sometimes it's the little things like 5 minutes of their time that can really make the difference.

Yes, but people usually go into robot mode, recite the instructions while avoiding eye contact. That's not helpful, because its impossible to pay attention to someone rambling as fast as possible while deciding whether they want plain or sour cream and onion chips on their lunch break.

When I moved to my new apartment, I switched pharmacies to the one in the local grocery store. They sent me a thank-you card in the mail, as well as a magnet and a few freebies. I was all gung-ho about using them forever and ever until I found out that Sam's Club had my prescription for about $20 cheaper.

Sometimes personal touches can't make up for raw savings.

I normally get my prescription drugs elsewhere, but I got an antibiotic one time at Walgreens and they were super nice. Unfortunately, there are about four grocery stores between me and Walgreens so I rarely go.

@Carolyn Gabriel: As far as I know there aren't any Sam's Clubs here in the Pacific Northwest, so I don't know, but do they have a membership fee? I've heard them likened to Costco.

As a manager for Nordstrom our employees are asked to do the same, which is nice. Except when you purchase a shitload of stuff and don't want your significant other to find out but they do when you receive 4(four!!) handwritten thank you notes in the same day. This customer was not amused and asked us to not send anymore.

The Drycleaner I work for makes an effort to send every new customer a hand written postcard during their first month of service. We were unsure if it would work at first, it did not seem like much, however we have noticed it does make a difference on people choosing to use us again. It's the little things (As long as you have your big things in shape too!)

We've recently gotten hand-written thank you notes from the mechanic who worked on my fiancé's car, and from the customer service person at the bank who helped us open our new joint account.

It's a small thing to do but it definitely keeps us both inclined to keep giving those businesses our, well, business.

@ajlei: Sams club is a similar model to costco- except they're owned by walmart, so their policies aren't as consumer friendly (with returns and whatnot).

And instead of only taking Amex, they only take discover.

But for bulk purchases, if you don't have a costco nearby, they can't be beat.

@undefined: @ajlei: Yes, it's a similar warehouse concept. However, by law, membership clubs must allow non-members to use their pharmacies.

@ajlei: They do, but in this case the yearly membership fee was less than the difference in cost of the prescription. $50/month at the grocery, $26/month at Sam's with an annual $100 fee. Plus we got a ton of freebies for Sam's with the membership, like free photo prints and a gift cert towards travel.

@EarlNowak: mine [sam's club] takes mastercard too, but visa only as a debit, not as credit. i keep getting surveys from them about whether i am satisfied with their options to pay though, so they might be looking to expand what they accept

I believe that this was a marketing stunt. Walgreens is too busy buying up ShopRites in my neigborhood to do this.

There's a lesson to be learned for business owners here. The ROI for little gestures like this can be great for business.

That's really nice to see. Handwriting, much less handwritten thank you notes, have gone the way of the dodo bird what with this newfangled email an' stuff. Doesn't change the fact that I'll never set foot in a Walgreen's again after they lost my physician's approval for a refill (which we confirmed they did indeed receive) and then accused me of prescription medication abuse and theft. Higher management was contact and hilarity ensued. Rumor has it a firing took place. Still didn't satisfy me. Had the offender committed hari-kiri in front of me, a la Monty Python skit style, then I might have been satisfied.

That's a helluva lot better than the shitty way a Walgreen's pharmacist treated me last year!
I brought in a script & was told it would be ready in 20 minutes.
40 minutes later I was told they didn't have it in stock.
Calling Walgreen's HQ in Deerfield didn't get me any satisfaction either.
I haven't been in one of their stores in 8 months now & won't go back ever!

Despite how inept Walgreens is I've been going to the Pharmacy for years - and find the folks there professional and competent.

They know be by name (I'm type 1 diabetic so visit monthly) and even through I have to trudge through the disaster that constitutes their store I really like the RX.

@Darrone:
Yep. The last time I had to get a script filled, it was at my local CVS, and the "pharmacist" there acted really irritated that I was asking questions about the medication and possible interactions with other things. In fact, the information she gave me turned out to be incorrect. I was less than amused.

@Greasy Thumb Guzik: The same exact thing happened to me while I was picking up very important medicine for my mother right before closing time. I had to drive 5 miles to the next Walgreens to get it, and I only had 10 minutes to do it. Needless to say I dont recommend Walgreends anymore. They were also very rude.

@ajlei: Legally they cannot stop you from using the pharmacy even if you are not a member. Tell them at the door that you need to use the pharmacy and they have to let you in and serve you at the same cost as a member would pay.

@jklug80: That may be true (I honestly don't know) but I don't think they're then legally required to give the discount if you're not a member. Without the membership discount, my prescription would actually be higher than the grocery's price.

@ajlei: You can get prescriptions filled (drugs or eyeglasses) at Costco or Sam's Club even if you don't have a membership. It's the law everywhere. And if you're in the vicinity of one of these places and want to eat food samples some afternoon and you don't have a membership, just tell the card-checker at the door that you need to go to the pharmacy or optometrist.

@Carolyn Gabriel: I should clarify: there are two levels of membership at play. The regular level, and the plus level. The plus level is what gets me the discount.

I had a great pharmacist. I could walk in and walk out with the prescription in five minutes (my local Walgreen's is typically 2-5 hours minimum); they knew me and would make small talk so that it was more like a social interaction than a business transaction. The pharmacist once caught a potential interaction without even looking at my records, just looking at the prescription and saying, "Wait, aren't you on __ as well? You shouldn't mix those - let's check."

In early February my son and I were both sick with the flu. When I took my son's prescription in, I found out that insurance (recently changed by his father) was borkd, and they were denying payment. I asked the clerk how much it was to just pay it; it was more than $100. I asked him what I could get over the counter that would help until I got the insurance fixed. The pharmacist came out, got a quick rundown of the situation, handed me the medicine, and said, "Here - now you go home and rest. Take it, you come back when you're better and we'll figure it out and bill the insurance then. I know you're good for it - go lie down and get some rest." When I called the next day to say that the insurance had been straightened out but I was too sick to come sign for it and pay for it, he said, teasingly, "Why are you calling me? You're supposed to be resting! Go back to bed!"

I told everyone I knew what an absolute wonder he was, and how they should all start using his pharmacy instead of the Big-Name Impersonal Chains, how awesome it was to get personal service from someone who cares. I actually choked up a few times, retelling the story, thinking how dreadful I'd felt and how kind it was for him to treat me like a friend instead of an untrustworthy stranger.

About a month later, he was arrested for insurance fraud and numerous variations on the "supplying drugs illegally" theme, including "provid[ing] substantial quantities of pseudoephedrine to an undercover agent, when [the pharmacist] was told it would be used to manufacture methamphetamine." When they executed the warrant to search his house, they allegedly brought in a TANK. (High walls around the house, I guess they thought they might have to bulldoze their way in or something.)

Sooo, I'm back to using Walgreen's again. I wish my Walgreen's would send thank-you notes; it's the least they can do for making me wait six hours for a refill.

My wife's dermatologist sent us the exact same thing: a hand-written thank you note a few days after her initial appointment.

Unfortunately, they determined the strange bump she wanted checked was probably cancer and they should immediately do a biopsy. No, don't wait to see if our insurance covers it. No, don't take a few minutes to discuss the procedure. No, don't even ask if my wife has any medical conditions that could react to the anesthetic. Oh, and be sure to hassle her when she declines, don't let her out of the room without making a follow-up appointment, and also try to sell some skin care products on the way out.

Don't get me wrong. Thank you notes are marvelous things to receive, but I place more stock in the actual service. I hope any company reading through The Consumerist doesn't add "Thank You Note" to their list of customer relations tools above common-sense things like "Customer Empathy" and "Quality Service."

There are two places I shop that routinely send me these form-letter thank-you notes, and I really don't find it that impressive. The employee is almost certainly forced to write the notes by their employer, and I just feel sorry for them for having their time wasted. An impersonal (yes, just because it's hand-written with my name at the top doesn't make it personal) note has no bearing on whether I patronize their establishment... even a personal note wouldn't cause me to return somewhere that dissatisfied me.

@EarlNowak: The SAMS Club in Greenville SC takes all major credit cards, cash and checks. Their membership fee is cheaper than Costco. I use them for all of my bulk purchases.

Also, when the PTA at my daughters school was looking into getting a membership at either Costco or Sams Club, Costco would not budge on their membership fee for a business and Sams gave them a membership for 4 people for $40. Huge savings.

Tsubasa : Guess you'll never be successful with a customer based business.
That small gesture almost certainly guarantees that customer will be returning with his money in tow to spend at Walgreens.

Guess you failed Business 101 class.

@bibliophibian: Holy crap!

Why couldn't have been nice to legit customers without being helpful to crooks too?

As a former employee of a credit union (teller), I had a minimum number of "Thank you" cards to send every month. For every 5 that I wrote above the minimum 5, I would get entered into a drawing for a $5 gift card from Starbucks.

I'm not overly impressed by thank you cards; after I left, my former co-workers would randomly send my husband and I cards if they were short on their quota for the month.

We use Longs and always have some issue; usually the MD will call/fax the prescription in and when we arrive an hour later they're "just starting" on it.

Every time.

@Carolyn Gabriel:

I've never, ever seen a discount on prescription drugs anywhere, ever.

I'm assuming that's no because pharmacies hate advertising... I'm assuming it's the law. :)

Oh boy, now every store/pharmacy is gonna start doing this.

I've had great experiences with our local Walgreens, consistently across multiple stores and for many years. One of my favored retailers. YMMV - maybe it's a regional thing.

I love getting a handwritten thank you note. They're acknowledging that I made a choice in doing business with them. It actually makes no difference to me if it's company policy: I can appreciate the time they spent on me without requiring that it be their favorite daily to-do.

The local Walgreens pharmacist was so kind to my mother when my father died. They knew her because she was always in there picking up his prescriptions. The pharmacist and his staff sent a card that they all signed. She really appreciated their thoughtfulness.

Of course that was in a relatively small town. The Walgreens in my area is a madhouse and I wouldn't expect them to remember my face let alone express sympathy for a personal loss.

I use the Target pharmacy near my house, and everyone that works there knows my name. On the one hand, it's kind of nice, but on the other hand it's kind of creepy that I use their service so much that they remember me. Still, it's nice to go in and they call me by name.

On top of that, I recently went through some serious medical issues, and was down in the dumps, and the pharmacy manager told me that if I ever just needed to talk, just come in and see him for a chat. To me, that is going above and beyond the call of duty. A big hats off to the pharmacy staff at the Millerville Rd. Target in Baton Rouge, LA.

@bibliophibian: What a heartwarming story! Oh, wait...

My husband has received a couple of thank you cards from our local independent mechanic, who services his car (and mine too, sometimes), with a 10 or 15% discount off our next service (with no expiration), when they know we're likely to come back anyway (and spend the full amount), due to something that needs to be fixed. They're always friendly and honest, and tell us whether something is important enough to need to be fixed immediately, or if it can wait / will do no harm. They were also nice enough to let me drop in on my way home from work on the day I was rear ended, so I could get them to check for any damage that I couldn't see, since my untrained eye couldn't tell, even though if I had collision damage it wouldn't get them any business. They charged nothing for my peace of mind, but they gained an even more loyal customer (who had a stiff neck!).

That is good business. Kudos

@Crystal Wojcinski: When I moved to Knoxville, TN from middle Tennessee, I had to get a few things dry-cleaned. First, I tried the cleaners just down the road (since I could walk there), but they were quite rude both times I visited. Next, I tried one further down from me; they were nice, but very slow. Finally, I tried another one simply because I needed to get something done right away, and they were the only place open that early. They were very nice, and I received a thank-you card a few days after. Although I haven't needed to get anything cleaned since, I will definitely choose them next time.

Seems that the chain pharmacies are agressively pursuing prescription drug customers -- mostly stealing them from each other.

My CVS calls me when I don't renew prescriptions.

Walgreens (or is it Rite-Aid) is offering up to $100 rebate for transfering prescriptions to then and keeping them there for a while.

Target got our name from a single prescription filled last summer and is now marketing to us.

This is big business, folks, especially for those of us with insurance. We're pretty valued customers. Now... how to capitalise on this?

@Darrone: I think that anyone who hasn't worked in a pharmacy doesn't have any room to talk about it. I worked as a technician, trying to see if I wanted to be a pharmacist. Got out after 3 months because it is literally constant stress--you are always behind in filling prescriptions, no matter what.

Now whenever I go to a pharmacy I understand that 15 minutes really means 45, and I'm fine with that because I know what they're going through.

I just got a $5 off coupon from Walgreens because I transferred my prescriptions to another pharmacy. Thanks for the thought, but waiting over an hour for a Px is unacceptable in my book. Especially when a Px is Advair, it doesn't even need to be counted.

I've never used Walgreens for prescriptions but I shop there a lot. They have good sales on makeup and hair color and sometimes this lavender soap I love.

My pharmacy is at Dillons grocery store and they know me because I'm in there every month. They are great about getting my refill quickly whenever I go in (thyroid medicine and BC). I try to call it in, but sometimes I just can't. The pharmacists are very nice, but sometimes the techs are a little stiff.

My Walgreens is very competent. My partner goes to a competing pharmacy because it is right beside his work, well his brother goes there too. My partner has been given his brothers prescription, which is Phenobarbital, a barbiturate and can be very dangerous, he was lucky that he wasn't taking the drug in our dimly lit bathroom, he noticed that the pill didn't look the same. This same pharmacy has messed up his brother's prescription by under dosing him causing him to slur his speech. This pharmacy does nothing to confirm identity when giving out prescriptions.

Makes me appreciate Walgreens so much.

I once went into a CVS store somewhere in Akron on a trip to see my great-grandmother. I noticed some pictures on the wall near their pharmacy. Had to be well over 1000. I asked what they were to one of the workers. They said it was pictures of people who the pharmacist had been taking care of for years. Who brought their kids in. Who then brought their kids in when they got old enough. Wierd to see that kind of family loyalty out of a retail pharmacy chain.

this is why i've chosen walgreens for years.

"Thank you for choosing Walgreens for your recent prescription. We hope you will continue to use Walgreens for all your pharmacy needs...now can I show you my boobs?"

@shepd: It's because pharmacies don't mark up the prices of their drugs very much. The only way places like CVS and Walgreens make any profit on their Rx side is because they do so much volume. If they lowered their prices even a little, they would start taking a loss.

Even if their front of store services are doing well (Photo makes a killing for them)they can't really afford to start losing money on prescription sales due to the volume.