Anyone work at Walgreens?

[Knightmare]

An ex-manager/friend came into my work yesterday. He is now working at Walgreens and told me I really need to check it out. He is an AM, and they are hiring more AMs. The pay is double what I make, the hours are guaranteed to be 40+ with overtime pay, benes, discounts, etc. He said that he likes it much better than where we used to work.

Now, as you may or may not know, I was an AM and manager for years. I have the training and knowledge.

Question: Does anyone here work for this company? If so, please tell me the good and bad about it.

I need a new job desperately, and wanted to get out of retail, but this just seems too good to pass up.

Please advise!

Thanks all

[Ljt09863]

well lets see. the AMs do tend to get transferred around alot. usually,from what i hear, have no say in where they are going. if you are needed somewhere, you have to go. so if you would prefer to stay in one store, this may not be the store for you. now, if you want to become the EXA(excutive assistant manager which is one step below store manager), then you would stay in one store.

typically, i don't think being an AM is that bad, but you do have to put in long hours. usually at least 9 or 10 hours a day. if you don't want to work that, then dont do it. if you are unlucky enough to get a store like mine, where its so small you only have two AM's and the SM, then it sucks even worse. the manager today is working 7 am to 8 pm. but its not like that at every store. we are just a VERY small store.

benefits aren't too bad. right now is enrollment. the Profit sharing plan is GREAT though. that is a huge plus. you put a dollar of your paycheck to the company, and the match it by...i think its 3% now. after a certain a,out of time has passed, you get a certain amount of it back. but if you leave at any time, ALL the money you put in, you get back.

corporate is really uptight though. and you don't ever want loss prevention on you. but if you have a complaint, loss prevention can be your best friend.


id say the company itself isn't bad to work for. it all comes down to the people ou are working with in the store.

[AFpheonix]

Ditto what Lj said. Oh, and try to get into a non-24 hour store if you're going for AM. I don't know about other 24 hour stores, but ours makes them go on rotation instead of having set people do graves and others do days. All of ours end up pretty stressed and with some mild health issues until they get sent elsewhere.

Overall, I'd have to say it's a pretty ok company to work for, in some ways they're kind of screwing up the pharmacy part a bit, with all the "improvements" they're making to the system. It would be ok if they had them vetted better before they implemented them. In general, corporate doesn't go off all half-cocked like some do.

Most of the SMs in the area that I have had have been great. The one that I have now and have had the longest definitely has his moments, although he's gotten a lot better. They have been VERY accomodating to any of us that need time off for deaths or illness or whatever, front people and pharmacy people alike. The other thing that I do really like is that in general corporate doesn't put up with a lot of BS from employees, either. If a manager or associate is being an idiot, they are definitely dealt with.

The other bonus is that these aren't huge stores, so its not like you'll have a bajillion depts to know, either. You will have to have your pharmacy tech license and be able to run photo, and I'm not sure about your state, but ours is trying to get everyone with a state tech license to get nationally certified as well.

They give bonuses, pay is pretty good as long as you're not just a floor grunt, you also get gift cards at christmas and if your store performs well (flagship program), and the profit sharing program is nice. Bennies are ok, I dropped mine in favor of my husband's, since his are a lot better through Best Buy.