Documentary

Hey folks, we hope everyone had a great weekend. We've had some really positive feedback flowing in lately and we greatly appreciate it. You know, when we first started this project we really weren't sure where it would take us. Would we quickly get bored of it? Would anyone even notice? Were we even qualified to take on such a task? But thanks to all of the kind words of encouragement by our supporters we just keep trucking along and I really feel this is the beginning of something very powerful and inspiring, and inspiration sure seems hard to find these days. But as one Somalian refugee once said, when God gives you lemons, make lemonade. It's in these trying moments where we really witness the true core of the human spirit in all its beauty; we rise above and triumph despite all that stands before us.

We received an interesting suggestion by a friend (we'll call her "Kim") of the Walgreens Medicare Part B Center Watch who suggested we make a documentary on Walgreens similar to film maker Michael Moore's "Downsize This!", where Moore goes after corporations engaging in unethical behavior. Kim, I have to say that is a wonderful idea and we've been thinking about it all weekend. We envision a series of interviews with employees, ex-employees and maybe even customers. Perhaps even some elected representatives as well.

The only problem is we really don't have too much film-making experience or film equipment, so we're asking that if any of you out there do have film making experience or could help us out with any aspect of producing a documentary, please let us know. Have you produced a film before? Worked on a set? Send us an e-mail at exwalgreens@yahoo.com. Also we want to hear what everyone else thinks and if they have any other ideas or something to contribute. Is it a good idea? Bad idea? Let us know.

Walgreens Medicare Part B Support Center: Hate Mail Wednesday

Due to some of the irate comments and e-mails we've gotten over the past couple days, we thought it would be fun to start a weekly segment called Hate Mail Wednesday. It appears that we've ruffled a few feathers out there and a couple people seem upset that we dared to publish information about Walgreens. Though we do value these outbursts for their comedic potential, I think a few of you have gotten the wrong idea about what we're about here. Have you ever had to read a book in school and then wrote a book report based on what you've read? That's pretty much what this is. We had some interesting experiences at Walgreens and learned some interesting things. It would be a shame to just forget everything without using it as a learning experience for everyone involved. And we thought it would be interesting for others to share as well so we can get a plethora of information from different perspectives. Who knows, maybe we'll end up writing a book together that you'll be reading to your grandchildren. The possibilities are endless. Now, I can understand if not everyone shares our enthusiasm but the hate is simply uncalled for. Take a deep breath and step away from the computer for a few minutes if you have to. If you're going to write us hate mail though, please keep in mind to make it creative and entertaining. This will increase your chances of it appearing on Hate Mail Wednesday.

Now on to the hate mail, this one comes from Walgreens employee Donyel Warden:

They did this to slow down sales ? The SALES center .. Slowing down sales.. Hmmm Nope u both are pathetic and wrong I've read some of your other bs post and again u are wrong grasping at straws.. Not even good straws, more like straws that were used in a cheap drink at a sleaze bar chewed on by a drunk w/his good tooth n thrown away ite useless but worse than that u r spewing outlies about a co. That u have a personal issue with. Inspector dipshit detective dunbass u should prob find something better to do with your time better than making up lies against a co. Ur mad at bc u simply just couldn't cut it put on your big boy pants and get over it

Donyel you owe us a new spellcheck because ours just exploded after pasting that! All kidding aside, you gotta respect an employee who goes out of her way to defend her company like that. You can tell she is very loyal to the company and is trying to do the right thing by defending it. So your heart's in the right place Ms. Warden. We are going to have to knock off a few points for calling us "dunbasses" though. But all in all it's a great start which is why we chose it for our first Hate Mail Wednesday.

A couple points here to address a few things you mentioned. The Sales Center...slowing down sales. Yes, that was our thought as well. WTF? Sales managers slowing down sales on purpose? No way. Unfortunately that is the truth as witnessed by everyone there, and the ridiculousness of it is why we thought it was worth mentioning. We wish we were kidding but I really think it's a symptom of a very small division within a gigantic corporation. If the Walgreens support center for diabetic supplies was a small business and all it did was sales, like how Liberty probably was when it first started, you can guarantee that things like that wouldn't happen, because everyone in small sales companies is focused on sales and the bottom line. With this small division within the huge company that Walgreens is, it no doubt ends up a bit off the radar of corporate executives who aren't even in the same building but are in another state.

What is The Walgreens Medicare Part B Support Center?

Hello everyone, this is our first post. We worked at the Walgreens support center for diabetic testing supplies a couple months ago and thought it would be kind of fun to make a blog about it and see if we can have some other employees and ex-employees coming to share things as well. Walgreens has some...interesting ways of doing things that make us go "hmmmm" so we'd like to hear from others to see if we can make sense of it all.

So what is the Walgreens medicare Part B Support Center? Ok, you've all seen those commercials with Wilford Brimley telling those with diabetes (pronounced "diabeetus") to test their blood sugar and check it often, right? Well that commercial is selling Liberty Medical's home delivery service for diabetic testing supplies. They've been in business for years now signing up people who see a convenience in having their test strips mailed out to them as opposed to them having to go to the store to get it. In the meantime, Walgreens, who sells diabetic testing supplies in their stores, has seen sales lost to mail order companies like Liberty because a good chunk of customers prefer to have it delivered.

So now Walgreens is in the mail order game and has a call center in West Chester (9025 Centre Point Dr in the Contech building) to get the word out and get people switching back from Liberty and other mail order companies to Walgreens. One funny thing is that Walgreens gets its prospecting list from its 8,000 local pharmacies so the majority of people they're calling are already getting their testing supplies from Walgreens. It appears that this has caused a bit of intracompany tension being that one division is stealing sales away from its core retail side. Store managers and pharmacists are wondering why people claiming to be Walgreens are calling all their customers and in effect encouraging them away from the store. Of course, the "official policy" of the support center is to not push the service to those who are currently getting their supplies from the local Walgreens stores, but that rule must be broken by any serious rep that wants to keep their job. Again, they're prospecting from their own customer database so 90% of them are already getting supplies from Walgreens.

More entries to come, stay tuned...