Maybe I just hate Pharmacy in general - Pharmacist Safeway Employee Review

2.0
Jul 3, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I've heard that Safeway's benefits are pretty good compared to others; the retirement pension plan is a good thing. Technician support is better than other companies. No drive-through pharmacies. Not open 24 hours (yet). Rx Technical Support in Phoenix is pretty good, usually competent and efficient.

Cons

Must deal with non-pharmacy/retail issues and departments. Secret shopper/service scores, inventory and now IMMUNIZATIONS are part of yearly bonus and, therefore, expected. Now open holidays and it doesn't matter whether or not you worked that day, you get paid the same. Nearly impossible to get time off since head office never has anyone to cover. Yeah, you get two personal days but you need to find coverage on your own! Work uniform of white shirt and black pants. No employer match to 401(k). No employee discounts. PDX computer system in each store is not linked. With any grievance management will ALWAYS side with the customer and give a gift card so don't expect management to have your back. Never trust management; always get it in writing!

Explore other reviews about Safeway

5.0
May 4, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

THey have a great program

Cons

They have a great program.

4.0
Jun 1, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Floral was genuinely one of my most fulfilling jobs. My manager at downtown Renton really helped me understand what I needed to know and was super kind and understanding. I'd work there again if I ever got the chance Grocery department was also super helpful to me when it could be, they were patient and kind with my first job experience. Cashiering usually had me end up in the SwS. Either way I never had an issue and management was usually pretty on top of things. The wage was fantastic and really felt like I could afford to live somewhere someday. Which is a rare find. Some employees take a bit to warm up to but most were super kind and I'd argue eventually all of them are, at downtown Renton. I had such a good experience working with everyone I met and it actually broke my heart when I had to leave. I felt like I made good connections with everyone.

Cons

I dont have a lot, but when the store got busy and I couldn't get a key to unlock our alcohol section it really held things up. Its something I'm sure was a trust thing but if Im the only one stuck at the SWS section it could take minutes to find someone with a key to get alcohol or cigarettes while people tried walking out with things they couldn't take to the main store. [I can understand this was more of a trust thing, but it hurt my efficiency and i would be looked at for not being fast enough]. Getting a manager override to void a transaction or remove an item someone no longer wants or I may have overscanned by mistake also caused huge backups in the line. Still not sure why I needed someone just to stop a transaction. Sometimes I was one of two cashiers on duty if that during peak hours. Someone would step in to help sometimes but it was infrequent. Infrequently customers would be annoyed with me for things impossibly out of my control, such as not getting the correct items on a sale or a sale out of date that wasn't removed. Rather than explaining to the customer the options available they'd give the discount anyway as to not deal with it and I feel as though that hurt the customers experience with me in my opinion. It wasn't that bad, but it always sticks with me. Some customers in the area are genuinely abusive. This isn't anything about staff but thats something to note about just the general area and something to note. Floral dept. to me did not have downsides that I can think of.

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