CVS shortens and adjusts pharmacy opening hours in two-thirds of stores
CVS cuts, adjust pharmacy hours in two-thirds of stores 00:37
CVS and Walmart are reducing the hours of their U.S. pharmacies to improve employee work-life balance as the chains continue to struggle with staffing shortages in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
CVS said it will “adjust opening times at select stores” in the spring as part of a regular review of “hours of operation to ensure we’re open during peak customer demand.” The move will affect around two-thirds of the company’s approximately 9,000 retail pharmacies as of March, a company spokesman said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch.
CVS, the largest pharmacy chain in the United States by revenue, said it is making the schedule changes to “ensure our pharmacy teams are available to serve patients when they are needed most,” a CVS spokesman said. “When a pharmacy is closed, a patient may visit any open CVS pharmacy location for assistance with their immediate prescription needs,” the spokesperson added.
Walmart cuts hours, raises wages
Walmart also said it is cutting hours at its pharmacy locations nationwide to improve “work-life balance” for its employees.
Walmart pharmacies are open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. They used to be open until 9pm on weekdays.
“Walmart is committed to helping our employees lead better lives. Walmart has a strong and incredible pharmacy team, and we are making this change not only to improve their work-life balance, but also to maintain the best level of service for our customers,” Walmart said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch.
Walmart said it is making the schedule change based on feedback from pharmacy employees and customers.
“By positioning our teams during the hours when our customers say they want to visit our pharmacy, we are better able to provide excellent customer service and support our staff as they continue to serve their communities every day” said Walmart.
In mid-June, Walmart announced higher wages for more than 36,000 pharmacy technicians, raising their average hourly wage to more than $20.
Walgreens is hiring more pharmacists and raising salaries
A spokesman for pharmacy chain Walgreens, the second largest in the US, also said it has had to adjust pharmacy opening hours over the past more than 12 months due to staffing issues.
Walgreens added that it had hired thousands of pharmacists and increased pharmacy staff salaries to address ongoing staffing issues. It said the effort would work and the problems would subside.
“We’ve seen positive staffing trends over the past few months as we work to bring more stores back to normal hours of operation,” Walgreens said.
Pharmacies aggressively hired pharmacists and pharmacy technicians from February 2021, when COVID-19 vaccines first became available to the public, to expedite efforts to vaccinate as many people as possible. Pharmacist job postings soared, and drugstore chains were offering whopping contract rewards of up to $20,000.
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