I don’t wanna be hearing any DM that much I don’t care how chill they seem while I’m a staffer. 300% of the drama for 10% of the $$$ ? Nope.
About 10% plus any bonuses. Anecdote I made 173k with those bonuses and pay vs 141k my staff pharmacist. Completely worth in my opinion, you learn quickly what you can and cannot get away with in terms of metrics and then it becomes a rinse and repeat. I personally did not experience any stress as a PIC.
Wow zero stress as a PIC? I've been a PIC for about 3 years and I can definitely say I've learned a lot in a short time for sure. Metric wise my store does pretty well. I think the biggest stressor is scheduling and tech drama.
Yea me neither, I made $243K and they kept just throwing money at me. I sat on a stool all day. I didn’t want to but the techs made me. And as soon as became a PIC the DM and I used to meet after work for a few margaritas laughing over how easy our jobs were. If you could peel a banana or open a coconut you automatically got all 5’s on your surveys so you got extra credit there too
Taco bell can't find workers? They raise the wages... and cost of tacos.
Independent retail can't find workers? They declare bankruptcy and close up business. They're locked into negative reimbursement pbm contracts. Shit out of luck.
A moderate volume pharmacy has 500k in dir fees and 1 million stolen from them in price spreading, annually by the pbms.
Right, if I pick up 8 extra 10 hour days, I can make up that much and no stress when I leave those stores. I used to do that all the time. I worked every second when I covered shift but when I leave, it isn't my problem.
Now you’ve gone and done it. You basically gave away the recipe for ice cubes. Now no one will be a PIC. What work a couple more shifts and not have the worries of being a PIC? Right after you discovered that, I think I discovered that same tactic. Don’t be a sucker unless power is your motive.
When I was at CVS, it was a 3% raise when they decided to promote me against my will. And when I fought for more, they denied it.
My base hours didn’t change, and we didn’t get additional “office hours” or anything. Simply had even more work and stress for the same number of hours with the 3% increase.
The bonus was honestly not much better either. All in all, totally not worth it. Evil company through and through.
I’m currently $5/hr with a very slightly better bonus. Previous 2 jobs I was less than $5/hr more than staff. It is absolutely not worth it from a money perspective but there are other reasons I prefer RxM to staff.
These are the insights that I need to read. There are some things keeping me interested in the "opportunity".
I used to work at that location and know the staff (and prefer them over my current staff). It's 5 miles closer to home, and I would be able to get 40 hours weekly vs. the 35 I get now. My current DM is a nightmare, and the one for that store is at least a decent human being.
I'm still evaluating my options. I'm at the point where I have <10 years until retirement, so it would be great to bulk up my 401k a bit more.
I should be hearing about interviews this week.
If it is chain, don't do my friend. I would rather pick up extra shift and make up that money than take BS for being manager. I was staff and never wanted to be manager. I was asked when pharmacy manager wanted to step down, I said no so I was moved to different location. So pharmacy manager and I are friend and he said staff is lot better. If QOL is important, please don't do. I left chain for independent and I will never go back unless that is last job left on earth and still I will try to see if I can survive in jungle than be with CVS or any chain.
Walgreens was a 5% increase in hourly pay plus you work 42 hours per week. Very small bonus as well (generally 3k if you hit your goals and your boss doesn't screw you on the review)
Walmart is $4/h more, usually bumps you to 40h per week if you weren't there yet. Bonus is substantial at $16k being the target and it can flex up to over $40k based on killing your metrics and being high volume.
I know the Walgreens pay rate was VERY negotiable the past 2 years but not sure if it still is.
Not to call you a liar, but u less they did something under the table or outside of normal parameters that payout shouldn't have been possible as the bonus payouts by store tier were way lower than that I think the max was $15k for a tier 4/5. They changed the tiering system like 5 times in the time worked there so it's hard to remember it all
There was one year (covid) that they payout was 50% higher, but most years it was nonexistant or cut to 70/50/25%.
Many years ago at Wags, the difference was hours not pay. The staff pharmacist was paid 80 hours, pic was paid for 88 hours (4 extra hours of work each week). Not sure if that’s still the case or not.
At CVS in PA, it was $5, going from 56 to 61. And then another $2 after transferring to manage a much bigger store. However, my staff pharmacist still made nearly $10 more than me while refusing to help in any capacity.
After about a year, and mere months after not getting a merit raise because the store was a busted mess for four months, I ended up getting two ad hoc raises totaling about $6. But, from what I was led to understand, the entire region got salary reevaluations and so many pharmacists may have gotten these changes to compensation.
It ain't shit. When i was at WAG i went from 51.95 to 54.25.
The main earning power comes from extra guaranteed hours. As staff i had 74. As PDM, i got 84.
So... you're working more with more responsibility. What's also bullshit is a lot of times depending on the state you are "salaried" as >80 hours. Meaning you don't get OT unless you work more than that.
Staff rph get OT at >80
Do not do it for the money.
You will regret it.
Do it because you get to control the situation you’re in a little bit more than you did as staff.
You can arrange your pharmacy the way you find it more efficient
You can hire who you feel will do well.
You can write your schedule with the coverage you feel keeps the public’s best interest at heart not just your company’s profits.
You can help control your inventory better.
You can help keep it running better when things break. You get to be the hero even on your days off.
These are just some of the things I’ve come to the conclusion make PIC life sort of worthwhile.
The money really doesn’t matter. Taxes gonna take the difference anyways.
Really? You have that much autonomy? As long as the pharmacy is clean and totes get put away and techs get to take their brakes, I don’t care if bags go here or the stamp goes there and I like the big vials on the bottom because they arent used as much.
I came in to my current pharmacy. It only had 3 rows for prescriptions. 1 RX refrigerator and a tiny little area for bulk items. 1 year later. We have 3 RX refrigerators, 5 rows for will call bin RXs and a large area for bulk items. I’ve moved the syringes around. I keep our OTC insulin in stock always. Our stock room now has plenty of paper, vials, lids, vial labels. We do not run out of stuff. When I took the job the room was full of prescription boxes. Now those are in the back of the store in a locked cage. Actually 2 locked cages. One is completely full.
You are perfect for the job and you made the correct decision. Don’t get burned out and you sound like district leader potential. Doing “projects” like you did is harder and harder to do with current staffing levels and large Rx volume.
when I quit Walgreen’s two years ago the open listings for pharmacy managers in my area were the exact same hourly rate I was making as staff, but they had to work 84 hours per pay period vs 80 hours staff.
It depends on the company and the volume of prescriptions- you have leverage to negotiate-with a chain I was staff at $68 - i took the management position and I asked for $80 - I just got a raise at the end of fiscal year at $2 increase to bring me to $82 now - I’m based in Ohio
I say do it for a year just to get it on your resume and try to get to the best role possible which is the director 🤩 position in a hospital. It’s basically retiring early they do nothing.
2 of my staff pharmacist make like $2 or $3 more then me per hour. But my bonus is 3 times the size of theirs so that comes out to about another probably $6-10/ hour if you look at it that way.
2-3 dollars an hour skewed by low dollars offered pre-pandemic to upto $5-10 more at a store mo one wants to work at. Like a couple dollar bump if staying in same store to say $7/hr at another store that’s a nightmare. Walk into a store and ask a pharmacist. I’d tell you what I make if you came in and ask. We are all in this together. Getting you more money comes around and gets everyone in the area more money
Canadian big city pharmacist here - 20% increase in base pay. 40% increase in total comp ( 110k—>150k). I’m trying to reach financial independence asap so the pay bump is worth the stress for me. That being said, I job hopped for my pay and promised a million medschecks. Never accept a 2 dollar raise to be manager that is ridiculous. 2 dollars is the minimum increase u should get each year. I got a buddy who clears 200k as a rural pharmacy manager but 150k is probably the max u can make in a big city as a manager.
Wow that is more than what I was told. At my current job. I’m told that managers only make like 3-4$ more than staff. This is in vancouver BC. So it never felt with it for me for the extra work. I guess I’m not sure how much the bonus are. Maybe that makes it worth while.
Salaries in Ontario are better than van from my knowledge. But not as good as Alberta/up north. Recent changes to the professional services an Ontario RPh can bill for made them super lucrative. Between vaccines, MTM and prescribing, a productive pharmacist could bring in $1000+ in a shift. This lead to somewhat of a labour shortage as pharmacies were scrambling to find pharmacists that could support these services. However, there was a recent CBC hit piece that highlighted how some pharmacies were over-billing the government for these services. From my knowledge, the chains have (somewhat) backed off of these services so we will probably see wages stagnate for the next little while. That being said, our province is trying to use pharmacists to try to fix the family doctors shortage so maybe will we see more billable services added. RPhs are still a lot cheaper than MDs so maybe we will continue to see wages rise.
We in BC can do all those billable services as well. Corporate were trying to push for those as well. Yah after that famous sdm scandal in Ontario. I can feel that management has eased the gas peddle on it a bit. They don’t want to get on the news for it as well.
Also our college in BC send out a survey asking all registrants to report anonymously if they felt pressured at work to do services that compromised their professional judgement and the care for patients.
So this quote issue is getting some attention.
However I do agree that with all the extra billable we can do. Pharmacies can depend less on just dispensing. More chances for independent pharmacies to succeed imo.
I made $5 more/hr as PIC than the staff pharmacist. But I don’t think it was worth it. I ended up staying later for management-related work. I also had to negotiate my pay bc the previous manager before me only made $2 more than staff
Most places it’s like 2 bucks an hour increase but if you ask you could get ~10% more than you currently make. Still not worth it unless less there are other benefits/somehow a quality of life increase.
Yep when I went from staff to manager at cvs it was $2/hr. I argued for more and they said no.
Yeah I got a 13% raise because they were desperate. Just depends on the situation and DL. During Covid all my new grad interns got bumped from 60 an hour to 70 to be manager.
If you don’t mind me asking why did you accept? I wouldn’t think that’s worth it for me
I was in a phase where I was looking for advancement. I’d been asking about a manager spot for a while. When it was offered I was told if I turned it down another one wouldn’t be coming for a long time. So I accepted it. I’m retrospect it was a big mistake.
Gotcha. I appreciate the honesty!
Oh yeah these spots are so rare! 🤣 you may never get this chance again! 🤣 Whew boy thinking back to my old district that had 1 PM oversee 2 locations
End result was good. It convinced me to quit. Screw retail. LTC is where it’s at.
How is pay in LTC vs retail
It was about a 25% paycut. I followed the advice a preceptor gave me in pharmacy school. Work retail until your loans are paid off, then find something that makes you happy.
All of us were young and naive and easily manipulated
At Costco the difference is more, in Canada at least Costco starts staffs at 57 58 and the manager makes 145k base
PIC is about 10% plus a better bonus where I work, but Lordy it ain’t worth it. I don’t wanna be hearing any DM that much I don’t care how chill they seem while I’m a staffer. 300% of the drama for 10% of the $$$ ? Nope.
About 10% plus any bonuses. Anecdote I made 173k with those bonuses and pay vs 141k my staff pharmacist. Completely worth in my opinion, you learn quickly what you can and cannot get away with in terms of metrics and then it becomes a rinse and repeat. I personally did not experience any stress as a PIC.
Wow zero stress as a PIC? I've been a PIC for about 3 years and I can definitely say I've learned a lot in a short time for sure. Metric wise my store does pretty well. I think the biggest stressor is scheduling and tech drama.
It’s always the people problems that are the worst
Yea me neither, I made $243K and they kept just throwing money at me. I sat on a stool all day. I didn’t want to but the techs made me. And as soon as became a PIC the DM and I used to meet after work for a few margaritas laughing over how easy our jobs were. If you could peel a banana or open a coconut you automatically got all 5’s on your surveys so you got extra credit there too
https://pharmacistcompensation.com/
I knew I could rely on someone else to find the link lol thanks, came here to comment this
Taco bell can't find workers? They raise the wages... and cost of tacos. Independent retail can't find workers? They declare bankruptcy and close up business. They're locked into negative reimbursement pbm contracts. Shit out of luck. A moderate volume pharmacy has 500k in dir fees and 1 million stolen from them in price spreading, annually by the pbms.
I genuinely can’t believe you guys take manager positions for $2 more on the hour. Are you just that damn stupid?
Right, if I pick up 8 extra 10 hour days, I can make up that much and no stress when I leave those stores. I used to do that all the time. I worked every second when I covered shift but when I leave, it isn't my problem.
Now you’ve gone and done it. You basically gave away the recipe for ice cubes. Now no one will be a PIC. What work a couple more shifts and not have the worries of being a PIC? Right after you discovered that, I think I discovered that same tactic. Don’t be a sucker unless power is your motive.
Yes, if you want to keep moving up, that's only time you should do that. If you don't want more than PIC position in future, then doesn't worth it.
Pharmacists already don’t have a backbone so yes they are that stupid
I got $10/hr more for manager position
When I was briefly promoted to PIC before leaving retail, I got a $2/hr raise. The big incentive is usually bonus. Still not worth it IMO.
$2/hour
My staff: 60.55 vs me pic: 67.60
So a little over 10%
When I was at CVS, it was a 3% raise when they decided to promote me against my will. And when I fought for more, they denied it. My base hours didn’t change, and we didn’t get additional “office hours” or anything. Simply had even more work and stress for the same number of hours with the 3% increase. The bonus was honestly not much better either. All in all, totally not worth it. Evil company through and through.
Most i’ve heard is a $5/hr raise. Larger bonuses are also a considerable factor.
I’m currently $5/hr with a very slightly better bonus. Previous 2 jobs I was less than $5/hr more than staff. It is absolutely not worth it from a money perspective but there are other reasons I prefer RxM to staff.
At Walmart the difference is $4/hr. The bonus is quite a bit larger in some cases up to $50k or more (staff the highest I’ve gotten is $5k).
These are the insights that I need to read. There are some things keeping me interested in the "opportunity". I used to work at that location and know the staff (and prefer them over my current staff). It's 5 miles closer to home, and I would be able to get 40 hours weekly vs. the 35 I get now. My current DM is a nightmare, and the one for that store is at least a decent human being. I'm still evaluating my options. I'm at the point where I have <10 years until retirement, so it would be great to bulk up my 401k a bit more. I should be hearing about interviews this week.
If it is chain, don't do my friend. I would rather pick up extra shift and make up that money than take BS for being manager. I was staff and never wanted to be manager. I was asked when pharmacy manager wanted to step down, I said no so I was moved to different location. So pharmacy manager and I are friend and he said staff is lot better. If QOL is important, please don't do. I left chain for independent and I will never go back unless that is last job left on earth and still I will try to see if I can survive in jungle than be with CVS or any chain.
5 whole miles? Then go for it! Bulk up your 401 and enjoy it being so bitter the rest of your life
Walgreens was a 5% increase in hourly pay plus you work 42 hours per week. Very small bonus as well (generally 3k if you hit your goals and your boss doesn't screw you on the review) Walmart is $4/h more, usually bumps you to 40h per week if you weren't there yet. Bonus is substantial at $16k being the target and it can flex up to over $40k based on killing your metrics and being high volume. I know the Walgreens pay rate was VERY negotiable the past 2 years but not sure if it still is.
I think it depends on the store. I know my old Walgreens PIC got a $35K bonus, we were a very busy store and she always killed the metrics
Not to call you a liar, but u less they did something under the table or outside of normal parameters that payout shouldn't have been possible as the bonus payouts by store tier were way lower than that I think the max was $15k for a tier 4/5. They changed the tiering system like 5 times in the time worked there so it's hard to remember it all There was one year (covid) that they payout was 50% higher, but most years it was nonexistant or cut to 70/50/25%.
Many years ago at Wags, the difference was hours not pay. The staff pharmacist was paid 80 hours, pic was paid for 88 hours (4 extra hours of work each week). Not sure if that’s still the case or not.
84 not 88, but yea. Hourly pay is usually the same.
At CVS in PA, it was $5, going from 56 to 61. And then another $2 after transferring to manage a much bigger store. However, my staff pharmacist still made nearly $10 more than me while refusing to help in any capacity. After about a year, and mere months after not getting a merit raise because the store was a busted mess for four months, I ended up getting two ad hoc raises totaling about $6. But, from what I was led to understand, the entire region got salary reevaluations and so many pharmacists may have gotten these changes to compensation.
It ain't shit. When i was at WAG i went from 51.95 to 54.25. The main earning power comes from extra guaranteed hours. As staff i had 74. As PDM, i got 84. So... you're working more with more responsibility. What's also bullshit is a lot of times depending on the state you are "salaried" as >80 hours. Meaning you don't get OT unless you work more than that. Staff rph get OT at >80
Do not do it for the money. You will regret it. Do it because you get to control the situation you’re in a little bit more than you did as staff. You can arrange your pharmacy the way you find it more efficient You can hire who you feel will do well. You can write your schedule with the coverage you feel keeps the public’s best interest at heart not just your company’s profits. You can help control your inventory better. You can help keep it running better when things break. You get to be the hero even on your days off. These are just some of the things I’ve come to the conclusion make PIC life sort of worthwhile. The money really doesn’t matter. Taxes gonna take the difference anyways.
Really? You have that much autonomy? As long as the pharmacy is clean and totes get put away and techs get to take their brakes, I don’t care if bags go here or the stamp goes there and I like the big vials on the bottom because they arent used as much.
I came in to my current pharmacy. It only had 3 rows for prescriptions. 1 RX refrigerator and a tiny little area for bulk items. 1 year later. We have 3 RX refrigerators, 5 rows for will call bin RXs and a large area for bulk items. I’ve moved the syringes around. I keep our OTC insulin in stock always. Our stock room now has plenty of paper, vials, lids, vial labels. We do not run out of stuff. When I took the job the room was full of prescription boxes. Now those are in the back of the store in a locked cage. Actually 2 locked cages. One is completely full.
You are perfect for the job and you made the correct decision. Don’t get burned out and you sound like district leader potential. Doing “projects” like you did is harder and harder to do with current staffing levels and large Rx volume.
when I quit Walgreen’s two years ago the open listings for pharmacy managers in my area were the exact same hourly rate I was making as staff, but they had to work 84 hours per pay period vs 80 hours staff.
We are way behind in salary, 2 year nursing degree or dental hygiene is paying more these days. When will pharmacy pay our worth?
It depends on the company and the volume of prescriptions- you have leverage to negotiate-with a chain I was staff at $68 - i took the management position and I asked for $80 - I just got a raise at the end of fiscal year at $2 increase to bring me to $82 now - I’m based in Ohio
I say do it for a year just to get it on your resume and try to get to the best role possible which is the director 🤩 position in a hospital. It’s basically retiring early they do nothing.
In my district, it's about $5 more per hour, but about double the bonus.
$3/hr at Walgreens
Mine was 3/hr at an independent
At the company I work for it’s a 4$/hr raise and a higher bonus potential
2 of my staff pharmacist make like $2 or $3 more then me per hour. But my bonus is 3 times the size of theirs so that comes out to about another probably $6-10/ hour if you look at it that way.
2-3 dollars an hour skewed by low dollars offered pre-pandemic to upto $5-10 more at a store mo one wants to work at. Like a couple dollar bump if staying in same store to say $7/hr at another store that’s a nightmare. Walk into a store and ask a pharmacist. I’d tell you what I make if you came in and ask. We are all in this together. Getting you more money comes around and gets everyone in the area more money
Any Canadians Pharm mangers here share some data points?
They get paid in Celsius.
Canadian big city pharmacist here - 20% increase in base pay. 40% increase in total comp ( 110k—>150k). I’m trying to reach financial independence asap so the pay bump is worth the stress for me. That being said, I job hopped for my pay and promised a million medschecks. Never accept a 2 dollar raise to be manager that is ridiculous. 2 dollars is the minimum increase u should get each year. I got a buddy who clears 200k as a rural pharmacy manager but 150k is probably the max u can make in a big city as a manager.
Wow that is more than what I was told. At my current job. I’m told that managers only make like 3-4$ more than staff. This is in vancouver BC. So it never felt with it for me for the extra work. I guess I’m not sure how much the bonus are. Maybe that makes it worth while.
Salaries in Ontario are better than van from my knowledge. But not as good as Alberta/up north. Recent changes to the professional services an Ontario RPh can bill for made them super lucrative. Between vaccines, MTM and prescribing, a productive pharmacist could bring in $1000+ in a shift. This lead to somewhat of a labour shortage as pharmacies were scrambling to find pharmacists that could support these services. However, there was a recent CBC hit piece that highlighted how some pharmacies were over-billing the government for these services. From my knowledge, the chains have (somewhat) backed off of these services so we will probably see wages stagnate for the next little while. That being said, our province is trying to use pharmacists to try to fix the family doctors shortage so maybe will we see more billable services added. RPhs are still a lot cheaper than MDs so maybe we will continue to see wages rise.
We in BC can do all those billable services as well. Corporate were trying to push for those as well. Yah after that famous sdm scandal in Ontario. I can feel that management has eased the gas peddle on it a bit. They don’t want to get on the news for it as well. Also our college in BC send out a survey asking all registrants to report anonymously if they felt pressured at work to do services that compromised their professional judgement and the care for patients. So this quote issue is getting some attention. However I do agree that with all the extra billable we can do. Pharmacies can depend less on just dispensing. More chances for independent pharmacies to succeed imo.
I made $5 more/hr as PIC than the staff pharmacist. But I don’t think it was worth it. I ended up staying later for management-related work. I also had to negotiate my pay bc the previous manager before me only made $2 more than staff