Do ducks prepare for the winter by gathering supplies from nearby retail outlets? No, they don’t, so it’s not really clear why about fifty ducks reportedly wandered into a CVS drugstore in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and wouldn’t leave until an employee coaxed them out with popcorn. [More]
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Get A Flu Shot, Get A Giant Grocery Or Drug Coupon
By 10.11.13
Retail pharmacies really, really want customers to get their flu shots there this year. How badly? They’re offering giant coupons to customers who get their shots there, ranging from 10% at grocer Safeway to 20% at pharmacy chain CVS. [More]
Why Does CVS Need A HIPAA Waiver To Count How Many Prescriptions You Fill?
By 8.22.13
If you don’t mind trading your shopping history and personal data for free stuff or discounts, loyalty card programs offer some great benefits if you were going to be loyal to a business in the first place. The question is, how much of your privacy are you willing to give up for some discounts? [More]
CVS Carding Customers To Make Sure You’re Removing Nail Polish And Not Making Meth
By 8.9.13
Shoppers are used to whipping out identification for buying booze and even allergy meds these days, but the next time your manicure needs a refresher, you might find yourself getting card at CVS for buying nail polish remover. The pharmacy chain has posted notices to customers in various locations on the East Coast that the company is trying to fight the meth cookers out there who would twist acetone to their illegal doings. [More]
CVS Will Not Carry Issue Of ‘Rolling Stone’ With Boston Bombing Suspect On The Cover
By 7.17.13
The new issue of Rolling Stone magazine has stirred up quite a bit of controversy this days due to the choice of cover subject: Dzhohkar Tsarnaev, the suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, tied in to a profile in the issue detailing his life leading up to the bombing. CVS issued a statement today saying that due to its roots in New England, its store will not be carrying this issue of the magazine. Update: Walgreens will also not be selling the issue. [More]
Customer Sues CVS For Writing Her Name As “Ching Chong” On Receipt
By 4.18.13
How many times do we have to tell the cashiers of America to STOP PUTTING STUPID AND OFFENSIVE NAMES ON CUSTOMERS’ RECEIPTS? Sorry we had to go all-caps on you there, but after all the stories of idiotic name-calling that have gotten employees fired and retailers sued, you’d think people would stop. And yet here we have the story of a CVS customer of Korean descent who is suing the drugstore chain after allegedly being labeled “Ching Chong Lee” on her receipt. [More]
Two Men Stole $1,000 Worth Of Mucinex From A CVS
March 20, 2013
Watch out for shady black-market over-the-counter drug dealers. Police outside of Pennsylvania’s capital are looking for two men who stole $1,000 worth of Mucinex from a CVS store, and who may or may not have one heck of a cough. If that sounds like a lot, it’s not: it’s less than twenty 100-packs. [WHTM] [More]
CVS Employees Must Provide Personal Medical Info Or Pay Higher Insurance Premiums
By 3.20.13
CVS is launching a “voluntary” new program for employees that allows them to avoid paying more for health insurance, if they just share personal medical information — weight, body fat, glucose levels, etc. — with the company. [More]
Target Says It Will No Longer Pressure Pharmacists To Push Auto-Refill Program
By 11.27.12
Last month, we wrote about how a number of pharmacists at chains like CVS, Walgreens, and Target were being pressured by management to put customers into auto-refill programs, which led to some customers being enrolled in the program without their approval. Now Target says that it no longer measures pharmacists’ success by how many people they place into auto-refills. [More]
CVS Marks Up Item $5 For ‘Sale’, Offers $5 In Extrabucks
By 11.16.12
Dave sent us this irresistible deal from pharmacy chain CVS. You can get $5 in Extrabucks rewards currency by buying these Futuro anti-embolism stockings. Not a bad deal if you’re in the market for them, and will remember to come back and use the Extrabucks. This plan has a flaw, though: you only come out 30 cents ahead, because the sale price is $4.70 above regular retail. [More]
How I Saved A Bunch Of Money By Leaving CVS For A Locally Owned Pharmacy
By 11.8.12
Comparison shopping can save you a lot of money, and the difference can be dramatic in the case of prescription drugs. Susan ventured to CVS to fill her first prescriptions after leaving her former employer’s insurance, and was shocked to see that a medication she was used to paying a $10 copay for would cost $54.99 out of her own wallet. This certainly isn’t the biggest prescription sticker shock we’ve ever heard of (or experienced ourselves) but it did motivate Susan to shop around. That’s when she learned that loyalty to a pharmacy doesn’t really pay all that much. She left CVS behind, and now her bank account and her soul are much happier. [More]
CVS Skips Half-Price Halloween Candy, Goes Right To Full-On Christmas
By 11.2.12
Children trick-or-treat to get their Halloween sugar fix, but grown-ups know that November 1st is the day when we clean up, hitting half-price holiday-branded candy sales. That’s what Justin tried to do, and he was horrified when he stopped by CVS to hit the half-price sale and found only Santas and reindeer, as far as the eye could see. Or at least in the seasonal aisle. [More]
Pharmacists Confirm Pressure From Management To Refill Prescriptions Automatically
By 10.25.12
Since we began following the stories of CVS pharmacists who appear to have been pressured into automatically refilling customers’ prescriptions, regardless of whether or not a refill has been requested, we’ve received enough e-mails from from both customers and pharmacists at a number of companies who say these are not isolated incidents. [More]
Armed Robbery Suspect: I Was Mad At Mean Things CVS Worker Said About Another Thief
By 10.19.12
Why would a man allegedly confront a CVS employee with what looked like a handgun and run away? Simple. He says he was mad at the worker for talking smack about some other guy — not him, nope — who had robbed the store weeks before. So, duh, that’s why he came to avenge that other person’s good name who definitely, certainly was not him. Not because he wanted to actually hold up the store. [More]
Documents: CVS Pharmacists Pressured To Put Customers In Auto-Refill Program
By 10.19.12
CVS has repeatedly denied accusations that the drugstore chain pressures its pharmacists into refilling customers’ prescriptions without their consent, but new documents show that the company expects pharmacists to push pharmacy customers into ReadyFill, its auto-refill program. [More]
Has Your Pharmacy Automatically Refilled Your Prescription Without Asking? We Want To Hear From You
By 10.17.12
Since we began covering the allegations that CVS pharmacists are being pressured into automatically filling prescriptions without customers’ consent, we’ve heard from a few readers who have experienced this problem with their pharmacy — not just CVS. We’d like to see just how widespread the issue is, and that’s where y’all come in. [More]
CVS Under Investigation For Automatic Prescription Refill Allegations
By 10.17.12
After leaked e-mails seemed to indicate that at least some people at CVS have been pressuring pharmacists to refill customers’ prescriptions — without the patient’s consent — in order to meet sales quotas, federal and state regulators have begun investigating the drugstore chain. [More]
Florida’s Alleged Serial Used Enema Returner Has Been Apprehended
By 10.15.12
You can purchase disposable saline enemas with confidence: the man in Florida who would purchase, use, and return alarming quantities of them has been apprehended. Though in this context, an “alarming quantity” would be “more than zero.” The man’s federal indictment was just unsealed, and he was charged with, among other things, having “reckless disregard that another person would be placed in danger of death or bodily injury.” [More]
