Original air date, October 12th, 2008
The Discount Pricing Program From The Pharmacy That Makes It Personal.
CAMP HILL, Pa. - Rite Aid Corp., the nation's third largest drug store chain, today claimed success for its "making stock affordable for the people" program, which took the industry by surprise when it was launched 15 months ago.
"Rite Aid has always been known for low prices every day" said CEO Mary Sammons with a straight face. "But with the phenomenal success of our stock discount program, we've taken a big step towards making corporate ownership, not just shampoo and medicine, affordable for everyone."
In East Los Angeles, José Lopez is using the Rite Aid program to help him take his shot at the American Dream.
"When I first came to this country, I only hoped to find work so I could send some money home to my Mother and cousin" said Lopez, a day laborer and part time landscaper found most mornings outside the Home Depot on Wilshire Blvd. "Now, with what I earn at the end of most days I can buy part of this giant drugstore. I hope someday to own enough of it to be given a golden parachute like the businessmen I hear about on TV. "
As of Friday, Lopez held a 15% stake in the company.
Morgan Stanley analyst Barney Weismann said that unlike the products sold in its stores, shares of Rite Aid Stock really are cheap.
"They certainly were ahead of the curve in aggressively driving down the price of their stock" said Weismann. "The idea has really caught on of late, not only in the drugstore industry but across the entire business world. Rite Aid took the lead in discount stock pricing, and no one has really managed to catch up."
"Catch up and stay in business" he quickly added.
The program suffered a major setback last month when Rite Aid shares were pulled from the shelves of several major dollar store chains as being "too cheap for even us to sell," nevertheless, Ms. Sammons extolled the virtues of value stock pricing.
"I think it's an opportunity anyone who still has any money left should take advantage of" said Sammons, her voice slightly quivering. "Please....I'm begging you...take advantage.....before it's too late."
Sammons then started to weep softly.
Disclaimer- Everything in this post is made up, except for the incredibly low price of Rite Aid stock, which closed at 55 cents a share on Friday.
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Well, four years later I certainly look foolish on this one, don't I? A new CEO, a new business strategy, and that stock price these days has more than doubled...
Yup. Closed today at $1.21 it did. While I wipe the egg off my face, let's review what we've learned so far. As we've just seen, Rite Aid was totally cool with a person mocking their business shortcomings.
They also didn't mind me openly lusting after their CEO.
Telling the world they tried to order a pharmacist to feed someone's controlled substance addiction? No problem!!
But, say scabs suck...and...you.....are....outta here. Standing up for working people who want some measure of health security must be worse than all those things.
At least they are in some people's eyes, we now know.
14 comments:
You are one of my heroes - I read the initial post about the DM trying to force a pharmacist to fill a prescription for the first time just a few minutes ago. I dig my heels into the ground every day and double-dog dare anyone to try and make me do anything I refuse to do...it won't happen.
Cudos and admiration to you sir.
What Rite Aid is really saying,"We do not need ethical pharmacists."
Laws need to be changed to protect us and the public. We all need to join unions, lobby our legislators through state pharmacy associations, and flood our representatives and governors with letters. The publics health is at risk every day. We can no longer due our jobs safely ! We are afraid to speak up for fear of loosing a paycheck. We must speak up !
Anonymous:
Government won't listen. Government tells you what you must do, but how you work it out with your employer to get it done is a labor issue. State boards do not get into labor issues. That's what makes the pharmacist's position so uncomfortable.
Good, old fashioned labor unions are the answer, folks. It's time to cut the comedy about how professional we are. We are nothing but a cost of doing business (thanks to government which requires our presence). Your employer hates you. You are not a profit center (not in this climate of third party supremacy). You are a cost, an unwelcome cost.
Time to organize!! Time to picket and strike. Time to open up independent stores (so chains can't go to gov't against you on behalf of customers). Time to take back the profession. Let the grocers work for us!
You really like to bash Rite Aid! Did you know that they are saying it is make or break on the flu season this year? If wrong aid doesn't make their "goals" this flu season, their value stock will go under a dollar for a second time and off the NYSE. Hopefully someone will be stupid enough to buy them out like Rite Aid did for Eckerd. I think Walmart is the only one that can absorb all their debt!
PharmD Blogger,
Well, yes, Rite Aid does present a rather target-rich environment for bashing.
They also fired me.
To be fair though, I have taken shots at all the "Big 3" drugstore chains over the years. Just do a search on any of them and you'll see.
In all seriousness for a moment, I've said for quite awhile now that Rite Aid's only hope is to clean things up to the point that they can get their creditors to allow a "debtor in possession" bankruptcy. Essentially this just means that the current creditors would agree to cancel RAD's debt in return for stock in a "new" company. The current stockholders would get screwed, but operations would essentially carry on as normal. Rite Aid would have to make a case that if only they could get out from under this debt they would be profitable and competitive, and letting them survive would be better for the creditors than them going under or any type of deal they would be likely to get from someone buying them. Time will tell, but if i were a betting man i would say that's what they're trying for.
Of course, i don't work for them anymore, which means I really don't give a fuck.
Dear Drug Monkey:
Wow. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
The way that they shitcanned you just for having an opinion--in your private life!!!--about unions really does demonstrate their personal values, doesn't it? These fuckers are all the same. Not to sound like Comrade Che over here, but hundreds of millions of workers in every industry since about 1850 could relate to your experience.
Unions are essentially a defense mechanism. That's all they are. And as you well know, Drug Monkey, when you're dealing with scum like this, a defense mechanism is needed. Hell. At least here in the US they can't shoot us and burn our homes down anymore. If you were in Mexico, they probably would have busted your kneecaps after they kicked you out the door.
Fuck them. I don't even know you, David, and I am so pissed off at how they treated you.
Hang in there. I wish you all the best.
P.S. True story: my ex-boyfriend, who managed a hellhole corporate retail store, was once interrogated by corporate HR because he dropped by the store on his day off wearing a union t-shirt...for a union in a different state, in a completely unrelated industry. The Union was for workers of an airline company. My boyfriend's store sold video games.
The shirt still made them shit purple twinkies.
I gotta go, otherwise I'll bitch about this all day.
Good luck, David! They are assholes and you are right. They ought to be ashamed of themselves, but that will never happen, because capitalism makes corporations sociopathic.
"You really like to bash Rite Aid!" Besides the fact that they fucking terminated DrugMonkey's livelihood in a cruel and disingenuous way, why wouldn't ANYONE bash Rite Aid? Have you seen the price inflation they do in stores in poor neighborhoods? I know almost all businesses practice the "ghetto tax," but that doesn't make it okay. The Rite Aid in my old ghetto neighborhood had higher prices than stores in Manhattan. And can anyone claim that the shitty Muzak and Klassic Rock they inflict upon their employees every minute of every shift is anything other than mental abuse? They should play that shit to torture terrorists at Gitmo. I am being only slightly facetious.
So sorry to hear about your termination. I stopped by your site for some laughs and to share in some sense of camaraderie after the shitty start to my day and a post on fb about it only being lunch time and I've already considered punching two people in the face...guess I should watch my words.
I have faith you will not only land on your feet, but you will do so in an environment not nearly as stressfull and you'll change wonder, "Why did I put up with all the BS for so long?" Good luck to you.
Dude, just dropped by and got the news. I am selfishly glad, in a way, as now we will have more of you. But you know how this shit goes, too, I've seen plenty of pharms get canned and then rehired a week later - no one would step into their shoes - I'm talking narc thieves, but that's probably not as bad as someone who gives the rest of the pharmacy world some peace and hope. You know there are jobs up here in OR. You might think about traveling a bit while you have the time. Pop your lady fair into the car and go see some stuff while the weather is still good. And when they call you back, don't even bother to pick up the phone.
DrugMonkey, I understand on your reply. Rite Aid made the mistake of taking on too much debt with Eckerd. They were unlucky in that it was right before a huge recession. I have read some of your articles in Drug Topics. I agree with almost everything you have said that I have read.
DrugMonkey, when are you, I mean we, going to organize against the chain pharmacies and get better pay, lunch breaks, and more tech hours. I am referring to your article in Drug Topics for July. We need APHA to step it up like the AMA. I have been hearing about this for at least ten years. Why the hell has nothing happened? Are we all just pansies? By we, I mean pharmacists, and by pansies, I mean me.
PharmD Blogger,
Stop what you're doing right now. Just stop.
Now write a nice letter to the California Nurses Association, tell them you admire their work, especially the way the kicked ass in getting the state to set mandatory patient:nurse ratios.
Ask them if they have any interest in any cross profession organizing and offer to be of assistance.
Repeat this procedure for the Illinois Nurses Association and the National Union of Health Care Workers.
Then, the next time you hear someone bitching and moaning about how we need to organize, look them in the eye and ask "what have you done about it?"
There'll be a 99.9% chance you will have done more.
Count yourself lucky, though. My friend once posted a similar article to your first and he was booted out of the job.
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