Osco Drug Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Osco Drug part-time for more than a year

Pros – Flexible hours
Tasks were easy
your free to walk around at times as long you help customers
Oftentimes your free to work outside and on your own which was always great

Cons – No room to move higher up
Raises end at a certain point
Culture is terrible
Bad communication with managers lead to being punished
Never have enough time to finish tasks before closing time and you are still expected to face even if the store is still opened.

Advice to Senior Management – Instead of constantly punishing employees they should do more with training.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Osco Drug full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Met some of the best people through Osco distribution

Cons – Supervalu bought jewel Osgood and shut down all oscillate distributions

Advice to Senior Management – Reopen osco warehouse

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Osco Drug part-time for more than 7 years

Pros – 1) You get to work with a diverse group of people among managers, supervisors, and clerks. The team at Osco is usually pretty small about 12-15 people, so you really get to know people and form friendships.
2) As a clerk your work is pretty standard and consistent between 4 things. Cashiering, Filling stock, Helping customers, and merchandising endcaps/seasonal aisles wings etc. You get pretty used to the routine and what days certain loads come in, and the job becomes pretty easy because you know what to expect.
3) There’s a lot of flexibility... meaning if you don't want to work a lot of hours. Chances are you won't be needed to work very many hours. This is good for students who don't mind fewer hours... (But bad for someone trying to make a living just working here part time.)
4) You are guaranteed 12 hours, and in theory this is a union job, and seniority does matter so you do get credit for that.
5) Decent vacation time, holidays and personal days. (Especially for students who might not get these benefits elsewhere)
6) If you are a student working here, and are not serious about moving up, you really do not have to work that hard. Reviews are a breeze, and you can pretty much just coast by until graduation.

Cons – 1) You work in a small team at Osco which means you can form close friendships, but there’s its share of clashing personalities, drama, and even tears here and there that I have seen. My best advices for this is to avoid drama at all costs, laugh it off, and don't choose sides between coworkers. Don't talk behind peoples back, and get your work done in a reasonable amount of time, and you will be fine.
2) You work very closely with your manager at times under their discretion, and once in a while it can feel like you are being a little suffocated especially for those who like to be very independent in their ideas. This does not really occur so much on load days or while cashiering, but when you are merchandising/building end caps or seasonal or doing tasks for your manager. So the bottom line is if you do not get along with your manager you will have a pretty poor time, and even incur a lot of stress working so closely with them and their ideas.
3) Customers here can be really sweet. They can also be quite spiteful especially when they are in a hurry, or are dissatisfied. This can be stressful as well at times.
4) This job though much like any other is all about the relationships you form with your coworkers and managers. If you are not a people person this job might not be for you. If you are really serious about this job and would like to pursue it seriously, while working in a quick and organized manner will never hurt, it is really more about the positive relationships that you build with your managers, coworkers and customers that will take you to the next level. I'm listing this as a con, only because many people do not understand this, and experience job burnout because they work so hard, but do not form good working relationships which are essential to success here.
5) Starting wages not especially high, lack of hours.
6) Sometimes it feels like you have too much to do at once such as register, answering phones, helping multiple customers, and whatever task your manager has given to you. It can be stressful especially if you are not good at multitasking.
7) Management sometimes is burned out, and waiting for 5:00 so they can leave. Do not get to know coworkers, or even try to engage with them. Sometimes management can some off aloof or arrogant. At the same time, there is management that really gets to know you, joke around, and make Osco a fun place to work. The overall tone of the department is dictated by the vibes of the management (which can change every couple years).

Advice to Senior Management – Get to know your coworkers on a bit of a personal level, and there will be at least a couple who will give you and our customers their best ideas, dedication, and passion. Ask questions! The less you seem to care about your employee’s health, and overall wellbeing and ideas, the more likely they are to be chit chatting in the backroom when you are upstairs on the computer. Everyone likes a genuine compliment and you will be surprised how far one will go especially to your younger workers and students working for Osco. Giving a work related compliment is free way to boost morale, and it really motivates employees to keep doing well. Also let employees do something new once in a while, and teach all your employees skills like tagging, signing, merchandising right away so that everyone can be put to good use. Treat your employees with fairness and respect and you set the stage for a postive workplace. Your postive attitude creates the tone and makes such a big difference.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Osco Drug full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – great people and families that are dedicated

Cons – out of touch with what customers want

Advice to Senior Management – seasonal needs to be a premier destination

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Osco Drug

Pros – some benefits for part time workers such as paid vacation you can cash out and 401k. other benefits you can get for part time with 22 hour a week average like healthcare. You get off 99% of the time you request off or can go home early most days. union garuntees equal raises for all and raises every year. bad management usually gets transfered once a year.

Cons – hard to learn the job on the fly. no training hardly. customers are the biggest pain. no room for advancement unless you are going to be a pharmacist and pass. Union allows for some of the biggest slackers on earth but thats a pro too. union dues. good management usually gets transfered about once a year.

Advice to Senior Management – Hire adults and focus on paying them as best you can full time. It is the one and only true way to differentiate from the competition and maintain high prices. youth just dont care enough no matter what they say to your face. you need adults to depend on this place for a career and benefits to do good work.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Osco Drug

Pros – Flexible Scheduling, Overall easy to do job, Managment pretty nice. Everyday getting a chance to help customers and estrablish new friend ships.

Cons – Not so great pay, Managment can be hit or miss, I've had some great managers and supervisors that just make it a job you want to go to, I've also had managers that just make you roll your eyes.

Advice to Senior Management – Stop wasting space in the liqour departments with end caps and displays selling the same products that are just down the aisle, Yes you get money for these displays but it hurts the variety being offered compared to other liquor stores near by. The photo developing machines are ancient, If they're prone to breaking down and it causes customer grief, I shouldn't be the only one who cares to call Kodak and have it fixed or replaced. Don't put too much on one employee if their only part time and a non supervisor. That will just burn a great hard working employee out and make them loose what ever backing they had for their company.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Osco Drug

Pros – Work load was fair with pay

Cons – Position scaled back to only certain stores, Work load is getting heavier

Advice to Senior Management – A lot of talented managers were lost

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Osco Drug

Pros – Good boss, decent working hours (not too much overtime). Nice co-workers. Supportive with investment of time and money in continuing education for their accounting department employees.

Cons – Cheap when it comes to the work environment i.e. office facilities. Management changes their mind frequently on direction the company is to take.

Advice to Senior Management – Establish a clearer direction for the company and stick with it. Don't play political favorites if you want to retain your best and brightest staff.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Osco Drug

Pros – Under previous corporate ownership(Albertsons and Jewel - Osco) very solid company to work for. Strong benefit package and solid management.

Cons – Since the Jewel Osco chain was purchased by Super Valu the focus of the upper management for pharmacy related issues is lost.

Advice to Senior Management – Super Valu is a grocer. If you intend to work for Jewel it is still a wise career choice. The Osco pharmacy division seem to lack direction. Supervalu does not seem to be interested in being in the pharmacy business. Other pharmacies may be a better long term choice for Pharmacists.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Osco Drug

Pros – Practical pharmacy experience in a challenging setting. The management was helpful in allowing time off as needed, and was always very understanding of situations. The pharmacists really wanted interns to have the opportunity to learn as much as possible, but with the high volume and low staffing this wasn't always a priority.

Cons – My store was so busy it was difficult to find opportunities to teach the interns. Instead, most became glorified cashier/technicians. It was rarely delineated as to which technician or intern should be doing which job (eg. out window, in window, drive-thru etc.) ego, most people picked a spot and stuck to it. This made it very difficult to learn the various positions in the pharmacy.

Advice to Senior Management – Try to allow every student a balanced work schedule so they can benefit the most from this work opportunity.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend