Pros
Working as a pharmacy technician part-time is a great job for students and pays relatively well compared to other part-time jobs. I chose to work at CVS over their competitors because they are an industry leader and take lots of initiative. For example, CVS diversifies its income (i.e. Caremark merger, Longs acquisition, beauty store openings, walk-in clinics), offers access to patient history through their website, and offers some products that are not available at competitor locations (i.e. CO Q10 gummy vitamins). All employees, regardless of P/T or F/T, receive a discount on store merchandise as well as CVS stock purchases via payroll deduction. Also, if your store's department is one of the top performing departments in the district, which is assessed through customer phone surveys, every employee in that department gets a $5 or $10 gift card for the month. Pharmacy and front store are assessed separately which is good since the pharmacy tends to know the customers better. For pharmacy technicians, CVS will pay for the national certification test (~$200 value). Other P/T benefits include an optional (mediocre) health care plan (which is different from the F/T one) and corporate discounts. I was able to get a discount on my monthly cell phone plan. F/T benefits include paid vacation, a 5% 401k company contribution, yearly bonuses, and stock options (but only for managers and pharmacists I believe). Personal experiences are going to vary depending on the store. The majority of the employees at my store were pleasant to work with and made it fun. Also, I never felt stressed at work, even in the pharmacy. I attribute this to the great pharmacy staff as well as to our store volume and hours (NOT open 24 hours - it looks like a nightmare to work at one!). Also, the pharmacy manager wrote the schedule and was very understanding about taking time off for school and personal reasons. This may have been just at our store, but the pharmacist allowed the techs to leave during their shift to pick up lunch for everyone. Finally, the pharmacy does not have any obligations to the front store so if you work in the pharmacy, you do not have to help the front store stock shelves, organize the stock room, or clean bathrooms!
Cons
One of the biggest issues that irked me was the training programs (or lack thereof) for new hires and for patient programs that were recently introduced. When you first start, they give you training CDs, but trust me, you won't remember anything you learn from them. Training in the store is very unstructured and learning how to do anything is dependent on your personal ability as well as the ability of the other employees. I thought this was particularly dangerous in the pharmacy. Even though I have worked at CVS for well over a year, I still feel like there is a lot I don't know. Also, the computer system is archaic, though CVS has developed a new program that is currently being tested in certain stores. I never had trouble navigating the system, just reading the horrible ALL CAPS MS-DOS-like font. The blue background doesn't really help either. The worst aspect is the inability to easily leave notes in a patient's profile, so the next time you speak to any patient about an issue, you have no idea what they are talking about. Although my store gets those "recognition" gift cards often, personal recognition is lacking. At times, I have felt unappreciated, but I suppose that could happen at any job. The drive-thru is extremely annoying and one of the worst things to happen in retail pharmacy. The only thing worse is CVS' motto "ready in 15 minutes or less". Sometimes I feel like I am working at McDonald's. Again, I feel this is very dangerous as speed often leads to mistakes. Please remember that the next you get your prescription filled.