pharmacy technician

cashier

deli associate

cashier/stocker

courtesy associate

Discount Drug Mart, Inc.

      I am incredibly disappointed with the complete lack of training and patience from management at Discount Drug Mart. Tasks are not clearly explained, leaving new employees to figure things out on their own without any prior knowledge or experience. There’s an assumption that you should just know how to do things, even when they’ve never been taught or demonstrated. This creates a frustrating and unproductive work environment where mistakes are inevitable and avoidable with proper guidance. The absence of structured training and support from management shows a lack of care for employee development and success. 

       This poor treatment is especially evident for newer and elderly workers, as it stands in stark contrast to the way other employees, particularly those in management or close to management, are treated. These individuals seem to receive preferential treatment, with more patience, flexibility, and understanding afforded to them. Meanwhile, newer and elderly workers are left to fend for themselves with little to no guidance, creating a clear divide in how employees are valued. This double standard fosters a toxic work environment where favoritism is apparent, leaving those outside the inner circle feeling disregarded and undervalued. It’s demoralizing to see such unequal treatment, which only deepens the frustration and dissatisfaction among those who are already struggling to adjust or keep up.

        Discount Drug Mart has a habit of scheduling far too many people on register all the way until close, which makes the shifts extremely boring and unproductive once all tasks are completed. Instead of allowing employees to find constructive ways to pass the time, we are left standing idly with nothing meaningful to do. There is nothing to do besides walk around non-stop, as rest periods are not allowed unless you bring a doctor’s note to management. Even during long stretches of customer absence, sometimes lasting hours, employees are still expected to be constantly moving, which adds unnecessary physical strain and frustration to an already inefficient system.
       Although weekly pay is nice, and for the most part, scheduling preferences are respected, those are really the only pros of working at Discount Drug Mart. The employee discount is minimal and poorly designed, as it’s entirely tied to their customer rewards card rather than being a true benefit for staff. This setup feels less like a perk and more like a way to force employees into the same system as regular customers, making it seem thoughtless and uninspired.

Overall the store is okay as a summer job or a job while your at college.  It's lowest pay for hard work and the management doesn't work with you when you need time off for something important.  To them the store comes first and employees are in last place of importance.  My store has 2 to 5 people quit almost every quarter and its always due to mistreatment. 

the work is hard but its made harder by the fact that you do not get advancement or realistic raises no matter how long you have worked there and the management expands your responsibilities so that they can have you do more without paying someone else to hired. Like you do 2 jobs at once for only 1 pay check both entry positions.

I would not recommend working here with the goal of staying longer than 2 years tops.  Even Walmart paid more than Drug Mart and you had the ability to get a raise eventually if you work there long enough, at DDM you don't. A fellow stock employee of mine has worked there for 7 years now and he makes only 4 cents more than me... means if he stays there 20 years he may  make a whole 10 cents more than minimum wage.  not work the time and effort the store makes you go through.

I have worked in stock for 20 years and its the lowest I've ever been paid even back in 1997 I was making $8.50 an hour without any experience in the field.  Now with not only 12 years experience in stock civilian side but 7 years of it military side as a 92A working in the warehouse and receiving I make the lowest pay of my life with a $7.98 an hour minimum wage.

I do my job well, finishing 8 hours worth of work in 3 hours and 20 minutes.  Most times I have to find other things to do to keep myself busy and I do my job so well that he started giving me other responsibilities like a 2nd position which I don't get paid additionally for but do just as well.

I've learned that doing things well and working hard is actually a bad thing. you get more to do without any rewards or pay, management sees you as a tool to use until you are broken or worn then replaces you when you are no longer willing to be used.  

My co-workers are never the same people my store is a revolving door with employees that quit when they finally see how they are being used.

The hardest part of my job is standing the full 6 to 8 hours a day on my leg I disabled in the military before I'm forced to walk home 4 miles to get home because I can't even afford a car on my paycheck.

The most enjoyable part of my job helping customers. Getting them what they need and making sure they don't have to run all over to do it.

my former job with DDM was great for 18yrs, all of a sudden all 2 managers quit, followed by key carrier quitting also. we then started losing good employees. we received a new manager, plus a new assistant manager, plus key carrier. rules that were allowed to be commonly set in some stores by the managers were changed without notice or meetings. there was no communication with former employees that were left. most of them quit or were forced to quit one way or the other, and some were terminated unjustified. we were a good team,, with customers who loved us and the former management. things changed over the past year, and I being there the longest was getting constant complaints from customers about what was going on in the store. I tried to be decent with my answers, but truthfully I didn't like lying to my regular customers. things became very difficult in all aspects of my job I loved so much, I really didn't quite know what to do. I only have 5-7 years left before I could actually retire or go to part time. the stress level became very difficult and hard to deal with. I was more or less forced to leave my job. we were a like a happy family for many years and I loved working there and looked forward to seeing my customers everyday. my customers knew how to make me smile or laugh, and so did former management know matter the mood one of us employee's might have been in. we had good times, holidays were great working there, even though u were not at home with your family, u kind of felt good anyway because we all as a team enjoyed working and being together!!

A typical day at work depends on what day it is, which shift I'm working, and which department I'm in. If it is morning on register 1/1 Hour Photo, it is usually a slow business day at work, where I use my downtime to clean up after night shift and restock shelves. But business does tend to pick up after 10:30 A.M., where I am able assist customers with the needs they are looking for and to ring their items out. I have learned a variety of items from working at Drug Mart, such as, how to talk to customers in an appropriate manner and not stay quiet. I used to be an introvert, but now I love communicating with my customers and listening to them. Management was very helpful and rewarding when they noticed you go above and beyond. Workplace culture was a very loving and open environment. At this Drug Mart location, every employee is happy and smiling at all times, even on bad days. I would include every co-worker of mine, somewhat of a family to me. The hardest part of the job would have to be knowing how to resolve a problem and let the customer leave happy. I could accomplish calming down the customer, but it was hard for me to find a way to make the customer happy again after being angry. The most enjoyable part of the job would be getting to be in different departments. I had the privilege of being trained in most of the departments of the store, so when I was needed, I was able to work that department for a few hours. I liked the challenge of being trained and having it new to me, and I also liked being able to do something different in the week, rather than the same thing every day.

Drug mart is overall not a good place to work. They are so proud to announce that it is an employee owned company but treat their employees HORRIBLY. The vacation is common, one week after a year, etc. Insurance is EXTREMELY expensive and covers hardly anything so a good 40-50% of your weekly paychecks will go to insurance if you choose to use it. Management at most stores is horrible both store side and pharmacy. Regular store associates and pharmacy techs are usually pretty nice. They give you problems if you are sick and off even with a doctors note. If you have anything going on and need a personal day or need to take the day/days off, prepare for backlash. You are expected to do so much for so little pay. You are treated like just another number for their company and it’s obvious. If you aren’t doing everything in your power to make them an extra dollar you are treated poorly. Also, you better hope nothing ever happens to you at the workplace because if you contact anyone in the corporate office or corporate position, you will be assured that something will be done and it’s all just empty words and promises. They will do nothing and the person who did whatever it was that they did will walk away free with no punishment. Just save yourself and do not work for this company. In my 7 years here, 98% of it was awful and I regret staying and putting up with the drama and never ending poor treatment for too long. 

I've been with this company at this store for 26 years. Except for my original chief pharmacist (he's retired) all of my pharmacist have been great at working around kids needs, family stuff, and emergency situations. We honestly operate like a little family back there. We are a busy high volume 4 pharmacist store. This means it's very rarely ever slow and we are constantly multitasking.  It's noisy, can sometimes be overwhelming, and you do have to stand for your entire shift. The hours aren't terrible as we don't open until 9 and we close at 9 on weekdays and 6 on weekends. However we are open every day except Christmas. 
  The pay is low. Like seriously. Most of the truly aggravating things about the job are corporate level things that can't be helped. And patients can be a handful at times. 
  Also the health insurance is hard to get and keep if your hours fluctuate as they only offer it if you have 32 hours or more and will be stopped if you drop below that.  Everything is done quarterly. Also raises are once yearly and they are meger to say the least.  Which is truly unfortunate because I feel as retail pharmacys go DDM is one of the better chains as far as everything else goes. But if you are the sole earner or hoping to seriously supplement your household budget this is not the place for that. 
  Overall I like my job as the work environment is good, my bosses are caring, supportive, and try to listen to my issues.  The only truly bad part is the pay and that they only offer insurance to full time employees. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
The people, some of the customers were absolute angels. My coworkers were great as well

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
When lines would get to the back of the store, there’s only 2 registers running, we would call others up to help, and they wouldn’t come, and or they would throw a huge fit about having to come help. 
Getting in trouble by management for something I have no control over.
The managers picking favorites. 
Never having enough help from coworkers.
Doing jobs that is not in my job description.


What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
No culture… 
The environment is alright, just some toxic people that talk smack about you and then act all nice when you’re around

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Clock in at 9, put my drawer into the register, get my breaker sheet sorted, clean my register, have it prepared if there’s a rush and they need my help, then I’d work on returns, once those are done I would clean the break room, and then start the employees breaks at 10:30AM.
After their breaks, I take mine. Then I start there 15 min breaks after that. By the time all their breaks are done, it’s about 3:30PM. Then I use that remaining time to help out with the lines, or continue putting returns away until I leave, at 4:00PM.

Generally you'd go into work knowing what you had to do, and it was nice having that foreknowledge. As long as you have the right kind of personality, customers weren't difficult to deal with, and everyone was understanding if you got pulled away from your duties to help someone out.

It's not a super stressful environment, and a great first job for someone still in or just out of high school. They teach you useful skills, and are willing to give you opportunities to learn and advance yourself. The major drawback however is that they tend not to compensate for added responsibility. This tends to lead to a high turn over rate as the people doing most of the work are paid the same as new employees with no extra duties.

Management is hit or miss. Managers could care about the bottomline, and expect too much from employees without compensating them, or they could be very pro-employee, and take care of them to the best of their abilities, keeping in mind they have to appease their boss too. It all depends on the personality of whoever is in charge.

I can't speak for other locations but where I worked the employees were treated poorly. I was promoted to the head of a department after 2 years and i ran it for a full year without a raise. There are people that have worked there for 10 years that make minimum wage and still don't know their schedule until a day before the week starts. The manager was verbally abusive and in spite of being talked to by corporate numerous times- was never disciplined.  Yearly raises were about 2 dollars DIVIVIDED amongst the whole staff so if you were lucky you got a dime. Schedules were manipulated to keep employees from getting full time benefits. Understandably,  a revolving door. I trained 40 to 50 people over the course of 7 years and I was just a cashier. Never received acknowledged or advancement in spite of learning even department and training most of the staff. Employees that requested management training were given extra responsibilities and shifted around the company without ever actually given management positions. Would never go back. 

it's a fun company, most of times it's cool except they have a real(self proclaimed) witch there and when people call off it gets hairy, but my head boss is really nice. 

also the customers are sometimes in a bad mood and have unrealistic expectations etc. but then sometimes they are really nice and I see some friends there. The way they handle cash in drawer can be cumbersome although I do know why they do it I just wish they had a better system so I'm not always counting money rather than doing actual transactions.

 I wished I could've just logged out of my till and just go. also if your replacement doesn't show and you have somewhere to be you might as well forget it because they make you stay over at least 10 mins or more! 

also their table for a breakroom is in the stockroom by...weed killer! (they have limited space though) 

most of the co workers are friendly usually they're helpful but not necessarily any more than that maybe it's different for others. 
Better than other companies but some things are lacking. 

some days I love it and everything is just right and I forget the problems, other days not so much! 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Pharmacy technician 125 salaries reported	$15.06 per hour
Cashier 79 salaries reported	$11.99 per hour
Deli associate 19 salaries reported	$13.24 per hour
Cashier/stocker 74 salaries reported	$11.81 per hour
Courtesy associate 5 salaries reported	$13.48 per hour

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