That is not a business model. That is a model for complete failure. I point you to CVS for a perfect example. They are only alive because they made good deals with their insurance companies.
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WHITHER AM RADIO
- Thread starter OLDRFGUY
- Start date
Doesn't CVS reap greater profits from the sales of disposable razors, mascara, shampoo, antacids, holiday decorations, big cans of cashews, etc. than it does from the prescriptions filled there? Please explain how its deals with insurance companies are the sole reason the chain has survived and expanded.
COVID shots, and their guaranteed revenue from both private insurance and Medicare/Medicaid. Until only the last few months, CVS's corporate priority was to put COVID shots above filling prescriptions. They lost a lot of pharmacists and pharmacy techs over this. My local CVS stores still don't have full-time resident pharmacists and techs. It may be a local Phoenix problem, but somehow I doubt it.
Walgreens and Walmart are little better, but at least their stores in my area managed to keep their staffs.
Of the products you mention CVS has some of the highest prices in my city. I go there only because I'm trapped by my wife's insurer. It very seldom has an RX in inventory. Usually requires one or two overnights to get it from warehouse (which can be 1-10 business days). Their web site is a mess - one of the very worst I've ever witnessed. They've cut back their drive-thru to virtually nothing and trying to get through by phone is like talking to someone from Scotland whose first language was Dutch. Good luck getting them to renew an RX from the doctor. Usually takes multiple calls to the pharmacy and/or the doctor to get the paperwork done. And can you say understaffed? Several times they have delivered Class 1 narcotics in with my order (belonging to someone else). I have no idea what their non-RX product turnover is but there is virtually no one in that part of their store when I'm there. Keith E4 has done a very good summation of CVS' issues so I won't address that here. I am in total agreement with what he says though.
Even my local Safeway pharmacy does a much better job scheduling and delivering various immunizations than does CVS!
I won't go into their infrastructure (phone/IT systems) because I'm a former employee of the company that provides their phone systems (I retired from there in 2015), and should keep my pie-hole shut. Let's just say that apparently the issues they had when I retired have not been resolved.
Point taken. But your online experience with the business is the way American business in general is heading. "Go online to the website." No people necessary.
You saw a mess at one company's website. Now imagine trying to use such websites for the hiring process. It's a quagmire of bots, "do not reply" emails, and robot phone calls that get you nowhere, and a confusing and contradictory array of processes that would make Rube Goldberg proud.... Heck, it would gain him a Nobel prize because he apparently designed the methods modern American business uses in its relationships and communications with potential employees and customer "service".
An example: a pal of mine -- guy I used to work with in the radio industry -- had a part on his easychair that broke. He found his extended warranty completely useless, as the claimed repair service had since been subcontracted to a company based 3000 miles away, and you had to wait 2 hours on the phone to text with someone to see if anyone could be sent to fix the chair. Yes, texting is now preferable to actually talking with a person.
And that texting back and forth got him nowhere.
Several weeks later, his chair is still broken. No way to order a part through the store. "Go online," they say. Wow, that's helpful.
But hey, American corporations know what they're doing. The CEO didn't get that million dollar bonus because they aren't getting the job done. Meanwhile, the motto "the customer is always right" has been replaced by the new mantra "we don't care."
Back to radio: I think that at least in the radio business they actually research their listener base, and are trying to keep them, as well as serve them. With all of radio's apparent failings, it seems to be a lot more in tune with the needs of its listeners and clients than retail or some other industries.
I understand (but have absolutely no problem slamming my old employer when it is deserved). What are they going to do? Put me back on a ship and send me to sea?
When I try using the phone for refills but after about 10 years as a repeat customer it still cannot find me in their database although the web site does find me. Weird!
Of course. Radio's financial survival depends on advertising. They are the actual customers.
Yes, but also, the other businesses we both have referred to here depend on their actual customers, too -- who, unlike radio, they are much too often taking for granted.
In the Wall Street Journal recently there was an article about about CVS and Walgreen's and Rite-Aid downsizing their stores as the profits from non-prescription items has fallen greatly. In particular, the snacks and soft drinks, greeting cards, household items and the like are apparently not profitable but account for lots of shrinkage (industry term for theft). So the stores will be much smaller and much of the convenience inventory reduced or eliminated. Even among non-prescription medical items, the selections will be reduced by giving less shelf space to even major brands.
So look for about half the store size in many locations, with the rest being returned to the landlord or sublet for some other use.
We noticed this when on vacation a few months ago in a couple of larger US cities. There were a few more traditional, larger CVS and Walgreen's stores, but most were much smaller with a somewhat limited selection. Rather than several different brands and variations of cold medicine, for example, they had fewer brands, a fairly "bare bones" selection and most boxes of tablets were only available in larger quantities..Forget trying to get 24 hour cough medicines in counts of 6 or 8 as you'd find in larger, better stocked pharmacies.
Walgreens has been closing pharmacies in SC that were previously Rite Aid and relocating them to small box sized stores that has pharmacy techs as cashiers and has OTC items with everything else very limited. The old store was too big and the staff wasn’t needed outside of those running the pharmacy.
Very interesting about the big pharmacies/stores. I've seen no sign yet of this downsizing up here, but the staffing shortage is desperate at the CVS location in Lebanon, NH, which routinely closes its pharmacy for an hour every afternoon when two of the three people who work there take lunch break. It causes a lot of grumbling among customers who drop in wanting to pick up a prescription but forget this post-2020 "tradition," especially those whose own lunch hour is also 12:30-1:30 p.m.!
The lunch break has been their policy nationwide since the first of the year, but not always a full hour. In Arizona, the break is 1:30-2:00 PM daily.
Ah, that explains it. I only moved here from Connecticut in January, so, obviously, I never encountered that policy before visiting the local CVS. Thanks.
I have to guess that the length of the break depends on state laws. Some states may require a 60 minute lunch break, while others may require only 30, less than that, or even none at all. But AFAIK, the break at some length is company policy everywhere.
CVS' drive-thru is also very spotty. It is almost never 'fast' and usually very slow or unmanned and 'never'. If there is more than one car ahead of me I just don't stop because the wait can be atrocious. And the stores with two lanes? The second lane has never been open although there is no sign to that effect.
Well, it's actually not 'new', but seems to have really become more common over the last decade or so - the industry pro's that have chimed in will correct any discrepancies in that post-haste.
If the commercials are playing during the month and the customer (the purchaser of radio advertising) believes they are getting a return on the 'investment', will they sign up and do it again? Perhaps they have for a six month window of time, who knows in any given market.
The advertising business in general has vastly changed in the past decade or two. Radio is a (small) voice out of dozens that are out there. Just watch/listen to political ads for a lesson on how they are distributed these days. The mom-and-pop appliance dealers, the car lots, and the banks/credit unions (to name a few...) know about them as well.
Our local Kroger pharmacy has started closing for lunch as well, I don't know if that's just there or everywhere.
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