Thursday, December 30, 2021

Employee Shortages... Walgreens... Shortages... Virus... Inflation...



My doctor called in some prescriptions for me last Wednesday to Walgreens. They were not filled until yesterday. It took seven days to get my prescriptions filled . I started to wonder what was going on , so I tried calling Walgreens a couple of times and I was told that the pharmacy was closed and was given no other information by the automated voice on the other end of the phone.

I finally received notice via text that my prescriptions were ready for pick up yesterday. I really needed to pick them up before our next snowstorm came through, so Number One called to make sure that the drive-thru would be open. He was told that it was open by a call center employee. We didn't think that it would be a good idea to go into a pharmacy under the circumstances. When I got there the drive-thru was closed and I was forced to go inside. Luckily,  I was able to get in and out in record time. 

Apparently, Walgreens closed last Tuesday without notice according to the news story due to employee shortages. The story continued by saying that you could go to another Walgreens to pick up prescriptions, but that wasn't the case. A pharmacist at the closed Walgreens has to okay the transfer and since they weren't there to okay it people were not able to get their prescriptions transferred by any means. 

This is a potentially deadly scenario for many people who rely on drugs to stabilize or prevent fatal events like heart attacks or strokes. I'm sure people had to call their doctor to get another prescription called in to another pharmacy to prevent such tragedies from occurring. 

Some industries like banking are regulated and are not allowed to be closed over three days. Is money more important than life saving drugs? I'm afraid that we are going to see more disruptions like this in the near future. 

I did notice that McDonalds had their lobby open when I drove by. Last time it was closed. I'm not even sure if the drive-thru was open since there were no cars lined up.  

I wanted to also share my last grocery order pick-up. I couldn't get most of my order filled at Sam's, so I opted for a smaller grocery store. When I picked up my order there was no chicken, so I masked up and went inside. They had three whole chickens and two packs of drumsticks. That's it. I wanted split chicken breasts. I noticed that they had a large area of marked down meats. I guess people are not buying meat due to the higher prices. They did have three packs of split chicken breasts marked down, so I was able to get them. They were enormous. Turkey sized breasts. I froze them as soon as I got home until I am ready to use them. We like them grilled, but we are under a fire ban. I'm not sure what I will do with them other than stretch them as far as I can across several meals. 

I also could not get our turkey breakfast sausage and the turkey links were up $4 a package. Now, lets due the math. There are 12 small links in each package divide that by $5.99 that equals .50 a link. I think that it is a 6 oz package. That's about $15 a pound. Ouch! They proudly profess a new lower price on the sign. I guess that they cannot do the math or think that we won't. 

I was able to find onions and potatoes for a decent price. They substituted smaller bags of potatoes for the larger bags. I read a news article last week that stated that we would start to see shortages in produce in the coming weeks. 

Since we are seeing a massive increase in virus cases I can only assume that we will start seeing factories shut their doors once again leading to more shortages at the grocery store. There is absolutely nothing we can do about this situation except take every precaution to stay safe. 


I am deeply saddened by the pain and suffering that people are having to endure. I pray that you all will be safe, healthy and comforted in the days to come. I don't think that there is one person that has not experience the loss of a friend or family member during this global pandemic. 

Mrs. Smith


      

 


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