I currently work as a deli clerk for Kroger, but I was wondering what qualifications I would need to transfer into a position with the Kroger pharmacy. Does Kroger offer any sort of training for employees who want to work in the pharmacy? If so, how can I get more information about it?
Talk to your in-store human resources manager. I'm not sure that's the actual title but they're the person who does the hiring and scheduling of training. They're also responsible for handing out things like uniforms, hats, freezer gloves,. etc. Anyway, I've seen several people transfer to the pharmacy, including someone from the deli. In the Louisville Division, pharmacy and meat department are under the same contract as the rest of the store. So when people transfer to those departments, they keep their seniority. If your store's pharmacy is under a different contract, you would most likely lose your seniority.
For some reason, most employees think working in a pharmacy is better than working other departments. We're NOT paid more than others, we're paid the same as grocery clerks, we're very stressed out, customers can be very rude, phones are ringing non stop, we're always blamed for not getting refills on time even though it's always the doctor's office fault or insurance won't pay for it, we're not allowed to sit down, we have no breaks because there's always a line of people waiting to be helped, there's always at least 2 techs less than we should have scheduled, it's a VERY fast paced environment. The pharmacist stands for 14 hours, he/she barely has 5 minutes to snack on some granola bars or go to the restroom, they're freakin' superheros for just staying alive, lol.
Just saying, why everyone thinks pharmacy is the heaven of Kroger?
In Cincinnati, the RX Techs. are paid around the same as the normal store/grocery clerks. The biggest difference could be this position being Non-Union, which would then effect your healthcare. I would say as long as your detailed focused and can count, see what the job would entail. I would say the staffing level is the same or lower as your department now or depending on the volume of the Pharmacy lower....
I'm in Midwest, we're union. The techs are, pharmacists are non union. We're being paid the same as grocery clerks unless you're certified, then you get a dollar more than other techs. No special requirements to work in a pharmacy, you have to be able to multitask, we're always understaffed.
the one comment about the pharmacist is BS in my opinion. yes they have to work twelve-hour shifts, depending on which store you're at maybe, but they get paid way more than techs, like 3-5x more, roughly, and at my store they sit down quite a lot (pre-verification/data entry)
so when they're rude as **** it's ridiculous because yes the techs barely get to sit down, unless they do data entry, and they dont get the regular breaks (at least at my store) that you get as a union clerk. my starting pay was 9.75, after i transferred in after working a little over a year in the store. my last pay out there was 8.90. the cost of a tech license in my state, after getting extra info for an arrest i had years ago, was about a hundred dollars. then uniforms which were about 26 dollars a piece at walmart but after working there just a little while i came out ahead financially. but the bad attitudes in that place -- forget the customers -- from my coworkers really ruins my life from time to time, i mean it makes me feel like a childish imbecile for putting out so much hate and indignation. my pride is affected too when i dont get to do dispensing or data entry but instead have to be basically a clerk.
so you dont have to have special qualifications, unless your state has some extra regulation, you go to your state's board of pharmacy website and download the technician registration form. unless this process varies from state to state and you have to do something different
i also was not a fan of the store authorities as a clerk, who were just regular people with often no degree or specialized knowledge
