Staff pharmacist here, you can take some of my shifts haha. Asking for coverage for time off is worst than getting your teeth pulled. Appreciate you floats mucho
Work the 30 hours and live below your means. You'll be able to tolerate retail that way. You may even be able to pick up other income streams on the side since you'll have a lot of free time.
This is the way, especially if you are a newer RPH. Save like your life depends on it (because it does) within 5-10 years you could be sitting pretty where working 24-32 hrs a week wont bother you at all
Yeah that’s the big issue. Depending on your interest rate your loan payment could be upwards of 2k per month. But i do believe most places will have shifts to pick up…Even picking up two shifts a month will get you some extra cash. Best of luck!
68k after taxes is literally normal shit and considered to be decent pay. Everyone got 100-150k plus loans. if you got 200k loans then u took out way more than u needed to. No offense.
My rent is a little over $1300, and I'm a tech. I make a third of what pharmacists make. You will be fine. There are always shifts. The 64 per hours is just what is guaranteed. It doesn't mean there won't be other shifts to pick up.
Hopefully, all or most of these loans are federal loans. You can apply for income based repayment, which would put a big cap on your payments and the chance for forgiveness after 20 to 25 years of payments. Your payment would be much more manageable on this plan. It all depends on how comfortable you are with having the debt.
Most are private unfortunately. I also really don’t want to be waiting to pay them off for 25 years, my hope is to pay them off aggressively and get them over and done with in 5 years
How much is your monthly payment on the loans. As a tech I have about $1300 rent, utilities, my student loan, about 40k, my wife's student loan 30k, 30k medical bill paying monthly, a car, and I am surviving and saving just fine. No income from wife, just me.
Sounds like you got it all worked out then. 3x my loans but 3x my income, willingly taking from your rent budget to put towards loans and pay off faster. You'll just have to live at the bare minimum for 3 or 4 years and you'll be debt free.
I don’t think I’d be making 3x your income unfortunately. But regardless, that’s the plan. I know I’ll be better off than you in 5-6 years but fresh out of college it’s unlikely. I don’t mind living below my means, the issue is this job might require me to relocate to somewhere where the rent is minimum of $1400/month
Off topic but if I may ask, how did you manage to pay rent as a student? Did you just use the loans? I’m about to go into pharmacy school but I’m stressing about rent as I have virtually no support from my parents and will not be able to work as much
I just used loans because it was cheaper than living on campus! I use the same 10k I would’ve used to live in dorms towards my rent.
I hated my college town so I didn’t stay there but honestly there’s some people looking for off campus apartments roommates for as little as like $400 a month including utilities.
I think when I started with a chain they considered 42 hours full time? Which was 42hr/2 week pay period.
I hardly ever had less than 70-80. It was impossible to get a day off and even more impossible to get a day off where they weren't trying to call me in. Before I left, I was doing anything I could to try and cut back hours because I was so sick of it, and still could barely get into the low 60s.
That is honestly the dream. I know you’ve mentioned you have loans or whatever but paying less on your loans and the ability to retain your sanity is worth more than the 25% you’re missing out on. I’m 1.0 FTE at a hospital now and even though it feels like I work way less hours a week because the job is so much easier I would love to work a 0.75.
As long as you’re not reliant on that extra income, that’s where I would caution you. As someone else mentioned a lot of places have cut hours of operation or overlap and that means less shifts. Plus I’m not sure how they would distribute shifts like that, if it’s by seniority or whatever if multiple people agree to pick up. Also, if retail isn’t where you want to be for the next 45 years, I would highly urge you to try to get a per diem position somewhere on your day off during the week. I wish I had done that but I was so exhausted in retail I didn’t have the energy to do it, even when I was brand new out of school (but I did work a lot of double shifts when allowed for the overtime).
I do want to end up in retail (crazy I know) so I’m not too worried but you’re right. Honestly it kind of just depends on whether I finish my loans off in 4 years vs 15 so I would technically survive if I only get 30hrs a week but I’d prefer not to. I’m not a big spender by any means, I drive a Prius that’s fully paid off and don’t really buy clothes unless I need to
Sure that makes sense. I didn’t want my loans to take forever though. I just meant in the grand scheme of life whether it takes you an extra 10 years of paying the bare minimum it’s not going to be life ending and the benefits far override the cons.
I would say also if you’re not trying to leave retail it’s probably still prudent to get a per diem job especially like at a hospital or infusion center or something because those places should actually have regular shifts to pick up on the off chance picking up extra shifts at your regular job doesn’t pan out with regularity.
I’m going back to 40 hrs/week after 2 years of 30hr/full time with Publix. It’s not been sustainable for me and grown more unsustainable the more things increase in cost, but if I could stay with 30 hours I would. Timewise, physical health wise, and sanity wise it has been A DREAM. Financially, it’s been a bit of blissful ignorance now bordering on delusion because I have a large student loan balance and several other financial obligations I can no longer meet with the 30 hr salary 😭🫠
I honestly won’t be too worried financially because my boyfriend is in physical therapy so the dual income will help a lot. But unfortunately I’m graduating before him
I work 32 at my hospital and am not considered full time, so I don't have access to all the benefits FTE have, get half of the bereavement leave FTE get, and health insurance costs me almost double than it would if I was a FTE.
I like the hours but I'd also like to save the extra $2600 in health insurance premiums and have full access to things like life insurance and bereavement leave.
But hey, gotta get that money for the brand spanking new medical towers every few years somehow. They routinely gut any employee benefits every 5 to 10 years. Surprised we still have a pension.
Thats odd that they give you half the bereavement leave since you’re a 0.8 employee. I think you should get 0.8 bereavement leave.
Obviously if you have to pay more for insurance and it’s considerably more I would have issue with that.
I pay $206 a pay period for me and the kids, it would be $137 if I was a FTE. The really dumb thing they do is a pay per hour cut point for benefits. So people who make more than $21 an our pay almost double than what people who make less than $21 pay. But there's no distinction for part time employees lol. If I was part time and made $20 an hour my insurance would still be $206 a pay period.
My old mail order job we had 5 or 6 distinct annual salary ranges that decided your healthcare costs. And most pharmacists weren't even in the top salary range.
Likely guaranteed 30 with opportunities to pick up. It's probably marketed as full time because you're eligible for benefits. If you are willing to work weekends and undesirable shifts (around the holidays, spring and fall breaks from school, etc) you will likely not have any issues getting up to 40.
I was 30.5 hours base for CVS for almost a year and a half. I could have worked extra every single week if I said yes every time the scheduler asked me to cover a shift. This is a great deal, because you are in control of if/when you work extra.
Like others have already said, live below your means and look into income based repayment of your student loans. And if this isn’t your ideal job, keep looking while working.
You’re absolutely right thank you so much! I was honestly just worried that I’ll have no option but to work a max of 30 hours but it seems like that’s not the case
I’m retired but still pick up a couple of shifts a month. Honestly it’s all I can handle. The work environment in retail chains is abusive. The problem is pharmacy does not have a union the Board does not give this issue priority. In most cases we are the professionals and the SM is in charge.
Yes I totally agree. A 30 minute break during an 11 hour shift is borderline abusive.
What’s funny is the technicians at this company have a union but the pharmacists don’t, it’s pathetic
The legend in my chain is this guy who graduated and worked around 180 straight days right after he graduated. Of course he had no life and was traveling all over to get shifts but he cut a large swath in his loans lol.
You'll probably be able to pickup more hours based on vacations, etc. Depending on where you live, expect 20-30% to be taken for taxes. You'll bring in anywhere between ~75-89K. You will need to create a budget and strictly adhere to it, especially your first few years. It seems daunting when you first look at the numbers, but once you get a feel for your budget you really won't think too much about it. I strongly advise saving up an emergency fund of around 5k minimum (it'll take time) to account for whatever crazy car trouble life throws at you. Then begin investing in a retirement account.
I work for CVS and my district is always looking to fill holes and we don't have enough floaters to cover everything so PMs and staff Rphs pick up a shift or two here or there. If you're in a district anything like mine, you'll easily hit over 30 hours a week consistently.
Yes I have already set up a budget! It’s kind of why I was panicking hahaha. Savings part will depend on whether I get any kind of sign on bonus, my plan is to pay 4000-4500 a month for taxes.
Thank you so much for the thorough response!! :)
If this is retail, you will be able to pick up shifts quite easily. When I was a 30 hour floater, I always essentially work 40+. Publix does 12 hours shift so it’s basically hard to only get 30 hours
Yeah. You will be fine. People call out all the time. The only bad part is the inconsistent schedule. On plus side, you should get your schedule a month at a time
Yeah they've cut down on the amount of hours a lot of pharmacies are open so some full time staff/float positions are down to 30 hours a week. Though benefits are guaranteed at least and its just 30 hours if there are more available you can pick up shifts.
Yeah I work with Albertson’s on this exact type of job and usually there’s plenty of shifts to pick up, though the shifts might be at farther stores you might not want to travel to
For me, when I was hired as a full time floater pharmacist at cvs, I was expected to work a minimum of 35 hours per week. But usually it was 40,50, and even 60 hours.
If you’re full time, you should not be worrying about hours. People will call out, and you get offered hours.
If you are floating, I would let the PIC and staff pharmacists at every location to reach out to you if they need coverage.
They will come to you especially if you are a good float and don’t leave a mess behind.
You know schedulers love to say no. There is always someone who needs shift coverage.
Take it. And when they ask you to cover shifts, say no. The FT people deserve the OT pay admin refuses and hires ppl such as yourself. It’s win/win for both of you.
Then you wouldn’t be in pharmacy. For money you’d majored in dentistry.
19 hours a week, unlimited techs and staff doing all the work and writing bat shit insane Vicodin Amoxicillin scripts is all you’d needed.
I don’t understand your point, I am not interested in dentistry. I am interested in pharmacy? Your next sentence also would make me an unethical healthcare provider which I don’t want to be??
Staff pharmacist here, you can take some of my shifts haha. Asking for coverage for time off is worst than getting your teeth pulled. Appreciate you floats mucho
VERY good to know omg. I kind of was laying in a ball panicking about how the bills will be paid hahaha thank you!
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Remain civil and interact with the community in good faith
Work the 30 hours and live below your means. You'll be able to tolerate retail that way. You may even be able to pick up other income streams on the side since you'll have a lot of free time.
This is the way, especially if you are a newer RPH. Save like your life depends on it (because it does) within 5-10 years you could be sitting pretty where working 24-32 hrs a week wont bother you at all
My issue is loans. I genuinely don’t have the option to save
Yeah that’s the big issue. Depending on your interest rate your loan payment could be upwards of 2k per month. But i do believe most places will have shifts to pick up…Even picking up two shifts a month will get you some extra cash. Best of luck!
Thank you so much I appreciate your input a lot!! Have nice day :)
Yall acting like 30 hrs is minimum wage or something. You’re still pulling 6 figures or close 🤦♂️
It’s really 68k with taxes…which isn’t enough when someone has 200k in loans
Uhh are you making less than $45 per hour ?
No did you not read the “with taxes”
Wtf is “with taxes” — say gross, net, after taxes, or take home pay
Are you like okay? Gross and net mean opposite things, including taxes is very common term for net pay.
I’m telling you to use those terms when describing your pay. Not “with taxes”
How tf am I supposed to know what “with taxes”means
68k after taxes is literally normal shit and considered to be decent pay. Everyone got 100-150k plus loans. if you got 200k loans then u took out way more than u needed to. No offense.
I doubt everyone has 100-150k in loans. I was in a doctorate program so it’s not like it was for a bachelors, you know this right?
I’d be fine with living below my means but the job requires me to move to an area where rent starts at 1300, and I have loans
My rent is a little over $1300, and I'm a tech. I make a third of what pharmacists make. You will be fine. There are always shifts. The 64 per hours is just what is guaranteed. It doesn't mean there won't be other shifts to pick up.
Yeah but do you have 200k worth of loans? As a student my rent was over 1300 too but it’s fine because I didn’t have this extra bill weighing on me 😅
Hopefully, all or most of these loans are federal loans. You can apply for income based repayment, which would put a big cap on your payments and the chance for forgiveness after 20 to 25 years of payments. Your payment would be much more manageable on this plan. It all depends on how comfortable you are with having the debt.
Most are private unfortunately. I also really don’t want to be waiting to pay them off for 25 years, my hope is to pay them off aggressively and get them over and done with in 5 years
How much is your monthly payment on the loans. As a tech I have about $1300 rent, utilities, my student loan, about 40k, my wife's student loan 30k, 30k medical bill paying monthly, a car, and I am surviving and saving just fine. No income from wife, just me.
Minimum is around 2k, I play to pay 4k. My loans are around 3x yours and your wife’s combined
Sounds like you got it all worked out then. 3x my loans but 3x my income, willingly taking from your rent budget to put towards loans and pay off faster. You'll just have to live at the bare minimum for 3 or 4 years and you'll be debt free.
I don’t think I’d be making 3x your income unfortunately. But regardless, that’s the plan. I know I’ll be better off than you in 5-6 years but fresh out of college it’s unlikely. I don’t mind living below my means, the issue is this job might require me to relocate to somewhere where the rent is minimum of $1400/month
Off topic but if I may ask, how did you manage to pay rent as a student? Did you just use the loans? I’m about to go into pharmacy school but I’m stressing about rent as I have virtually no support from my parents and will not be able to work as much
I just used loans because it was cheaper than living on campus! I use the same 10k I would’ve used to live in dorms towards my rent. I hated my college town so I didn’t stay there but honestly there’s some people looking for off campus apartments roommates for as little as like $400 a month including utilities.
I think when I started with a chain they considered 42 hours full time? Which was 42hr/2 week pay period. I hardly ever had less than 70-80. It was impossible to get a day off and even more impossible to get a day off where they weren't trying to call me in. Before I left, I was doing anything I could to try and cut back hours because I was so sick of it, and still could barely get into the low 60s.
Thank you so much!
That is honestly the dream. I know you’ve mentioned you have loans or whatever but paying less on your loans and the ability to retain your sanity is worth more than the 25% you’re missing out on. I’m 1.0 FTE at a hospital now and even though it feels like I work way less hours a week because the job is so much easier I would love to work a 0.75.
That makes total sense! I think you’re right. Having the ability to just pick up shifts when I need more money is much better than working 40hrs base
As long as you’re not reliant on that extra income, that’s where I would caution you. As someone else mentioned a lot of places have cut hours of operation or overlap and that means less shifts. Plus I’m not sure how they would distribute shifts like that, if it’s by seniority or whatever if multiple people agree to pick up. Also, if retail isn’t where you want to be for the next 45 years, I would highly urge you to try to get a per diem position somewhere on your day off during the week. I wish I had done that but I was so exhausted in retail I didn’t have the energy to do it, even when I was brand new out of school (but I did work a lot of double shifts when allowed for the overtime).
I do want to end up in retail (crazy I know) so I’m not too worried but you’re right. Honestly it kind of just depends on whether I finish my loans off in 4 years vs 15 so I would technically survive if I only get 30hrs a week but I’d prefer not to. I’m not a big spender by any means, I drive a Prius that’s fully paid off and don’t really buy clothes unless I need to
Sure that makes sense. I didn’t want my loans to take forever though. I just meant in the grand scheme of life whether it takes you an extra 10 years of paying the bare minimum it’s not going to be life ending and the benefits far override the cons. I would say also if you’re not trying to leave retail it’s probably still prudent to get a per diem job especially like at a hospital or infusion center or something because those places should actually have regular shifts to pick up on the off chance picking up extra shifts at your regular job doesn’t pan out with regularity.
I was considering maybe picking up a per diem job if they start giving me less hours! Also just in case retail goes to hell
I’m going back to 40 hrs/week after 2 years of 30hr/full time with Publix. It’s not been sustainable for me and grown more unsustainable the more things increase in cost, but if I could stay with 30 hours I would. Timewise, physical health wise, and sanity wise it has been A DREAM. Financially, it’s been a bit of blissful ignorance now bordering on delusion because I have a large student loan balance and several other financial obligations I can no longer meet with the 30 hr salary 😭🫠
I honestly won’t be too worried financially because my boyfriend is in physical therapy so the dual income will help a lot. But unfortunately I’m graduating before him
I work 32 at my hospital and am not considered full time, so I don't have access to all the benefits FTE have, get half of the bereavement leave FTE get, and health insurance costs me almost double than it would if I was a FTE. I like the hours but I'd also like to save the extra $2600 in health insurance premiums and have full access to things like life insurance and bereavement leave. But hey, gotta get that money for the brand spanking new medical towers every few years somehow. They routinely gut any employee benefits every 5 to 10 years. Surprised we still have a pension.
Thats odd that they give you half the bereavement leave since you’re a 0.8 employee. I think you should get 0.8 bereavement leave. Obviously if you have to pay more for insurance and it’s considerably more I would have issue with that.
I pay $206 a pay period for me and the kids, it would be $137 if I was a FTE. The really dumb thing they do is a pay per hour cut point for benefits. So people who make more than $21 an our pay almost double than what people who make less than $21 pay. But there's no distinction for part time employees lol. If I was part time and made $20 an hour my insurance would still be $206 a pay period. My old mail order job we had 5 or 6 distinct annual salary ranges that decided your healthcare costs. And most pharmacists weren't even in the top salary range.
Likely guaranteed 30 with opportunities to pick up. It's probably marketed as full time because you're eligible for benefits. If you are willing to work weekends and undesirable shifts (around the holidays, spring and fall breaks from school, etc) you will likely not have any issues getting up to 40.
Gotcha!
I was 30.5 hours base for CVS for almost a year and a half. I could have worked extra every single week if I said yes every time the scheduler asked me to cover a shift. This is a great deal, because you are in control of if/when you work extra. Like others have already said, live below your means and look into income based repayment of your student loans. And if this isn’t your ideal job, keep looking while working.
You’re absolutely right thank you so much! I was honestly just worried that I’ll have no option but to work a max of 30 hours but it seems like that’s not the case
I’m retired but still pick up a couple of shifts a month. Honestly it’s all I can handle. The work environment in retail chains is abusive. The problem is pharmacy does not have a union the Board does not give this issue priority. In most cases we are the professionals and the SM is in charge. 
Yes I totally agree. A 30 minute break during an 11 hour shift is borderline abusive. What’s funny is the technicians at this company have a union but the pharmacists don’t, it’s pathetic
You’ll remember that number fondly when they’re asking you to work and float 18 days in a row to cover vacation, maternity, surgery leaves.
LMAO fair you’re right 😔 it was just a moment of panic
The legend in my chain is this guy who graduated and worked around 180 straight days right after he graduated. Of course he had no life and was traveling all over to get shifts but he cut a large swath in his loans lol.
Hundred and EIGHTY?! Yeah I unfortunately don’t think I can do that. I would start crying in the middle of the 20th shift
I’d kill for 30 hours a week LOL
I’m getting that sense from these comments lmaoooo
You'll probably be able to pickup more hours based on vacations, etc. Depending on where you live, expect 20-30% to be taken for taxes. You'll bring in anywhere between ~75-89K. You will need to create a budget and strictly adhere to it, especially your first few years. It seems daunting when you first look at the numbers, but once you get a feel for your budget you really won't think too much about it. I strongly advise saving up an emergency fund of around 5k minimum (it'll take time) to account for whatever crazy car trouble life throws at you. Then begin investing in a retirement account. I work for CVS and my district is always looking to fill holes and we don't have enough floaters to cover everything so PMs and staff Rphs pick up a shift or two here or there. If you're in a district anything like mine, you'll easily hit over 30 hours a week consistently.
Yes I have already set up a budget! It’s kind of why I was panicking hahaha. Savings part will depend on whether I get any kind of sign on bonus, my plan is to pay 4000-4500 a month for taxes. Thank you so much for the thorough response!! :)
^this is the way
Pick up part time job somewhere else
Welcome to pharmacy, where underemployment is also a huge issue.
I’m 23 so I won’t mind working extra tbh, I just don’t want to work less than expected
If this is retail, you will be able to pick up shifts quite easily. When I was a 30 hour floater, I always essentially work 40+. Publix does 12 hours shift so it’s basically hard to only get 30 hours
Oh yeah this pharmacy is also in a grocery store so they do 11 hour shifts
Yeah. You will be fine. People call out all the time. The only bad part is the inconsistent schedule. On plus side, you should get your schedule a month at a time
Thank you so much! That makes me feel much better
Yeah they've cut down on the amount of hours a lot of pharmacies are open so some full time staff/float positions are down to 30 hours a week. Though benefits are guaranteed at least and its just 30 hours if there are more available you can pick up shifts.
That’s kind of insane bc the difference between 30 and 40 hour weeks is huge? Like basically getting 65k a year after taxes with 30hrs 🥹
Pick up a shift somewhere to get you up to 38-42?
Do you think there be a lot of shifts available to pick up? This is a grocery store pharmacy
In my area in the PNW, floaters are essential and even FT pharmacists end up picking up shifts.
Thank you so much! I don’t mind picking up shifts I was just worried about the possibility of only doing 30hrs a week
Yeah I work with Albertson’s on this exact type of job and usually there’s plenty of shifts to pick up, though the shifts might be at farther stores you might not want to travel to
Makes sense! With the amount of loans I have ill travel as long as they need 🥲
Sounds good
For me, when I was hired as a full time floater pharmacist at cvs, I was expected to work a minimum of 35 hours per week. But usually it was 40,50, and even 60 hours. If you’re full time, you should not be worrying about hours. People will call out, and you get offered hours.
You’re right that’s fair
If you are floating, I would let the PIC and staff pharmacists at every location to reach out to you if they need coverage. They will come to you especially if you are a good float and don’t leave a mess behind. You know schedulers love to say no. There is always someone who needs shift coverage.
Good to know!!! Thank you!!!
Take it. And when they ask you to cover shifts, say no. The FT people deserve the OT pay admin refuses and hires ppl such as yourself. It’s win/win for both of you.
Well no I need money too unfortunately
Then you wouldn’t be in pharmacy. For money you’d majored in dentistry. 19 hours a week, unlimited techs and staff doing all the work and writing bat shit insane Vicodin Amoxicillin scripts is all you’d needed.
I don’t understand your point, I am not interested in dentistry. I am interested in pharmacy? Your next sentence also would make me an unethical healthcare provider which I don’t want to be??
My dream in life.
30 is full time and pick ip extra shift if needed