Rite Aid Employee Review

Current Employee – been working at Rite Aid full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – -1199 Union benefits - medical/dental/rx + pension after +5 years
-Getting better as a company despite the poorly planned merger deal with Eckerd
-New wellness store format really spruced up the appearance of some of the decrepit, homely stores
-Occassionally working with people who care about the job (they do exist) and the people they serve.
-The pay at chain pharmacies is still the highest right out of pharmacy school. I plan on finding a hospital job after paying off my loans.

Cons – -Sometimes stressful working conditions esp in busy pharmacy.
-Alot of the front end people don't like their jobs and are often times understaffed.
-Lower pay if in union and pay raises are rare nowadays (none in past few years)
-Understaffing (past few years they have been cutting tech hours. They have a formula based on rx counts to calculate necessary tech hours but I feel that formula is flawed and doesnt take all the work that has to be done into account)
-Almost impossible to eat any decent lunch in a busy pharmacy
-Repetitive work
-Occasional cranky and sour customers but it's natural working in a retail setting.
-As a floater you are sometimes to called on the very day you thought you had off.
-They will fire you over the seemingly minor offenses (ex: leaving hippa trash in locked patient consultation room, checking work email on off hours)
-Pharmacy manager is considered non-union and has crappy health insurance albeit higher pay and year-end bonuses.

Advice to Senior Management – Don't fire everyone over every offense. Maybe have a 3 strikes warning but to fire hard working pharmacist who have been loyal to the company for +20 years seems counterproductive. They will start their own pharmacies or run to the competition and you lose a good worker and employee + customer loyalty. Think about it.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company