Pros
There are some very good people who work for CVS. I have many great friends and acquaintances. If you are good at retail and merchandising, you will have plenty of challenges and tasks to keep you busy. So long as you keep AIM under control, you can keep your shelves stocked and keep customers happy. Generally, customers are loyal, kind locals. They treat you like you are family when they shop and you get to know them very well.
Cons
There is absolutely no advancement opportunity for the retail manager, with or without a degree. Most managers, even DMs, are not degreed; however, the Pharmacists hold scientific degrees and the company looks to them for intelligence. Pharmacy Supervisors are currently beginning to take over District Manager positions and the entire management focus is turning to an accounting against ridiculous "black vs. white" decision processes that end with termination threats and condescending criticisms. I am 6 years with the company, have capped out very high in pay for my level, and am looked at more as a liability on the P&L than an asset to the company. I have been kept in low-volume stores for my entire employment and have become quite good at squeezing out margin; however, my DM would rather point out any negative point about my store and drill how concerned he is for how those issues affect my employment than recognize the fact that I've never missed my margin or loss prevention audit goals. In other words, my store is 'green' to corporate, but 'red' to him. From what I know of corporate, no one wants to listen to, or deal with, the complaints of problems from the regions around the company and difficulties with our inventory control systems and pharmacy systems are ignored. If you take the time, read the Code of Conduct on Caremark's website. The Store Manager is the only exempt employee at the store level and, to corporate and all management above him/her, this means that they don't have to follow it when dealing with the Store Managers. We are the 'kick-me' dogs of the company. One other bit: CVS posts record profits, they are tops in the Fortune 500, yet, there's not enough payroll to do the job. However, on the district's KMI's (performance and execution measurement), my district ended out way in the black...6 digits in the black...on payroll not spent. Yay! Hoo-ray for abuse!!