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We’ve moved away from them to a pharmacy in a local grocery store. IDK WTF is wrong with CVS, but they always seem to have 4-6 people working but can’t process

We’ve moved away from them to a pharmacy in a local grocery store. IDK WTF is wrong with CVS, but they always seem to have 4-6 people working but can’t process more than 40 customers an hour, between the window and the line inside. I’ve read comments from people who’ve worked there who claim CVS chronically understaffs the pharmacy, but god, they always seem to have a lot of folks behind the counter, so I guess their processes must be incredibly inefficient. And if you know for a fact you need to ask someone there a quick question, there is no way to do that over the phone without going through one of the most hostile phone trees I’ve ever experienced. Say, if you need to ask if they’ve got some drug in stock before telling your doctor to send it there (why the everloving fuck customers have to do this seems-like-it-should-be-automated labor themselves is another question—but we do, and CVS makes it about as unpleasant as possible)

imglorp 3y ago
Recently, they switched to outsourcing some kind of tasks normally done by the in-pharmacy staff. Last time I was in there, the 5-6 people were standing around while they "waited for the cloud to catch up".
- hotnfresh 3y ago
  I swear to god, heavy computerization has been a net-negative in 90% of business cases, and it’s only because it’s been extremely beneficial in the other 10% that we have fooled ourselves into thinking it’s a generally-good idea.
  - jaybrendansmith 3y ago
    It's a bold statement but I think it would be highly worthy of analysis. For example, while I like that I can search easily for better flights, it seems like the airlines have gamified the entire process, and it feels like just calling a travel agent was much easier way back when, and did not cost more. But is that true? Same goes for customer support ... how maddening is email support and offshore support. Isn't chat support much worse than just calling a human? Has all of this automation really made things holistically better? Is it easier now to be a human than it was in 1980? Or is it actually much worse ... are we living in a technology dystopia?
    - imglorp 3y ago
      Right, it's not the computerization, it's the gamification, or to put a name on it - cost accounting. In both the pharmacy and travel examples, the computer workflow was a huge win for everyone until the investors demanded growth every quarter, forever. As soon as society imparts that requirement, the customer becomes the enemy, to be out maneuvered and anything spent on them minimized "at all costs."
      - jaybrendansmith 3y ago
        "The customer becomes the enemy". Perfect...that's how I feel more and more often these days.

imglorp 3y ago

Recently, they switched to outsourcing some kind of tasks normally done by the in-pharmacy staff. Last time I was in there, the 5-6 people were standing around while they "waited for the cloud to catch up".

hotnfresh 3y ago
I swear to god, heavy computerization has been a net-negative in 90% of business cases, and it’s only because it’s been extremely beneficial in the other 10% that we have fooled ourselves into thinking it’s a generally-good idea.
- jaybrendansmith 3y ago
  It's a bold statement but I think it would be highly worthy of analysis. For example, while I like that I can search easily for better flights, it seems like the airlines have gamified the entire process, and it feels like just calling a travel agent was much easier way back when, and did not cost more. But is that true? Same goes for customer support ... how maddening is email support and offshore support. Isn't chat support much worse than just calling a human? Has all of this automation really made things holistically better? Is it easier now to be a human than it was in 1980? Or is it actually much worse ... are we living in a technology dystopia?
  - imglorp 3y ago
    Right, it's not the computerization, it's the gamification, or to put a name on it - cost accounting. In both the pharmacy and travel examples, the computer workflow was a huge win for everyone until the investors demanded growth every quarter, forever. As soon as society imparts that requirement, the customer becomes the enemy, to be out maneuvered and anything spent on them minimized "at all costs."
    - jaybrendansmith 3y ago
      "The customer becomes the enemy". Perfect...that's how I feel more and more often these days.