the worse place to work as a Pharmacy Technician

CVS hands down!!!!

-the pay sucks
-understaffed
-no breaks
-no lunches

I agree!!!

CVS treats employees like crap!!! Stay far away from this company!!! It's who you know and who you $&@())(

SummerDay in Atlanta, Georgia said: CVS hands down!!!!

-the pay sucks
-understaffed
-no breaks
-no lunches

We have this problem in my pharmacy too!!! The pharmacist treat techs like slaves!!!

i agree cvs is the worst company to work for ever!!!

Can someone please tell me why we continue to allow the Pharmacist take our 30 minutes( 2) 15 minute per 8 hour shift away from us???? Just think how many of us are working 3 hours per week 12 hours per month for free!!! Furthermore if you have 4 tech who are not allowed to take breaks that is 48 hours of free labor a month!!! No wonder they are able to pay the pharmacist over 100,000 a year!!! The company steals from the techs!!!! Just think how much money us not taking the breaks saves the company over millions of dollars a year. I think this is bs!!! Do you agree?????

yeah CVS pharmacy sucks! Looking at these post i see alot of you actually work in my district(dis 2). glad to see I am not the only one who feels that CVS sucks. we should start a union and protest. oh i forgot CVS doesn't allow unions. and even if we all quit...they'd just make the pharmacist work all by themselves. CVS doesn't care about the employees.

El pingu in Opa Locka, Florida said: Techs r ur slaves hell yeah im a farmacist n i earn over a 100 000 a year

Sure you are,,, you can't even spell!!!

Loooks like this is an company-wide issue!!! CVS Tech along with other Tech in retail need someone like the Union on their side. They can't continue to abuse employees like this.!!!! If anyone knows contacts with thr Union please post????

CVS just plain stinks!!!!

Forget unions. What you're are describing is the VERY purpose of the existance of state boards of pharmacy: To ensure public safety... and that SHOULD mean requiring pharmacies are properly staffed. But it doesn't because the big corporate lawyers and lobbiests have bought off the boards. There is a huge public safety risk with the way that these chains like CVS are allowed to keep getting away with staffing their pharmacies. Until the boards step in and start mandating better staffing and actual break times and lunches for ALL pharmacy employees (RPh + techs), our patients are playing Russian Roulette with their lives everytime they fill a prescription at a CVS or Walgreens. Lovely, eh?!

Yeah I agree!!! Anyone in Georgia want to get something started here let me know!!! I sick of this kind of abuse!!!
like you said because we are rushed and treated as if we are a fast food joint well watch out!! You never know what's happening with your meds.

I agree with all of you. I'm a intern and I work at CVS!!!! Even though I could make over 100G,,, I will NEVER work for CVS when I graduate. I could never work for Company who abuse employees like they do. I have work morals and work ethics. CVS fails at both of these.

I'm in my last year and I let me repeat myself I have never been able to take breaks or lunches. Just imagine how many others like me are out there. When you calculate this just think of all the millions of dollars we save the company. I think intern are scared to say anything because they hope to have a job at CVS. The company uses this to their advantage and continue to abuse their powers.

cvs sucks!they over work you. the store manager lies when you report them to the district manager.there pay sucks. they keep cutting your hours,its like working at a fast food.

CVS is the absolute worst company to work for. CVS abuses its employees plan and simple. It is company policy to deny breaks, under staff and create a dangerous working environment. I do not know why in the world anyone would ever consider working for them.

CVS is destroying our profession as badly as Wal-Mart and the $4 generics are.

CVS is the absolute worst company to work for. CVS abuses its employees plan and simple. It is company policy to deny breaks, under staff and create a dangerous working environment. I do not know why in the world anyone would ever consider working for them.

CVS is destroying our profession as badly as Wal-Mart and the $4 generics are.

I've worked for CVS for 5 years now, and in my opinion they are the worst when it comes to retail pharmacy. Definitely better organized corporately than Rite Aid, but not by much. CVS treats their employees like slaves, do not give breaks/lunches, and will try to get away with paying as little as possible. I'm sure if there was no federal minimum wage they would try to pay nothing at all. They used to value experience and quality employees, but now that times are tough they will hire anyone (and I do mean ANYONE) as long as they either: A. Have a license if they're a pharmacist, or B. Have a pulse if they're a PSA/Tech. My advice to anyone in the field? Stay away from CVS or Rite Aid. Walgreen's is where it's at in the retail game.

I cannot think of any other company, aside from Wal-mart, that is screaming to be unionized than CVS. There is something seriously and fundamentally wrong when someone asking me if I "want fries with that "is making considerably more than someone in a medical field in which a fair amount of expertise and risk is involved. CVS people, contact the UFCW at www.ufcw.org

Not to be nosey. But can anyone tell me what the starting wages at Walgreens, Rite Aid, and CVS? Just trying to compare.

Nycole in Port Huron, Michigan said: Not to be nosey. But can anyone tell me what the starting wages at Walgreens, Rite Aid, and CVS? Just trying to compare.

A CVS pharmacy tech employe for 18 years 9 of it Certified Pharmacy Technician ($13.43)an hour CVS SUCKS

concerned in Troy, North Carolina said: A CVS pharmacy tech employe for 18 years 9 of it Certified Pharmacy Technician ($13.43)an hour CVS SUCKS

Troy in NC, I'm with ya $13.43 with your experience is a crock! I live in MN, my last review put me at 15.55 and I got fired a mmonth later. I'm so upset that I wasted nearly 1/2 my life dedicated to a career (I loved) only to have the rug pulled out from under me because of the white collar superior/authoritive pompous asses who are intimidated by us technicians who only thru experience know just a bit more on the whole aspect of retail. So if your hating your wage,hours,boss get out before they get you. We deserve alot more money and the demand is a bunch of bs. Take care fellow cpht

Contact Us
CVS / SAV-ON Pharmacy Clerks & Technicians Lawsuit
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if your lucky 10hr but most start out out 7 or 8 because they hire teens.

CVS is famous for horrible treatment of their employees that's why most people I know, including me, left that place already. I mean I'm only one person, how am I supposed to do drive up, pick-up, count pills, and answer the phone at the same time??? When we don't answer the annoying phone from people calling in about God knows what reasons, one woman called in to ask if CVS carries this particular vaporizer, the pharmacy manager starts shouting at us. So when I did answer, I had to stop my counting in the middle of a 120 pills prescription (the counting machine is broken so we have to manually count to avoid complaints) and go out to the aisle, find, the thing and come back to tell her that we unfortunately don't carry it. Then, she had the nerve to have an attitude with me, I just said bad connection and hung up. I'm so used to this nonstop phone answering that I answer my home/cell phone with "Hi this is CVS pharmacy, how can I help u?" Oh yeah, no break whatsoever unless you're brave enough to ask the stressed out managing pharmacists for a break while the baskets just pile up and the customers start swarming at pick up.

Techwars in Decatur, Georgia said: I agree!!!

This is standard CVS "MO' all across the country.
Burn - Um and Turn - Um!
Make sure the ones who ask questions don't stay long.
The DM's, & Store Managers are given classes by HR on how to lie
Same game in front or back of store.

CVS has a very bad work ethic. I'm an hourly supervisor that usually works over 40 hours a week, but the manager deletes the hours so I end up with 40 exactly so she wont get in trouble. She does this for everyone too. I can't document my hours because she finalizes everything sunday morning and the evidence is changed. I think I'm going to do a little detective work and see where I can screw them over the way they screw us.

SummerDay in Atlanta, Georgia said: CVS hands down!!!!

-the pay sucks
-understaffed
-no breaks
-no lunches

I have been there 2 years and I can honestly say it is the worse company I have ever worked for.

SummerDay in Atlanta, Georgia said: CVS hands down!!!!

-the pay sucks
-understaffed
-no breaks
-no lunches

same with Rite-Aid work work work no where to sit for lunch or break the back rooms have no seating or heat 10 cent raises don't cut it for me anymore!!!!

Join Rite-Aid you may get into a union with good health benefits and the lovely rewards of no back room for breaks no heat in the bathrooms and 10 cent raises every 6 months!! No holiday parties, just work and complaints.

overworked in Katy, Texas said: CVS has a very bad work ethic. I'm an hourly supervisor that usually works over 40 hours a week, but the manager deletes the hours so I end up with 40 exactly so she wont get in trouble. She does this for everyone too. I can't document my hours because she finalizes everything sunday morning and the evidence is changed. I think I'm going to do a little detective work and see where I can screw them over the way they screw us.

try the labor board although it may not help your positon you might get a supervisor that turns into a dick.

by far the worse company ever. As corporate management, I was a slave forced to work 75 hours a week. I made it thru 23 years of that crap. I wish I could sue for back wages as most of my work was not true management.

I will never let another company abuse me like CVS did!!!! Good bye

CVS hands down!!!!

-the pay sucks
-understaffed
-no breaks
-no lunches

I agree

Uhhhh! To think I was was hoping they'd hurry up and open a CVS here in Puerto Rico. My professors told me that they're going around offering paid internships starting at $8 and once certified at least $14 starting, which is much more than Walgreens! Heck they're even offering $60 - $80 an hour for pharmacists who here get paid like $40.

Here the Pharmacy board and the Department of Labor or however you say it in english makes the employer give you a break. If they don't, and you file a complaint they get into deep trouble. And if they fire you for making a complaint then they're in tree times as much trouble!

At the Walgreens I do my intership at it is mandatory to get your lunch hour. They even rush us to hurry up and go take our break because the HIGHER authorities in charge of Puerto Rico's Walgreens don't like to pay overtime.

FILE A COMPLAINT! I'm sure we're not the only ones that BY LAW have to get an hour break every 4-5 hours worth of work.

CVS is the worst place to work. First, if your a person of color. I recommend you skip the pharmacy technician position. Go to a community collge and major in Chemistry or Biology and work real hard and get excellent grades then apply to Pharmacy School. I spent 7 months as a slave working at CVS/Pharmacy(worst place to work). Poor Management/Racist White people. They put me through hell for 7 months. I took the test and became certified and completed the forms to register as a pharmacy technician and I now have my state pharmacy technician license.

The pay was horrible for the workload(think assembly line for drugs). Second, in order to pass the PTCB test get this book and study for 1 month to 4 months "Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam Review by Patricia K. Anthony"(search amazon.com for the cheapest price). The PTCB which is now computer based this book is the closest thing you will get to the actual exam. I passed the test immediately after purchasing this book and studying it for 4 months.

1. Stay away from CVS/Pharmacy(the most racist place to work if your a person of color/poor management/you will be treated as a slave by the pharmacist.) Retail pharmacy sucks, do not put yourself through that kind of stress.

2.If you need experience and you don't have any. Volunteer in the pharmacy department of a local hospital.

I work for the Carmark CVS mail order facility in Wilkes Barre, Pa.

Filling Techs earn $9.50 an hour and have to fill 120 orders an hour, if they do not meet the Company standard specified they will be written up, this will go in your permanent file. Also labeling bottles...the rate is 216 bottles an hour. If your rate is below 95% in any area you will be written up. 3rd warning is TERMINATION.

Many people did not get raises for 2 years in a row.

In my opinion they use people like a kleenex, then toss then to the wind.

By the way did I mention Carpal Tunnel runs ramped in the mail order facilities!

What a hole! Run! Do not work for this company!

supermom in Chardon, Ohio said: try the labor board although it may not help your positon you might get a supervisor that turns into a dick.

I WORK IN A CVS PHARMACY IN KATY TOO. I HATE THE PAY. THEY PAY US LOUSY PAY. I MEAN WORK AT MCDONALDS YOU GET PAID THE SAME AND MORE BENEFITS. AT LEAST THERE YOU GET A CHEESEBURGER AT THE END OF THE DAY! AT CVS YOU DONT MAKE ANY MONEY YOU WORK SO HARD AND NO ONE RECOGNIZES IT. I MEAN I COULD CARE LESS IF ANYONE LIKES ME BUT PAY ME WHAT I DESERVE.

I feel you guys... I hate CVS/Pharmacy and they took away most of our hours, but I do get my breaks and lunch though. My boss loves me very much, so I get away with a lot of things. My hourly paid is 12/hr. I still feel as though, I'm being over worked. I can't really blame my boss, it's the upper management that is duping us out. They kept cutting hours of our budget. Nothing we could really do. Before we had 275 hours to distribute to all the employees. A week later they cut like 100 hours of our budget. I hoped everybody checked out the new wages that is being implemented. I think 5 years experienced you make 16.80 and 8 years you make 20 an hour. Not sure, I just saw it 1 month ago.

Hey John what and where is the new wage implementation you saw? Is this CVS policy? Who? What? Where? Curious as I worked 18&1/2 years and was making $15.55 here in Minnesota. Yes, most techs are over worked and soooo underpaid.

SummerDay in Atlanta, Georgia said: CVS hands down!!!!

-the pay sucks
-understaffed
-no breaks
-no lunches

Everything you have said is right about CVS/Pharmacy it's the worst place to work. I am seriously trying to warn people away from this field as the work is horrible and the people suck from the pharmacist to the district managers. I am sorry that you had such a terrible experience. All these pharmacy technician schools do is advertise falsehood, if you join there program they will help you find a job but thats not true. In most cases you will end up in a nightmarish hell of a job working in retail until you burnout. Few and far make to a hospital pharmacy technician, and this is with certification and registration. I wasted my time and my money only to see jobs advertised on indeed.com for 1 - 2 years of hospital experience etc..they have a whole bunch of requirements that are bogus, in order not to hire you. I wonder why ???

I work at CVS/Pharmacy as a pharm tech, and while I love my co-workers and pharmacist, we are seriously over-worked and underpaid.

What's really fucked up is that the employees at the Taco Bell right next to us make more than we tech do.

They cut our hours, underpay us, only so that the corporate big wigs can collect their bonus checks.

I'm planning on putting my 2 weeks in on Monday.

I agree...CVS...is the worse place to work as a pharmacy tech.

CVS does suck. They are what are holding back techs from ever becoming anything other then pill counters. Hospital is where it is at for pharmacy technician. However its next to impossible even with experience to get a job in a hospital. Since all hospitals are different and its about who you know. With the exception of IVs, I do not see where any well rounded certified retail tech would have a problem.

I work at a hospital pharmacy in a setting that does not require IVs. It is a hospital for the most part dealing with psych issues. Even that doesn't give me any push when it comes to pharmacy tech jobs in "real hospitals".

I was very close on getting a pharmacy tech job full-time at a local general hospital. Then they hired back someone who worked their 5 years ago.

This is why after about a year of chasing hospital jobs, I decided to go to nursing school. Every job is going to have burn out. Even if your a doctor your going to get burn out, and you can't just not be a doctor anymore. Same thing with Pharmacists.

Find what you like and stick with it. If you want any future for yourself in pharmacy become a pharmacist. Or sleep with someone or pay someone off or know the CEO of a hospital or a Director of Pharmacy, those are the only ways you will get a secure full-time job in a hospital pharmacy.

pmz2999 in Waterbury, Connecticut said: by far the worse company ever. As corporate management, I was a slave forced to work 75 hours a week. I made it thru 23 years of that crap. I wish I could sue for back wages as most of my work was not true management.

You can sue for back wages there is one asst. in ct. filed lawsuit already you are invited to join her.

so is this board run by the union? must be . funny how you allow cvs bashing yet when i tell the horror stories of what the union did to rite aid funny how the post won't post. what a crock! but it just proves the union is just as sleezy as the rest of them!

i can say i miss eckerd. they were good to me.

I'm scared and started to worry about the future after read all of these statements. I heard that Kaiser hospital at bay area , califorlina pay more, can anyone tell me how much it start?

Everyone here is just bitching about working too much. I work for CVS as a Pharm tech. My pay is about 14. Don't blame the company as a whole. If you have crappy managers then its their problem. I have a great store manager and great pharmacy supervisor. I work 55-65 hrs a week and I love it. 2 15 minute breaks and 1 30 minute break a shift. sometimes longer. if you don't like the store, then move or quit.

I'm a Pharmacy Tech at a WalMart- Similar to CVS- we do get a 1/2 hour lunch. I'm being trained on the job and will have to pass a Cert. Course. No one has the real time to train you at this jobsite, very stressful - baptism by fire training. They wait to tell you any helpful hints to doing the job better or faster. I have come home many nights and just cried, very tired, stressed out. Some of the Pharmacist can really put you in your place and then they make fun of you. At of public humilatation when you make a mistake. Its the roughest job I've even had. I just needed to vent I guess.

I am free at last, free at last, I worked for CVS for 4 years so I understand everybody's complaint.I have gone days without taking a lunch and if you did that they would still take it out of your paycheck. I think a lot of people complain and they realized how much trouble they could get in so they stopped doing that. i remember going to the front to buy a soda and how much trouble that was.
I used to come in on my days off and work and always willing to go the extra mile. I love all of my customers even the nasty ones. I think what did it for me was when my manager comment about my car. I'm driving a used 2003 car but he says I think we are paying you too much. I laughed caused he really believed it. He just bought a new car and house and I had to scrap and save to buy my car. karma is something else, cause my friend still works there and she said after I left they can never find anyone to help. Everyone treated me like I was the worst employee in the world until I left.

They suck. Not the only firm though. In pharmacy this is ramapant.