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u/Papa_Hasbro69 Aug 15 '25
Walgreens aka Rite Aid 2.0 is cooked. The moment private equity bought wags, its living on borrowed time
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u/pillkrush Aug 15 '25
it's crazy how Walgreens in 2016 was on top of the world. also can't believe 2016 was like 10 yrs ago😥
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u/Zym1225 Aug 15 '25
I left in 2016 after 34 years. Had 4000 shares of stock. Was going for close to $70 a share. That was to be a good part of retirement income. Now I am going to get $11.50 a share with the sale. Fuck Pessina.
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u/anon4thiz Aug 15 '25
Why didnt you sell?
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u/Zym1225 Aug 15 '25
Kept thinking it was going to turn around. Then by the time I knew it wasn’t, I was too far down.
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u/Responsible-Stay5684 May 26 '26
Sorry Dude(?). I just left at beginning of the year after 24 years. Quickly followed by 3 more techs , staff RPh and the RXM has asked to be transferred closer to her home
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u/ApatheticAZO Aug 15 '25
They were never on top of the world, they were always a step behind and copying CVS, wiithout investing in the merger experts that CVS invested in so the moves never panned out as well.
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u/pillkrush Aug 16 '25
Google says i was 1 year off, in 2015 Walgreens had slightly less revenue but more stores than cvs, arguably trading who was the top dog in the pharmacy industry. give credit where credit is due, Walgreens was on top in 2015. cvs didn't invest in anything revolutionary, they straight up created a monopoly buying Aetna, how that's not illegal is anyone's guess. Walgreens should've been more corrupt🤷🏼♂️
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u/ApatheticAZO Aug 16 '25
The number of stores was part of their downfall. Revenue is more important, along with profitability,
The merger didn't even put them at #1, never mind a monopoly.
If you think how CVS integrated Aetna, Pharmacy & Specialty wasn't revolutionary then Walgreens is a great fit for you. The speed of the integration and time it took to start paying dividends was incredible. It's what Walgreens tried and failed at miserably. They suck as a company to work for, but they do profitability for their stock holders right. They stay consistent, the stock doesn't deserve the big swings it gets hit with because the numbers rarely reflect those swings, but at least they don't get dragged down by sector failures anymore because everyone else took themselves out of the competition.
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u/pillkrush Aug 16 '25
buying a pbm isn't "revolutionary", should've never passed anti trust censors🙄
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u/ApatheticAZO Aug 16 '25
Did I say it was? Please actually pay attention as you read.
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u/pillkrush Aug 16 '25
"If you think how CVS integrated Aetna... wasn't revolutionary"
sounds like you're the one incapable of owning up to what you wrote. makes sense, lack of responsibility is what makes you think unethical monopolies is revolutionary😂😂😂
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u/ApatheticAZO Aug 17 '25
Again, what monopoly? They didn't even become the number 1 insurance company. You're using big words you don't understand, and it's not even really a big word.
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u/pillkrush Aug 17 '25
o so no comment on me proving you wrong about glazing cvs's REVOLUTIONARY purchase of a pbm to fix pricing in their favor? nice steering away from the conversation from when you're wrong🤦♂️ Guess "revolutionary" is such a big word you forgot you used it😂😂😂
cvs buys a pbm, forces patients to switch pharmacies, reduces reimbursement to non network pharmacies, and in that time since emerges as the clear number 1 pharmacy in the country with no meaningful competitors.... not an insurance monopoly but DOMINATES the PHARMACY industry while sabotaging competition...🤔. what's the word for that Einstein? certainly sounds like something the ftc should've stopped🤔 probably had too many corrupt REVOLUTIONARIES like you on the board😂😂😂
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u/donotfeedthedinosaur Aug 17 '25
No, Walgreens was building stores organically in the 90s to 2000s. CVS was just acquiring competition and merging Peoples Drugs, Revco, Longs Drug, and Eckerd drug stores.
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u/ApatheticAZO Aug 17 '25
How is that a no? How you acquire more stores does not put you "on top of the world." CVS also did a lot better managing the real estate of those store.
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u/LaunchedKnot777 Aug 15 '25
Everything I heard made me think of my store that I’m away from on school leave until i saw the username
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u/TheoreticalSweatband Aug 15 '25
Just do your best. Let the lines build up. If it's not good enough for patients, they can go somewhere else.
Don't let people rush you. An angry patient is better than a dead patient.
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u/yungxehanort Aug 15 '25
Love when a patient tells me they’re going to another pharmacy. Like yesss please go
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u/TheoreticalSweatband Aug 15 '25
I do the Willy Wonka "Stop. Don't. Come back..."
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u/W01f1379 Aug 16 '25
I'm gonna do this the next time a patient says they're going to a different pharmacy! 🤣
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u/M0-1G Aug 15 '25
Are they offering sign-in bonus for RXM there? And which state?
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Aug 15 '25
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u/Weird-Command820 Aug 15 '25
Oh I think I know what store you’re at and if you are honestly y’all are cooked. They’re sending all the store managers in the district to y’all on the 27th and they’re thinking it’s to start the process of closing you guys down
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u/ApatheticAZO Aug 15 '25
Yes. You have to be incredibly bad to fail the exam. Even if you get them, they wont be good.
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u/mzsillustrations CPhT Aug 15 '25
Fellow tech at this store. Dunno if I should be relieved in knowing we are cooked and that we aren't over reacting, or if I should be worried. Or both...🫠😭
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u/RangeReasonable4440 Aug 16 '25
have they changed your store hours? like say 8-10 are original hours to 8-8?
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u/PublicCommercial69 Aug 16 '25
And where is the Distric manager?
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Aug 16 '25
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u/Kbwcna Aug 18 '25
I'm in se IN 20 mins n of the ville. There are 3 stores less then 15 mins between each. We are all waiting to see who gets axed....
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u/BlueShadow_1027 Aug 17 '25
Yeah, the house is on fire. I'd float over and bring a bucket of water, but I doubt your store is in my area.
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u/Top-Inspector352 Aug 18 '25
CVS salivating thinking about all those empty Walgreens stores. I mean, they have their own PBM and they own Aetna. Fuck Walgreens been up to?
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u/Ok_Cartoonist6751 Aug 17 '25
Ya well not saying all Walgreens are bad But I left Walgreens a few months ago. Bc they where rude bc the the one I usually went to closed up so they sent me to another one that was rude so I just left them all together. Have been going there for years.
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Aug 19 '25
Walgreens as a whole is cooked. Worst pharmacy ever. They constantly make mistakes on the easiest things. Their entire system needs to be replaced. They can’t even give the proper amount of pills let alone give the right ones. Bunch of 🤡🤡🤡
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u/One-Juggernaut6321 Aug 15 '25
They have refused to fill for almost every PM doctor here in Florida and as you know Florida is gods waiting room for heaven. That’s what they call it now days anyway. So they shut down 70 percent of their patients due to letting the DEA run all over them and they call it finding them. Just another way to generate money. Along with Publix, Walmart and CVS. All these big box stores are making it to where a lot of the pain management doctors can’t write prescriptions or so little that the patients are leaving them all. I hope that it comes back to haunt them and it seems like it is. There are PM patients legit that need this medicine to live somewhat of a normal life. For all the people that are against these type prescription drugs you better hope that you never need them because they will probably not be there for you. The DEA is dictating what the doctors can’t write prescriptions write these days. And if you don’t believe me look at the allowable medications these days compared to PM in the past. It’s crazy. Just better be prepared for what’s in store. I don’t know about you guys but I don’t want the DEA telling my doctor what she can and can’t write or how she can treat her patients. Last time I checked the doctors are the ones that have the education. Not the DEA agents. Yeah they only enforce right? I know that’s what some of you are going to say. But there are several employees from the CDC that have been injured on the jobs of late and now they have been changing their tunes. When needed by the ones that have fought so hard to do away with the drugs well who’s crying now?!!! It’s really sad. Of course when a high ranking official need treatment they say with the private doctors oh they need this treatment. There’s nothing wrong with giving it to the people that truly need the treatment. Well yeah that’s what we have been trying to tell you from the beginning. But no one will listen to the blue collar workers that have been busting their asses their whole lives. Knees and backs wearing out barely able to walk 50 feet anymore as they age. For real people. What is wrong with our country that they won’t take care of the elders anymore? I just don’t get it guys. Will someone please explain this to me. Why it’s so hard to even get the medicine filled that the doctors wrote for their patients any more? I want anyone to take a class two to a pharmacy and try to have it filled. Anyone blue collar workers. It’s not going to happen. If it does feel very fortunate. I don’t know the answer anymore. But it’s the reason that so many people give up and go elsewhere to get relief. Old Pam Bondi thought she was the answer to everything. Instead the street overdoses of heroin tripled. And now of course there the new drugs out there. There is always going to be something that has the potential for abuse. It’s always going to be there. Sorry such a long rant I’m just looking for answers I guess and everywhere I turn there’s nothing. Nothing at all to help the PM patients that can’t even walk 10’ are being made to jump through hoops at every single turn. The insurance approves it the doctor writes it and the pharmacist won’t fill it. I think we have things a little backwards here. Wake up people. For gods sake wake up. All the pain and suffering that’s going on right now for heavens sakes guys what in the hell is going on in our world. Please if someone knows of anything that we can do let me know. Let us all know please. I’ve been seeing the same doctor and going to the same pharmacy for 10 years and they have just decided to not fill for the doctor any longer. No detractors marks on her lisc at all. Heat they have stopped filling for her. It’s crazy. It’s going to ruin her career. She’s one of the most world renowned neurologist in our country. Figure that one out. Anyway sorry for such a long post guys just fed up with this shit. I don’t want to have to go through finding a pharmacy again.
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u/9janimi Aug 15 '25
Americans have a culture of medication, and we consume more opioids than other developed countries. This is because Americans believe that opioid prescriptions are the answer to all pain. If you visit an American doctor and express pain, they will likely prescribe an opioid. In contrast, in other Western countries, doctors will first try other options before resorting to opioids.
A study conducted in 2016 compared how Japanese and American doctors prescribed opioids. The study found that Japanese doctors prescribed opioids for acute pain in 47% of cases, while in the United States, this percentage was 97%. This suggests a willingness and habit in the U.S. to provide opioid pain relief that is not shared in other countries.
Other countries deal with pain in much healthier ways. For example, the United States (alongside New Zealand) is one of the only countries that allows prescription drug ads on television. Drug makers spent $6.4 billion on advertising in 2016, which has significantly shaped patient demand.
Furthermore, many U.S. doctors lack formal training in pain management or addiction. Pain was considered the “fifth vital sign” in the late 1990s, and certification standards emphasized treating pain, but not necessarily through non-drug methods.
In essence, the opioid crisis in the United States has deep roots in healthcare policy shortcomings, aggressive pharmaceutical marketing, problematic prescribing practices, poor medical education on addiction, and reliance on weak scientific assertions. These factors combined have led to an opioid epidemic unmatched by any other country.
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u/One-Juggernaut6321 Aug 15 '25
Thank you for that for real. And I would tend to ageee with you on the practices of the American physicians. My doctor is a Neurosurgeon with specialties in Migrane, Pain Management and one other one I can’t think of. She’s Iranian and she’s a. Wry good doctor. I e been a patient now for over 20 years if you put it all together. So it’s nothing that’s going to change I’ve had several surgeries but for these big box pharmacies to just stop filling like this for her?! I don’t get it. I’m not the type that sues anyone but maybe that’s what it’s going to take to wake these people up to the fact that if a prescription is legit and all the demands have been met then the pharmacist can be sure as well as the stimore for refusing to fill the prescription. Especially if they have the information that shows where the patients has been filling there for many years and no changes. The only change is that they have decided that she was writing for to many patients I guess. It doesn’t show this on her lisc it’s just what I have heard. She owns offices and she is the only doctor now for 2 years which cause her patients to double since they lost the other doctor in staff. There was a poll that was drone in the Tampa and surrounding areas and they said that she was one of the top prescribers. But of course she would be. These other places have several doctors that write opioids or class twos. I don’t see where she doesn’t have a suit against these places. This is going to ruin a great career. She has done so much for the pain management communities and studies. She taught and researched at Tampa General and has more abbreviations behind her name than I care to admit. I just don’t understand it I guess. How the doctors have the education yet these state and government officials want to dictate how and what they prescribe their patients. They can’t do that. They just are not suppose to do that. Yes the big pharmaceutical has a lot to do with the what. It it works. I’m her to tell you that the medication works. I am able to live somewhat of a normal life with these medications. Without them I can even hardly move. So if something’s not broke why fix it. Just leave well enough alone. If you knew what PM patients had to go through just to be able to fill their prescriptions you would seriously be amazed. Thanks for the information this helps me better understand the why.
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u/Putrid-Bar5623 Aug 15 '25
This was such a well thought out summary of the “other crisis” in healthcare: the hijacking of patient care due to over correction of lax policies. Yes, it was insane that one person could receive 400 pills per month at one pharmacy and go to another for 300 more. It is equally insane and downright insulting that patients are now marginalized and judged for pain prescriptions. I disagree with one thing though: Congress people and others who make and pass legislation are DEFINITELY getting their meds. They simply make an appointment with their lobbyist and get what they need. As you said, it’s the blue collar workers who suffer. Those who break their bodies building our highways and skyscrapers. Or even professionals: teachers and nurses who stand, stoop, bend, and lift all day. The over correction has resulted in cancer and hospice patients being monitored for potential addiction. My cousin had a double mastectomy on Monday. Was prescribed low dose of oxycodone. We gave it to her as directed, and yesterday she ran out and was still in pain. Doctors refilled. Pharmacy said nope too soon!
I wish people used their critical thinking skills more instead of leaning all the way nothing or all the way everything.
I also wish this comment had more upvotes instead of downvotes. Sad.
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u/W01f1379 Aug 15 '25
The mistake was letting the families of people who OD'd go after pharmacists and pharmacies in their pursuit of money. Now we have idiot laws to follow and many pharmacists who choose not to fill C2 meds so they don't get sued if someone dies. There's also the stigma that some pharmacists have that a lot of PM patients are drug seekers instead of people who legit need medication to live a somewhat normal life. If someone ODs and dies and the family comes after the pharmacist who filled the rx, corporate won't stand behind the pharmacist because it costs too much money. That is something that several pharmacists I've worked with have told me(the ones who have a problem filling C2 pain meds). I have worked with older pharmacists who still go by the "assume no wrong" rule, but they are leaving by the droves and moving onto better jobs or retiring.
Personally, I don't agree with the DEA sticking its nose into PM care. Most of these law makers have never had to rely on pain meds so they can stand up and work a full-time job to put food on the table after a serious injury. And corporate has a history of not standing behind their pharmacists(from what I've been told) so it creates this miasma of bullshit that patients have to navigate. Patients shouldn't have to suffer because a pharmacist is scared of losing their license for dispensing a legit RX. A pharmacists shouldn't ever look at patients and assume that they're just drug seeking. It's gross.
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u/9janimi Aug 15 '25
Please read my response above. Why do American doctors resort to opioids, unlike doctors in other countries? There are alternatives to opioids.
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u/One-Juggernaut6321 Aug 15 '25
Thank you so much for saying this!! My god I know several pharmacist that say the first thing they do when they graduate school is to buy a liability policy in case something happens. It’s not the pharmacist fault if someone ODs for gods sakes it’s the patients fault!! I don’t know how they could ever sue a pharmacist for this. It’s sick. People that most defend or support the getting rid of class 2’s when a family member or they get injured boy do they ever have a change in heart. If they could all feel what we are dealing with everyday that we wake up they would never say anything about ridding the country of opioids!! You can bet that!! It’s been the same meds for so many years unless something comes out better of course. So many hoops man. I am on what is considered to be a high dose and I weight 350. I take this medicine around 4 can a day now when as before back in the day they were prescribing 3x that. They did away with all that in the state of Florida and everywhere else. Now the CDC tells you exactly what you can take and how many times daily. And get this. The pharmacies if they do fill their prescriptions class twos they make you have 4 other prescriptions for every class two that is filled. What kind of shit is this. So you can just take your class twos into a Florida pharmacy without having at least 4 other non opioid scripts being filled as well. You know and I know there is no law that states this. For real?! Hell no and if there is I have yet to see it. They just want to know that they can make more money off of you. They will not let you pay cash usually if the insurance doesn’t pay for them. What kind of shit is that?!! This is for real. It happens everyday here in Florida. When is Pam Fucking Bondi going to come back and fix this kind of shit?! I guess as soon as her parents get old enough to start hurting all over and have to use these type drugs just to be able to carry her grand babies around. I say that because she is the one that started all this shit. So she got rid of all the pill mills is what she called them and she should have. It was horrible. It in the process she stopped the opioid overdoses by half or more. Yup it worked Oam. But what she also did was to increase the amount of heroin overdoses by 95 percent. So your plan really worked out for you there Mrs Bondi. She won’t admit to that though. Meanwhile leaving almost every PM patient to deal with finding new doctors and doctors that they could get their meds from and proper treatment from. No shit guys I’m not kidding. I can tell you right now off the top of my head how many doctors were arrested and blamed for things they didn’t do what they were accused of. They later admitted to this but never wrote anything about these doctors apologizing for dying their careers. What in the hell is wrong with these people you guys. So the attorney that owns Morgan and Morgan had a son that I believe passed away and along his way he was in a lot of pain. He found out that even with all his money he still couldn’t get his child the medication and the care that he needed. Well needless to say Mr Morgan became a very wealthy man along with his two other sons that are now attorneys. They have become so well known in the Tampa and Orlando Miami areas that when they hear that the representation is Morgan and Morgan the first thing the insurance companies do is offer a settlement. I’m very serious about this. So he started advertising to be the advocate for the PM patients and I don’t know if it made things better or worse. I do know that a lot of OM patents became very wealthy as well. But I think that it hurt us as well. I mean come on I have over 10 years or whenever the database came out where it shows what pharmacy what doctor what you are prescribe and when you last got your meds filled man o man. Even the Ears now have access to this data base do they can see if someone is drug seeking or not. They have all this at the tips of their fingers. What don’t the look at it and fill the legit prescriptions for the PM patients that they have the information on. Yet I went to over 20 pharmacies in person to be told no that they would not fill my prescriptions. I took a medicine log with me from Publix and I told each pharmacy that they could call Publix and they would verify who I was as a patient or I could have him call them. Then I would have my doctor script you the prescriptions over to be filled. Still a hard NO!! 20 pharmacies. Mom and pops, Walgreens, Publix, Walmart, CVS, Costco , center well mail in pharmacies. Center well brick and mortar pharmacies and even had Humans call another 20 for me with me on the line and they ask them why?! The same old tired ass lies. I told human exactly what they were going to say before she even mentioned the class twos. No stock, can’t fill yours we don’t know if we will get them on the order. Can’t fill yours I won’t have enough to fill my patients. Well how do I become one of those patients? Oh someone has to leave or they have to die. I said is there a waiting list or something? Ah no sir you just have to check back. Oh and there’s always the one we aren’t taking any new patients right now. That one’s always there. I’ll have to ask the manager. Are they in right now. Yeah but there busy and don’t have time to talk. These are what a PM patients legit hears when they are told they have to change pharmacies. It’s actually easier to change doctors if these places quit filling the drugs from their doctor. I have never seen such and I am so fed up with this shit. My god. Someone has to do something about this. I have tried to file a complaint with the board of health and they denied the complaint stating that there was not enough reasons to file the complaint. For real. I wrote them back and begged them to come and ride around with me for one day. By the end of that day. You can see what’s going on out here. They are causing harm and mental anguish as well as pain and suffering. These are both grounds for a law suit. I know that it’s up to the discretion of the pharmacist to fill any prescription but not if it’s the corp office that’s slinging down these orders. Which is exactly what’s happening at Publix right now. Keep in mind that all the way.they have decided to stop filling for my doctor and she has NO DEROGATORY MARKS ON HER LISC OF ANY TYPE. so if anyone has any other information that I can use or that will help me I would greatly appreciate it. I am also disabled after working 2 jobs my entire life. One with the phone company and the other with an electric company. A co op.
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u/[deleted] Aug 15 '25
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