rx slinger wrote:
80s kid wrote:120k retail pharmacist in MA. Nice starting pay but not much earning potential after that. This is pretty standard across the country. So it's a lot in Idaho but not much in CA. Also work per diem as a clinical pharmacist in a hospital, about $50/hr.
The profession has gone downhill since 2008 though. Everyone and their mom wants to be a pharmacist. Anyone from class of 2012 or later is lucky to get a job in any desirable area, even per diem.
I disagree. I graduated in 2014. I'm now a pharmacy manager in PA and I make $148,000 as my base pay. I had offers all around the country. Some of my friends moved after graduating and the pay does vary. It is a small variation, but people in CA and NYC do make more. There's plenty of extra earning potential. It's obtained through career advancement. If you don't advance in your career, then you won't see much earning potential. This isn't just the case with pharmacy, it's the same situation with any non-union/government job. Also consider that even if you don't advance, 120k is more than most families combined income.
More power to ya, I have zero interest in becoming a manager. They have to go to meetings and conference calls on their days off, take work home, deal with complaints from staff and customers, deal with audits and inspections. Not worth the small increase in pay IMO. My friend was a PIC at CVS and quit after 1 month. A year later, the board started an investigation for every PIC in the district in the past 2 years because some idiot stole narcs in another store. That's right. Another pharmacist, another store, my friend wasn't even working for the company at the time... And he now has a ding on his license!
Your pay won't increase much more than 148k (just inflation raises) unless you want to become a supervisor/district manager, which is even more work off the clock.
Also let's be real, they are predicting an oversupply of 50,000 pharmacists in the next 10 years:
https://bhw.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/bhw/nchwa/projections/pharmacists.pdfThe major chains have been cutting hours every year. Most new grads start with 30 hours/week not 40. I know someone who went from 40 hours/week to 25/week so she lost her full time benefits. Expect more stores to close each year with all the mergers and acquisitions.
You know there are way more schools than necessary and they keep opening more. I know people from the class of 2013 who never found a job.