WalMart: Pharmacy-Inept
Not content with being the most successful retail conglomeration in terms of financial success and customer loyalty due to low-pricing policies and the eradication of local competitors, WalMart is expanding its supermarket-food enterprises in an ongoing effort to put even more of its competitors, if not out of business then certainly on edge.And now WalMart is eager to explore another promising market, that of banking and investment financial services. Just why the consuming public is so welcoming to this marketing colossus is a bit of a puzzle; it is in everyone's best interests, retailers and consumers alike to ensure that the choices of retail outlets offering a wide range of products at a wide range of prices remain vital and healthy.
WalMart does not really offer the consuming public the best value, the best prices, the best services in all instances. No one does. WalMart does offer a standard of consumable goods, reliable pricing and tolerable services. But they're not the only ones that do so, and to continue to create such an agreeable marketing atmosphere for one single retail giant can only be inimical to the future of retailing in general and consumers in particular.
Take just one incident which I'm familiar with. Not that I have experienced it myself, for I prefer not to frequent WalMart, and if I enter their premises once throughout the course of a good year I consider that once too often - but accidents do happen. Here's just a little reminder that things can go awry when one automatically turns to a retailer with a reputation that is part-earned, partly urban myth.
My daughter's partner, an OPP officer, hurt himself quite badly a few years ago. He was attempting to escort a very reluctant individual, heavier and larger than he is, into a holding cell. The man had been brought in for drunk and disorderly conduct. He was violently unwilling to enter the cell and the man of whom I write (let's call him Anon) was forced to hold the cell door open with one arm while attempting with the other to push the man into the cell. In the process exerting himself beyond what his body could endure.
Since that time he has lived with great discomfort, in the vain hope that time would help to heal the wounds he suffered. It was not to be; doctors diagnosed his problem and he joined the ranks of those awaiting elective surgery. He kept putting surgery off, reluctant to submit himself to the further agony of a surgical procedure that would not only in the short run cause great pain to correct his body's injury, but would also have the effect of placing his life on hold through a long recovery period.
Finally the appointed day arrived for his surgical procedure. The night before he had to abstain from food and drink and observe other required niceties. He was admitted to hospital several hours pre-operative, then underwent a series of preparatory practises, was wheeled alongside the operating theatre, waited, and was informed there were no beds available, the operation was to be postponed. The operation was re-scheduled for a month hence.
Again the entire scenario was repeated, but this time the operation was enabled to take place as scheduled. He had been informed pre-operation that recovery time in hospital would be relatively lengthy; he would have to prepare himself for a five to seven day hospital stay, longer if needed. Despite which, he hoped he would be able to leave hospital the day following the operation. That too was not to be. He had mentally prepared himself for the pain that would follow post-operation, but his imagination had been deficient; nothing could have prepared him for the severity of the pain he suffered.
His vital signs were good, he was constantly monitored in recovery, but the pain was so unforgiving that for days his shoulder had to be kept in a nerve-frozen state, and even then the device he had to deliver pain increments of morphine had to be clicked continually to enable him to endure the pain. He hated being in hospital despite the pain and hoped for early release, but it would be six days before he could be released.
His partner was finally able to pick him up and he was discharged, given four prescriptions which would have to be filled at a pharmacy before being taken home. Home was a full one hour's drive from hospital. First stop on leaving hospital was a destination as close to home as possible, and they decided to try the WalMart pharmacy in Kanata. The assistant pharmacist behind the counter observed the obvious pain the man standing before her was in, and said she would try to expedite things, but it would nonetheless be at least twenty minutes before the prescriptions could be filled.
They waited. Our daughter approached the counter when twenty minutes had elapsed to question progress, but was informed they would be required to continue waiting. Ten minutes later, she returned to the counter, but again, nothing was ready. Another ten minutes, during which time Anon was wracked with pain. This time she was informed that two of the prescriptions were for products that they could get over the counter.
And then she was told that the most important of the prescriptions could not be filled there, as the pharmacy did not have that particular drug. Her patience, already sorely tried, ran out and she demanded to speak with the pharmacist. When he appeared she remarked on the unprofessional, uncompassionate service they had received. That she would never venture to return to the store for any reason, as a shopper.
They made their unhappily weary way to a pharmacy not far from the WalMart. This pharmacy, like most others resembling big-box operations, sold gift items, food items, greeting cards, toys, bath and beauty products, fast-food snacks, and linens. But at this pharmacy they waited a scant ten minutes before all four prescriptions were duly filled. The pharmacist listened sympathetically to their outraged tale of ineptness at their previous stop and commented that he had heard similar stories from other shoppers.
Shoppers, beware.
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, October 31, 2006
<< Home