I expect it’s just under promising. When I call in my refills (which are usually literally just slapping a sticker on a box ) I’m told it’ll be 8 hours. They are invariably ready in about an hour.
I call the local guys for refill at 9:00 AM, pick it up when I go to lunch at 11:00 AM.
Perhaps they have less customers than Kroger and Walgreens. Perhaps they are nice people and want to keep their customers. 
At least at the pharmacy I work at, scripts for the next day are the least stressful because we don’t have to worry about whether or not we have it in stock, it gives us time to call the doctor or insurance company if needed and we can work on the script during a less busy period.
A few hours from now means that we still have some time to figure out problems (there are a lot more than you’d realize!) and we can focus first on finishing all of the scripts coming due soon.
10 minutes from now means that we’re crossing our fingers that neither yours nor any of the scripts due ahead of yours will cause any issues because just one person can set the whole queue back 15-20 minutes. Also, the same person at my pharmacy typing in the scripts will need to do this while answering the phone and helping all of the other people dropping off their prescriptions. Good wait times are important because corporate keeps track of the percentage of scripts that get filled by the time they are promised.
We go through all of those questions in that order because if I start off with “When would you like to pick this up?”, the answer is almost always “As soon as possible” or “When can you get it ready by?” even if they don’t plan on coming in until later. 10 minutes just isn’t possible when everyone wants their medications in 10 minutes!
Controlled medications and transfers also require extra time on top of everything.
I hope that clarifies things!
That’s what the local Walmart does too, on its automated system. I don’t understand why you would do anything else. Why bake in a time when you can ask people how soon they need it?
Walgreens was even better–it just asked you what time you wanted to pick it up by, and you dial it in. Too bad other things weren’t so great.
I have the worst of both worlds: Most of the hospitals in Thailand are socialistic, but as a foreigner I’m ineligible for free care — I had an EKG recently at the nearest hospital and almost got it for free, but at some point they noticed I was a foreigner and charged me $8.
The local clinic cleans my wounds, etc. for free — maybe they just don’t know how to bill. At the pharmacy I often have to wait up to four minutes to get my six meds; I spend it browsing their collection of teas.
This! I don’t really get what’s so hard to understand about it (and no, I don’t work in a pharmacy). Sure, they “just” need to slap a sticker on a box/count a few pills … For YOU (IF you’re lucky and there aren’t any doc/insurance issues, supply problems, etc like you said). But YOU aren’t their only customer.
You drop your script off at 3 and they say it’ll be an hour. They probably have a good number of people whose scripts are ahead of you in line and are likely to pick them up in the next half hour or so.
OR things are going decently smoothly but then someone dropping their script off wants the most in-depth consultation ever and is dense as a brick. And rambles, too. So now the pharm* has to take 10-20 minutes making sure BrickHead is all sorted out because god knows you don’t want him/her fucking up (taking the dosage, not telling you every other med they’re on if they aren’t in the system, etc) and then blaming you if there’s an adverse reaction.
OR there are a handful of customers whose doctors’ offices are total incompetent dicks about ever calling the pharmacy back when they need to (refill, answer question, etc). So the pharm regularly has to make several calls every damn time (over several days sometimes!) just to get a response.
OR people who pick up their scripts and BAAAAAAAWWWWWKKK at their copay because THAT ISN’T RIGHT THAT IS HIGHWAY ROBBERY WHAT SCAM ARE YOU TRYING TO PULL I HAVE INSURANCE. Then the pharm has to try to explain brand name vs generic or that they’re thinking of their previous insurance’s copays or they don’t even know how insurance works and thought it’d be no cost or whatever.
OR walk-ins arrive who aren’t in the system and don’t have their insurance info with them. But they get pissed at the idea they need to either get the info or pay full price for their script.
And so on.
And this doesn’t include the long list of problem-free scrips that also need to be filled by the end of the day and there SHOULD be enough time but if there’s too many more of the above complications …
And ALL of this is going on as you drop your scrip off.
- I’m using pharm to mean either a pharmacist or pharmacy tech.
As zweisamkeit pointed out there is much more going on in a pharmacy than what the patients realize. Pharmac* have spent the last 30 years making filling a prescription look easy to the waiting customers. aceplace57 should get a job working at a pharmacy then he/she would understand that it’s much more than slapping a label on a bottle or box.
Before I changed insurance, I used the HMO’s online pharmacy. It was great; I got a 3 month supply of my contraceptive pill in one package.
My new plan means I have to go to the pharmacy every 3 weeks! Luckily its right beside the supermarket where I usually shop, or I’d be kicking up more stink.
No, I’m sorry, but the American system is messed up and frankly, primitive. I mean, scrips filled out by hand? Calling doctors to verify? You may not have heard about them, but we have these things called com-poo-ters. Verifying a scrip here is no more complicated than swiping a card and scanning a bar code on the standardized computer-printed forms. I get my prescriptions filled in under 90 seconds, and about half of that time involves opening and closing those really long drawers.
Sorry about the rant. It’s just that I’ve always found America to be a very service-oriented country - to its credit. I don’t understand why this approach seems to exclude the medical industry.
May I suggest using the auto-refill? I use Kroger and it works well for me. Before you run out of pills, you’ll get a robocall saying your prescription is ready. Easy-peasy.
Most of the issues that require calling the doctor to verify involve issues like “prescription is for cholesterol med X, but patient is also taking Y for blood pressure and there’s a nasty interaction.” Pharmacists can’t change a prescription, but if they let something through with a known bad interaction they can still be held liable if they don’t double and triple check with the doctor. That can’t be verified by swiping a card or scanning a bar code.
A “com-poo-ter” can’t replace a “farm-dee” or an “im-dee.”