Pharmacy Pickup Window Used as a Regular Cashier for Non-RX Items

I HATE Walgreens Pharmacy-I have 3 regular prescriptions I have taken
for over 5 years each-they never change...In the last several attempts
at getting my refills Walgreens Pharmacy screwed up horribly-first by
entering the wrong date on my refill [w/a qty of 0) thus screwing up
my insurance-which then would not pay for the refill as Walgreens
apparently 'mistakenly' ran it through even though it was never
filled!!!! I ultimately wound up paying full price, I travel ALOT for
my job and don't have time to make phone calls all day to get Walg.
mistakes resolved-This is only a tiny fraction of what I go through to
get Walg to do their job correctly-I'm beginning to feel as though I
need to file formal complaints w/the state licensing board to get
issues fixed-I'm finished w/walgreens their convenience turns to
in-convenience at the drop of a hat!!!

I am a pharmacist at Walgreens. What you describe is our typical day.
Your points are very justified. I wish more people would have your
common sense not to ring up tons of items at our cash register. Does
anyone know how over worked we are?? We can't say anything to these
people that want to ring these items up because we might drive sales
away. Walgreens forces us to do this. If we speak up to a customer we
get a complaint and then possibly fired.

When I worked for Wal-Mart we only rang up rx only, why can't
Walgreens do this too?

Why are people so stupid to make others wait like this? We can't say
anthing to them, BUT YOU CAN. People! Speak up! That's one thing I
love about New York and Chicago, people will tell each other to shape
up, they are not afraid of offending each other.

THANK YOU, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

They don't care about customers at all. They want your money. Go to
CVS, it's a much better experience.

If she didnt have prescriptions to pick up then I would be with you.
But she did.

I have spent a lot of time at Walgreen's pharmacies lately. If I dont
have to run off I usually wait for the scripts I left to be filled.
Which means wandering around the store for 15-30 minutes. So of course
I end up with extra things.

The person I have been getting the scripts filled for often requests
other things as well. Just two days ago I went to pick up his
medication and he had asked for a drink as well. I also picked up one
thing for myself. If I had been told I had to pay for the medicine at
the pharmacy and then had to move to the front of the store to stand
in line again to pay for the two other items, trust me...they would
have lost a sale.

I would never, EVER, take a thousand items through the pharmacy. But I
dont see the problem with a few.

What SHOULD have happend was that they should have seen how much she
had and told her they couldnt take her there and sent her to the
front. They should have a limit on how many things you can pay for at
the pharmacy.

Then again, how can they do that? A lot of people will want to know
why they cant pay for things like band aids, ointment, cold
medications, etc. at the pharmacy.

Catch 22 I suppose.

If we took pictures of every "pest" in this world, the pictures would
need a world of their own. No matter where you go, "pest" will always
be there before your eyes.

Because the next time you run in to pick up your Rx and you happen to
grab a bottle of water/soda. The pharmacy may just tell you that
you'll have to take your other item to another register.

Will you be pissed off?

Unfortunately, everywhere you go, employees are required to ring up
customers in the pharmacy even if they aren't RXs. Just another burden
to add to their overload already.

The pharmacy staff is required to ring up customers at their counter
if they are asked. To do otherwise would risk them being "written
up". The solution to a problem like yours would have to come from
corporate itself. However, like another commenter allude to,
corporate would simply assume that the call for a backup cashier was
too long in coming. A major reason why a tech would be requested to
ring up a bunch of non-related pharmacy items would be the customer
only wanted to write one check. I hear that a lot.

There are certainly times when it is appropriate to pay for things at
the pharmacy counter, like when a customer has a questions about an
over-the-counter drug and possible interactions with another drug they
might be taking. However, I agree with many below that a limit would
be a good solution.

However, the situation in the letter might still have occurred with
this "limit" policy in place. Their would have been problems ringing
up 10 items with would still take a lot of time to correct.

I hate when people take advantage of the pharmacy pick up window to
make other purchases...especially if its as busy as you stated.
While it may not have been busy when they started checking out these
purchases the line increased due to the fact that the woman was given
a detailed description of why she was purchasing said item.

There should be a sign but it should read a LIMIT of items allowed to
be added to any script pick up. And it should be adhered to.

I totally agree with you. I am a pharmacy tech and it peeves me that
people bring back a lot of items to be rung up. What's even worse is
when things are on sale and they do not ring up accordingly. Because I
don't work out in the store, I have no idea what's on sale and it
causes a lot of problems. I also do not think it's fair to other
patients who are not feeling well and just want to get in and out of
the pharmacy. The pharmacy staff is totally against this. We don't
mind ringing up a few items that are medically related and we have
mentioned this to management but we cannot turn patients away if they
have a lot of items. And because of that, I always tell my patients to
complain to management about this. I really feel that if more
customers complain then the corporate folks may see reason to impose a
limit on these things. After all, if I'm ringing up a cartload of
groceries, I can't fill prescriptions which means the wait times are
going to be even longer. I truly hope they acknowledge your complaint
and do something about it.

I feel for you and totally agree. perhaps the cashier is not allowed
to turn away a sale, which is ridiculous, but probably the case. where
i work we have plenty of customers who feel entitled to anything and
everything, please try to consider the cashier' position on this one,
as a cashier at walmart i can certainly see her side of this.

In my opinion, the only thing that Walgreens did wrong in this
situation was not call someone to a second cash register more quickly.
And even then we really don't know if that second person was tied up
with another customer, another prescription, on break etc. The clerk
could have told the woman to check out up front, but we don't know
that she/he didn't. I know I've heard people say before that they've
had customers come up to their 10 items or less lane and refuse to
leave. What are they supposed to do with them?

There have been many times where I've run in to the pharmacy with a
sick child in tow for medicine, but also for Gatorade, bandages etc.
Where does the pharmacy draw the line?

8-10 Items
If the line can be drawn at the grocery store for the express lane,
then a similar policy could be put in place as to not tie up the
pharmacy counter.
It's easy to draw the line here.

The line is, if I didn't fill your rx, I don't ring it up. That's it.
If you give the public an inch they take a mile.

First of all the tech should have called for backup. Walgreens policy
states that if you have 3 or more in line, you call for backup. Most
people picking up prescriptions will tell you that they want to pay
for everything at the same time. Whether it is a lot or a little,
they are not required to stand in 2 lines. After already having
waited for the script to be filled, they would really be ticked off if
they had to wait in another line. As for techs and pharmacists who
think they are above ringing other items, you don't work in just a
pharmacy - you have other responsibilities at Walgreens. Come down
off your high horse and realize that. Call for backup like you are
supposed to.

At least they were doing the best they could. Some people are plain
inconsiderate. I hope that they get back with you. I think they allow
non-pharmacy purcahses to be rung up alongside drugs as a convenience,
but this is an indicator that they need to draw a line. I wrote a
letter to Walgreens here and the manager of the store emailed me back,
so they will likely get in touch with you. If not a corporate policy,
hopefully the manager would be willing to put a store policy place.

If you were twelfth in line, wouldn't it have been faster right from
the start to go inside? I don't understand this drive-thru pharmacy
thing, but these stores have to either allow other merchandise to be
sold at the window or not, and I don't think they're willing to make
that decision and deal with the complaints. It's the risk you take
when you use the drive-thru.

If they don't allow store items to be purchased at the window, there
would be complaints. If they do, there are complaints.

It sounds like the main problem here was not the shear volume of
items, but the fact that several of the items caused a problem when
ringing them up. So there wasn't a way, perhaps, for either the
shopper or assistant of anticipating it would take so long.

I think this same issue applies to many pharmacies.

I agree. My local Target pharmacy has a sign stating that they limit
the number of non-prescription items you can buy at that department
(six), as well as a sign stating that they reserve the right to limit
people's ability to buy anything non-pharmacy depending on how busy
they are.

Good post. I agree with you that this should not have happened and
that the Pharmacy Assistant should have directed the the woman with
all the sale items to take her non-pharmacy purchases to the general
merchanise counter for check-out. If this would have happened to me I
would have been annoyed beyond words.

Hopefully Walgreen's will make note of your letter and initiate
changes in the store you referenced.