gnomic says:

I agree! Merchants do not have an inherent right to our information. You did the right thing by walking away. I hope more people do it and they get the message.

In situations where walking away isn’t an option you can give them the stor’s address and phone (you would be amazed how often that goes completely unquestioned) or demand to see thier license and write down thier information. “Its company policy” I like to tell them. Phone numbers are even more fun - I like to give them numbers to the White House, CIA, FBI, Secret Service, etc. Feeding them bad data drives thier costs up.

Then they will just have to resort to spying on us like the Goobermint does.

Bebinn says:

I’ll refuse to give info at a POS, that’s just stupid, they only want it so they can sell the info.

Any time some website demands an address for me I usually use 123 Main St., and I used to give a zip code for some obscure island off of Alaska but I’ve forgotten it.

elocina says:

The only thing I can think of is that they want to track your buying habits. To refuse to sell you a product if you refuse to give your information is discrimination.

Also, as someone who has worked in retail (albeit at nicer places than Walgreen’s), the man at the register should have at least attempted to give her a reasonable explaination or gotten the manager. That’s just good business sense.

I honestly thought Walgreen’s had more class than that. Aren’t they always doing those ads about life in the town of Perfect. Well, I’d think that in Perfect they wouldn’t make you give out your personal information for no good reason.

MarkTz says:

It’s the huge fad in retailing these days. They think they can make gobs of money sending you special coupons and selling your info data warehouses. I had the same thing buying a bicycle seat with cash the other day - the clerk demanded to know my home address and phone number. It wasn’t this kid’s decision to do this, and after I insisted and reminded him I was paying cash, he reluctantly agreed to do *something* to his system, allowing me to purchase. He just dumped the purchase into some other customer’s record.

Collection agencies would pay lots of money for any tip on where people have moved to, and what their new phone number is. My guess is somehow crap like this makes it to guys who pay for huge lists.

MarkTz says:

The City/Zip/State of Beverley Hills/90210/CA is easy to remember. I always use that one. For an email address, I like webmaster@obnoxiouscompanyaskingmeforthis.com

Michael says:

I recently got a photo printed at Walgreen’s. I was in a hurry, and CVS had a 2 hour wait (!) to get a single digital print done. I just gave them totally bogus information. The one problem is that if someone else has the same phone number as you give them, they can’t enter you. I wonder what they do about people living in the same place with only one phone shared between them?

I. Remon says:

Ever walk in to a Fantastic Sam’s for a haircut? The first thing they do is ask you to sign in with your name and phone #. For a freekin’ haircut! I always sign George Orwell and leave the phone blank. Then they always hand it back to me and ask for a phone number and I tell them it’s private. Then they give me a weird look and reluctantly agree to let it slide. Yeah, same routine every time I’ve gone it there for the last 8 years or so.

And what really gets me is that everybody else on the list is stupid enough to give out their phone numbers. What are they gonna do - call up and tell you your haircut has been recalled?

Leland says:

Elocina is wrong. A merchant can refuse to service to anyone as long as that refusal is not made based on color, religion, nationality, etc. Refusing to ID yourself is not one of those reasons.

I agree with most of the others. Unless a high dollar warranty is at stake I give a false address. There is a great deal of junk mail waiting for me at an establishment called Mabel’s in Crystal, NV.

Have you been asked for e-mail address yet?

Chauss says:

This is great back door activity for the NSA or FBI. If you go to walgreens with a last name on a watch list or a telephone number that is of interest to the NSA it will give them access to photographs of people of interest.
Do not forget that the NSA had embedded secret access to your and walgreens Windows XP, 98 software so they can gather info without your permission. This will give the creepies every opportunity to scrutinize and manipulate the photos to fit their needs.
Boycott walgreens, Especially if your last name is of Middle eastern descent, Korean, Chinese, Russian or an American who feels disgusted with this illegal invasion of our civil liberties.
Better yet, Give a fake name of questionable origin and take photographs of nuclear power plants and large cashes of weapons and airliners in the same set.
Of course I am only kidding, I LOVE our president. He is a KIND and INTELLIGENT man. I can find no flaws with the way he is ruling the world.

JohnB says:

For an email address I use abuse@aol.com

If asked, I tell them “It’s a handle, a techie thing.”

Urthen says:

If they demand you give them an address, because they “absolutely cant ring up the purchase without one,” just give them a blatantly fake one. My favorites are 123 Main St. or some random number on Sesame street. Either that or just use an obscenely huge number and long street name. Lots of fun strange looks and arguments started with those. I’ve had cashiers that just laugh and put it in, too. If we can just flood the databases with false information (And convince the sheep that give out their real information to do so as well) then merchants will get the hint and stop.
If somewhere asks for ID, and they start looking like they are about to put the info into the register, I snatch it back and tell them to put the bogus information in.

Ashley says:

They ask for information so they have a record of your purchase.

This way if you come back later with a complaint, they can look up your transaction in their system. If you lose your receipt, it’s not a problem. They can see you did indeed pick up photos there and they can correct the problem.

It’s a way to help customers as well as protecting the company from fraudulent activities.

Seriously people, think about this shit before making a moronic post.

Travelgirl says:

given that companies as large as Costco and as small as the neighbourhood five and dime can and DO know what they sell, offer immediate refunds without requiring rectal examinations OR receipts, ashley is not wrong, but ashley is not right, either.

if a company wants your business, they do not have to be intrusive. and, as long as walgreens isn’t the only company providing this service, perhaps you should also let the managing supervisor for the store recognize you can and will take your business elsewhere as long as it is their policy to be intrusive beyond need.

ricardo cabeza says:

IIRC, photo kiosks *do* keep local copies — at least of the images that they print…you need to get into the admin interface to browse `em, but the password is the same as the password needed to print and is usually (shock!) the store number. Not sure how you could correlate data taken at the POS with the images stored other than by time. But hell, maybe they are serialized somehow…

Ashley says:

The point I was trying to express is that it’s idiotic to just assume conspircy instead of just thinking about the situation. It’s obvious that there is in fact reasonable explanations for the company’s policy.

Justin says:

I work in a Walgreens photo department, so maybe I can field some questions.

- We ask for your phone number because it’s a simple way for us to contact you if a problem arises with your order (like our machine going down, your roll coming out blank, etc.) Also, if you have prints you haven’t picked up yet (you’d be suprised how many people go months without picking up their orders), we can remind you that there are some you need to pick up. That’s it. I’ve heard nobody complain that they are receiving marketing phone calls from Walgreens.

- The guy who said “no address, no label” must be either new or an idiot. You don’t need your address in there to print out the label. If that is an official policy, it must be only their district. Our district (West Houston) has no such “no address, no photos” rule. I would imagine other districts don’t have this because it is simply idiotic to have this nationwide.

- I seriously doubt that they are using your address, name, and phone number for any shady activities.

Norman Conquest says:

I always give them obvously bogus information.

NULL says:

This discussion is interesting because its a classic false dichotomy. Everyones post is correct and truthful yet you are all ‘lying’ by presenting a partial truth.

Ashley and Justin are both telling truths. Indeed a use of this data is to provide a unique identifier to speed up reference. I’m also sure it isn’t ‘official’ policy to require this. I’m also quite sure that Justin is correct when he says he has “heard nobody complain that they are receiving marketing phone calls from Walgreens”. The other posters are also correct stating there is no legal requirement to supply any such details. But none of that means jack shite! While it may not be official policy managers are obviously instructed word of mouth to ask, and insist on details. While Justin may not have personally heard of any complaints he wouldn’t because the company sell the data to third party marketeers. While the data is convenient for local quick referencing the primary objective in collecting it is to sell it. While it may not be a legal requirement it is a defacto requirement if the company is your local monopoly on this service. You all speak the truth without adding any content to the discussion. The only comment I find suspicious is Justins last statement that he would “seriously doubt that they are using your address, name, and phone number for any shady activities”. Such a statement is the height of naivity. Brokering personal information collected in good faith is very shady indeed. The article would only carry weight if it offered proof that the company do in fact sell to third parties.

Comment Submission Error
Your comment submission failed for the following reasons:

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NULL says:

BTW. There is a way to collect this evidence. You may have seen a variation circulating on the net to check if you think your emails are being intercepted. It goes like this:

Buy a cheap domain with unlimited mail access. You can get these for a few dollars a month. Let’s assume your domain is leaktrap.com or something. When asked for your email supply
a real email adress of the form youurname.identifier@leaktrap.com where ‘yourname’ is whatever name you want to use and ‘identifier’ is the name of the store or online service you are using. Do not use the same address for anything but that company.

If you ever receive a spam email on this address you have caught them red handed. Selling personal data without permission is a criminal matter in most juristictions and your domain logs are proof.

To be more subtle make ‘identifier’ an indirect but unique association with the company. For example ‘grenlaw’ for Walgreen and so forth.

I must add that in 18 months of doing this I have *never* caught a company selling my email, so it seems most if not all reputable businesses adhere to the law, or that
they haven’t sold the data yet.

Big Brother says:

How about when you go the grocery or pharmacy and they ask if you have a “discount card”? The little plastic keychain card that holds the key to your name and address…

The card that tells them who you are so they can store each and every item (and quantity) you purchase every single time you visit that store. The only way to get the discount is by using that card, so most people do it.

Of course, you could always tell the cashier that you forgot yours at home, and they’ll sometimes punch in their own code. I wonder how much junk mail my local cashiers get because of me?

But the more serious point… I wonder how long it’s going to be before this information is used against someone in a court of law. “According to CVS, you’ve been purchasing a lot of cough syrup.” DRUGGIE!!

Oh, by the way- here’s some irony.

“Your comment submission failed for the following reasons:

Name and email address are required.

Please correct the error in the form below, then press Post to post your comment.”

Lantern Bearer says:

The comment that CVS doesn’t require your personal data for photo services is negated by the fact that you probably had your CVS customer card scanned at the register where you paid for your pics along with that 12 pack of Rough Rider Condoms. If you have a customer service card and you presented it in hope of getting a discount on your purchase , you are owned. Those customer discount cards and handy keytags are for one purpose only - that is putting a name and address together with a purchase. CVS now requires the presentation of a driver’s license to pick up a prescription and they scan in the encoded info on the license. The beast has arrived. The number could be 666, that is but a metaphor. The reality is much worse.

LB

livewirevoodoo says:

Regarding driver’s license - CVS does no such thing, atleast in my market (northeast us). Maybe if the medication is a narcotic/controlled. I have picked up medications many times for family members (prescriptions made out for people other than myself) and have never been asked for identification. In any event, the patient is still sharing their insurance information with the pharmacy.

As far as the customer discount cards are concerned, I use my dead grandmother’s cards. Its what nana would have wanted.

The wife says:

I’m Andrew’s wife, the subject of his original post.

To clarify what happened, I used a self-serve kiosk to print five digital photographs for my mother. I took the receipt to the photo counter to pay for and collect my prints.

The man in charge was a bit cranky to start, and rather abrupt with me. He clearly didn’t want to be there, and when I refused him my phone number, he just as clearly enjoyed telling me he HAD to have it, along with my address.

Keep in mind: my receipt indicated which photos were mine. They were of fully dressed people standing around smiling. I was paying in cash. There was no legitimate reason I can think of to require my name, address, and phone number before handing over the prints.

I love the pharmacy at Walgreens, and will continue to use it. But I will never print photos there again.

Eric says:

To Justin among others:

If you read the original post carefully, you’ll see that she had already printed
the photos HERSELF and was just trying to buy them and leave. Why in the
world would Walgreens need to contact her in the future?

The transaction was nearly done. The only rational explanations I can think
of are: (1) they are selling their customer lists for advertising purposes, or (2)
their lawyers have convinced management that they could be liable for
allowing people to print photos at their store without knowing who brought
them. For example, someone could print a set of photos that are copyrighted,
or are pornographic in some way — without a customer name and address,
the lawyers are probably concerned that the store could be held responsible
for the behavior of their anonymous customer. What to do?

In my opinion, the idea of giving “123 Main St., Kalamazoo, AK 99999″ is
completely reasonable. If you are doing nothing wrong and breaking no
laws, it is certainly not a crime (at least not yet!) to misrepresent your identity
to a merchant — well, except for trying to buy alcohol when you’re younger
than 21 for example.

But that doesn’t mean we have to take it laying down! Stick it to the man!!
Either don’t print there, or buy your own printer, or give a false name/address!!

Amy Alkon. The Advice Goddess says:

Regarding the sucking of personal details by far too many businesses under the pretext of something idiotic or nothing at all: When businesses trying to sell me something harrass me by phone, I invoice them. But first, I torture them:

http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2005/09/stupid_and_temp.html

I invoiced Smart and Final $62.30 for their annoyance call, despite my presence on the Do Not Call list, and the fact that I sign up as Mrs. Klaus, North Pole, 310-555-1212. They asked me if I’d like the $62.30 or a $100 gift card. I took the $100 gift card and bought wine and Pellegrino up the wazoo (wherever the wazoo might be located). Still, despite my persistent emailing of their public relations hack, no answer on how they got my details. I suspect they yank it off my credit card. Not. Cool.

PS I just invoiced a company named on a junk fax. If they don’t pay me for bothering me, I’m going to try to press charges against them for stealing my toner! Sounds petty? Well, it isn’t when you get awakened when you’ve just gotten to sleep in hopes of getting a few more writing hours in.

You want to advertise to me? Do it on your dime, by printing something up and dropping it in the mail.

PS Woe be to the next person who shouts their cell phone number while seated next to me in a public place!

jj says:

I have my pictures done at Walgreens in Gresham. They never asked for may address just the phone number. It was a good thing last month, I had put in my order, it was not busy that day and the clerk printed out my order in about ten minutes.
An hour later I received a call from the photo clerk that I had left my SD card in the Kiosk. If they did not have my phone number I would have been out an SD card.
Thanks Walgreens.

Seldon says:

Adding to the comment about the store discount cards, they have actually used the information at least one time. There was a recall on a certian lot of meat, and they used the discount card info to figure out at least some of the people who had bought it and notify them. They actually debated quite a bit before they did that, because it would let people know exactly how much info they were both collecting and keeping around, and how easy they can access it when they want to. In the end they thought the PR would be better on the contacting people side than the bad meat sold side. Many people don’t realize what those cards are for, to keep track of every purchase you make, set up profiles, etc. So releasing the information was a pretty big deal for them. Of course I do the same thing with those that people are talking about in this situation, just sign up for the card with either false or obviously false information, they still get a record of what x person bought, but it’s not actually tied to me directly.

Amy Alkon says:

Again, as I wrote above, I gave totally false information to Stupid & Temporary (Smart & Final), and they managed to find me at home. Now, perhaps they dialed every single person in my area, or perhaps they get the info of your credit cards. Anybody know if that’s possible?

KL says:

NULL has it both right and wrong.

I’ve been using tagged addresses on my domain for years. The only one I’ve ever gotten spam at was one used to register some domains through dotster. and it’s likely that this one was harvested rather than sold.

I believe that spam organizations are smart enough to filter out addresses in the form of walgreens@example.net. It’s much better to give it an identifiable but cryptic tag, such as wg1205@example.net, so that automated list-cleaners won’t pick it out.

bobby says:

Speakig of photos: Last year I droped off a roll of film at Walmart (phila area). When I went to pick up my prints, I was lectured by a store clerk on my “morals” due to the content of my photos. There was nothing x-rated about my photos…just one of my two year old grand-nephew naked (oh my God!!!) in the bath tub. By the way, they would not print said picture. Jerk-offs!

Andrew says:

I’m sure (well, pretty sure) that Walgreens has no evil intent for our address or phone number. Most likely it’s for marketing, and there’s a good chance they’ll sell their customer list. I’ve come to expect that with things like the supermarket discount cards. (And yes, as Seldon (Hari?) pointed out, there’s always the chance it would be used strictly for customer service — to tell us we left something in the store, for example.)

What’s annoying is that Walgreen’s policy, at least here in Roanoke, is that you can’t opt out. I can always shop at Kroger without my discount card. I won’t get the sale prices, but I keep my anonymity.

But Walgreens didn’t give my wife that option: She *had* to provide an address and phone number. Sure, she could give a fake one (which is what I would do), but it was the idea she didn’t like — that she didn’t have a choice.

Adam Rice says:

It’s interesting to note, in all of this, that Radio Shack for years attempted to collect contact information (vainly, when it came to me). They would explain this away as allowing them to handle returns without a receipt, but clearly that was a fig leaf to cover junk mailing.

A year or two ago, they stopped. They must have gotten a lot of complaints, or found that too many people were giving them bogus information, or something like that.

Andrew says:

Good point, Adam. My guess is that too much bogus info made it a hassle to sell the list to other companies.

Some hair-cutting places around here also ask for phone numbers, as I. Remon pointed out. So does Babies R Us. In both cases, I simply say, “I’d rather not,” and it’s never a problem. Again, Walgreens needs to have that same policy.

Biff Stu says:

I usually give the following address when asked for it by companies that don’t need to know:

One Geoffrey Way
Wayne, NJ 07470-2030

It just happens to be the corporate headquarters for Toys R Us.

As for a phone number, I generally give the phone number of the latest telemarketer that ignored the do-not-call list. Sometimes I give the phone number of my ex-wife’s attorney, just to add a little variety.

Dan says:

I had a problem at Sam’s Club. When I went to get a membership, the clerk asked to see my driver’s license. When I realized she was entering that and my birthdate into her computer, I asked “what are you doing?”. She said that data was for my convenience if I wanted to use checks. I couldn’t believe she didn’t ask my permission first before doing that.

Nate says:

I am a walgreens photo manager, We have that policy for a reason. Some folks like to print out the prints, and never pick them up. Dont know why but face it folks they do that. That leads to loss in income from someone leaving their pics. Your address and phone number, and e-mail is never sold to any other company. We also collect this information from all Photo Customers, so that an isue will not arise from saying you only want my information because of the way I lok or who I am. Now back to needing your information, we use this information to mail you remiders if you forget that you left your pictures with use. If you do not respond then we have a legeal right to dispose of your prints after we have contacted you. And yes we do log it on your envelope when we contact you. Only recently has walgreens started requesting your e-mail, if you dont give it no big deal its just anoter way we can inform you that your order is ready. Also you can choose to recive e-mails alerting you of sales that we have and special deals for our e-commerce folks. Like a free 8×10 with so many 4×6 prints… Once again I will asure you that your information collected at the photo counter is keep just as private as your information at the Rx counter.

Lisa Brake says:

I run a Walgreens one hour photo lab and I will tell you that you don’t have to give us any information. I wouldn’t. I have a fake number that I use. There are contests that corporate pushes so we can get email addresses and other personal information so we can inundate you with email or snail mail. Just say no.

dp says:

Seriously people, Everywhere you go these days you get asked personal information. Do you or do you not? How many times you given your phone number when ordering pizza or any other food for delivery/carry out? Have you ever recieved a call back from any of the restaurant’s? Why would they need it? and Pizza delivery business has been going on for a long time. If anyone, wants to get your personal information it is so easy if you are computer savvy anyway. Your worried about personal information being sold. Think about someone having access to the exact location and can watch you 24/7. Today, I was able to google my work and my home and could actually see an areal view, as if I was trying to land a helicopter on my home or something. All I needed was zip code. Think about the yellow pages and white pages and the access that gives people. All I am trying to say is that there definitely more intrusive things people have access to than your phone number and address.
Furthermore, I also work for Walgreens, and you do not have to give a phone number or address. All you have to give is a digit number that you can remember when ordering pics. Furthermore, Walgreens does not send mailers to homes unless you get the local paper on Sundays. If they send any material it’s a $20 coupon when you transfer a prescription and that’s only when a new store in the area opens. Now, I’m sure majority of the people would not argue recieving “free” money in the mail. Would You?

Andrew says:

“Furthermore, I also work for Walgreens, and you do not have to give a phone number or address.”

And I believe you! But at this Walgreens, the clerk refused to give my wife her pictures without her providing that information. Of course she could have made something up on the spot (that’s what I tend to do), but it was the idea that she couldn’t simply refuse that irked her.

Radio Shack, for example, used to ask for a phone number. So does Babies R Us. In both cases you could simply refuse and that was that. This is the first time we ran into the policy of “No number, no sale.”

tom says:

People, people! back to the original instance at Walgreens self-serve kiosk. All processing labs with a self serv machine are asking for info in order to keep themselves from the liability of someone copying a copywritten photo, ie a local studio pro or olan mills. they simply want to have someone to track and say they said they had permission. Perhaps if they trained the teenagers working in the photo labs to be able to explain their reasoning and do it in a civil way, problems would be avoided. Time being, simply use a better, more knowledgeable lab.

walgreens mgr says:

I am sorry for your experience in that wlagreens store…employees should be thouroughly trained to help their customers; and some employees do not follow procedures correctly. At my store you would have recieved your prints with or without the information…we do it for our customers all the time. I would not require anyone to give any information that would make them feel uncomfortable. I am sorry for your experience and can assure you that it was not the Walgreens way. Please let the store manager know about your situation so that it cannot happen with futher customers, he or she will appreciate you telling them about your experience.

daniel says:

i work for walgreens and i have had people who have refused to give there # but because they refused, i did not refuse to print there pictures. i put the store # instead although first or last name is required or else how do we give you your pictures? the lady who was upset beacuse the clerk refused to print the picures, she should have asked to speak with a manager. he or she would have overridden the “policy”. i have never requierd a person to give any “personal” information.

James says:

I wish to be sent infomation about your company, thankyou.

Walgreens, CVS, OSCO says:

PLEASE READ: Well lets take a look back shall we….. Remember when kiosks were not available and we had to go to a counter and drop off 110 & 35mm film. And remember standing at the counter and filling out those envelopes that requested the SAME information (it’s not like when you filled in the address back then the retail place would drop it at your house, right). Whats changed? Well sneaky marketing, idenity theft, hackers, email spammers, lets face it the world is not a safe place anymore unless you learn to adapt. Well no more sleepless nights sweating in the dark wondering if someone is using your photo information to purchase a nuclear rocket halfway around the world in your name. I’ve compiled a list of ways to protect yourself from this happening in any retail situation:

1) LIE : Most retail places use your information to gather statistical marketing information. They don’t so much want to know who you are but as a whole who’s buying what, where, and how …why?? So they can serve your area (city, state) better based on this statistical information. But hey simply lie and throw their data way off and smile :). And if your an honest person…move on to the next step

2) So you can’t Lie… TALK TO A MANAGER: this is the quickest way to solve any problem right then and there. Simply state your case with logic and BAM FREE PRINTS (if you make it sobby enough). I mean what are Managers for? They manage the situations that occur in the store. If you want to blame the company as a whole over a misinterpreted policy by a $7.25/hour employee well…move to step 3

3) DO IT YOURSELF: So the BESTBUY employee didn’t sell you a printer with your camera…shame shame. Just think for more money you could print your prints at home without anyone finding out what cave you dwell in.

Not funny? The simple fact is many customers dwell over simple issues that could have been solved at the store and thrash a whole company over it. So the company didn’t have your Frosted Flakes you wanted at the time did they offer you a raincheck and apologize. You’d be suprised how many people would still complain and ask questions like…Why are you out? Didn’t you order enough? Other people find Frosted Flakes as important as the next person and eventually the stock sells out. Would people like the employee to go to the back and #$%# it out? Who cares just say I understand it happens and move on :-P

As far as the kiosk prints… go where you feel more comfortable but a company like Walgreens has strict private policies regarding any information you decide to give. I mean they are a pharmacy, like CVS, OSCO, Riteaid, and they probably know what kind of crazy meds your on….RIGHT? Who can you Trust?

Photo Tech says:

ok, it’s customers like you that upset me, and all of the other mistreated, and underpaid people working at walgreens. You think it was the photo techs fault that you had to give your info, no! You should just freaking calm down, remember these workers deal with sucky customers like you, and with sucky co-workers and managers. Calm the heck down, it’s not that important, the FBI, and CIA don’t give a crap about you, because you are not worth it. Walgreens doesn’t sell your freaking information, but if they did SO WHAT????? Is it really going to freaking kill you to recieve some junk mail? NO! So calm the heck down, and go back to the walgreens, go to the photo tech, and apologize for mistreating him. Get him a card or something, that would be a really awesome thing for a customer to do. If one did it for me, it would TOTALLY MAKE MY DAY. so do it, and quit whining.

Jennifer says:

I am a walgreens manager and it is not necessary to provide all the information that the clerk asked. This person was not trained very well obviously. The only reason our system asks for name, address, and telephone number is so that we do not confuse the orders with another customer that might have the same name. This person is obviously paranoid about giving out thier information and shouldn’t be when they come to WALGREENS. Walgreens is loyal to their customers and would never share the customer information with any other company. This is called the privacy act( all of the employees in Walgreens have to agree and sign this document before they can even be hired).

Carolyn Snyder says:

If anyone has had a RX filled at Walgreens maybe you’ll understand my delima, I had a prescription (which was a controlled substance) filled at my local Walgreens, one month it was $134.20 for 150 pills the next month the same amount same everything but now the price was $398.00 same ins and the clerk said it was the ins. the next month I went to another pharmacy same prescription but different amount of pills (the doctor has to write out each month handwritten scrip) was $1.00. Please tell me why the pharmacy clerk didn’t inform me sooner of the price change. I am on Social Security Disability on going to a pain clinic and have used Walgreens for quite a number of years. My monthy check isn’t enough to usee Walgreens again. Can someone please help me convey that to the proper people at Walgreens. I am sure that other customers are in the same boat. It really isn’t easy being at the mercy of drug and insurance companies. If anyone sees this please email me who to contact. Thanks
Sincerely,
cpickles01@earthlink.net

Walgreens, CVS, OSCO says:

Dear Carolyn Snyder,

From the bottom of my heart, your very welcome…I’m sure America is glad to hear they are fitting the rest of your bill (through Social Security Tax) for your 150 PAINKILLERS a month (a whopping 5 per day). But I am afraid to inform you that the costs of Health
Care are Rising, Why? Because millions of people like yourself are sucking funds out faster than Grampa turning up a bottle of shine. 150 Pills of a controlled substance per month?!?! Please note: These are Habitual Addictive Drugs are you planning on getting off these soon or just complain about your cost? or rather why Walgreens, who fills 500-2500 RX’s per day couldn’t call you at home?

This seems a bit harsh, and a little off the original topic, but let me let everyone in a few facts:

1) Walgreens invests tons of money on RX technology! What this means is that when the Hurricane KATRINA and RITA ripped a portion of our county apart, Walgreens held strong as recent homeless Americans fled to the upper states by pulling up their RX information in seconds VIA SATELLITE and filling them for FREE even though their local Walgreens was now under water. CAN WAL-MART DO THIS ??? NO It’s 2006 and they still are not even working on technology to upgrade to satellite. Walgreens is the leader in RX technology.

2) Walgreens doesn’t purchase medications from low grade manufactures. What this means is that many local pharmacies could hold a cheaper cost but fail to mention or do not know the quality or grade of the products they sell. Walgreens has the resources and uses them to get the highest quality generics they stand behind. Don’t believe me look it up on the web.

I could ramble on about people’s compaints all night but think about this… Why does CVS have MORE Stores than Walgreens but Walgreens has greater sales, marketshare, and higher on Forbes 500 YEAR after YEAR (by a landslide)?

Could it be Americans trust Walgreens or their Customer Service?

(Like this post read above for my post on the original topic)

Dorene says:

I find it very sad, you who hides behind a company name, that you would do your very little to belittle someone for a level of health care that you know absolutely nothing about.

If you are representing Walgreens or CVS, my dear, then I will do my ever-loving best to visit Rite Aid or somewhere in which paid employees/representatives don’t try to make paying customers feel guilty about their health needs.

How sad that the only way you can make your point is by ranting at Ms. Snyder.

*chuckles*

hacker says:

I just like spam! I’m collocting junk email…

Marie says:

Speaking as a walgreens photo tech:

I wouldn’t give Walgreens my address and name if I wasn’t already employed by them, but I might give them my number. Like Justin said, Walgreens’ photo lab is a quickie-one-hour place. The machines are unreliable and may destroy your negatives; they can get overwhelmed and your pictures may not be ready by the time promised. This happens all too often in our lab… or you yourself may forget a digital card or personal belonging. This is why the techs like to have your number– to call you on your behalf.

Like Justin, I haven’t heard of anyone getting marketing calls, but we do have an automated system that calls people if they haven’t picked up their pictures in several days. If you lose track of your pictures and don’t pick them up within 30 days, they are destroyed; it’s company policy. People get mad at us, but that’s why we need the phone number. I wouldn’t be surprised if Walgreens uses the number for other statistical/marketing purposes, though.

If you have a good memory about everything, though, you wouldn’t really need a phone number. And if you are at the digital kiosk and are *sure* that all your pictures look fine, you have taken your photos, and haven’t forgotten anything, then you wouldn’t need to give any real or rememberable information there either. At my store we don’t press anyone to give information; we add them to the computer as “walgreens customer.” But I wouldn’t be too hard on the clerk. Often when clerks get pushy, or are stressed or unhelpful, it is a reflection of their managers’ attitudes; it’s a store problem. Most of the clerks may care somewhat about you, but don’t care what information Walgreens gets, whether you stay as a customer, or what profit Walgreens makes. Those privacy concerns come down from headquarters.

Marie says:

As regards the clerk at that store, I should also point out that clerking is the hardest job I’ve ever had. I am on my feet eight hours a day; I am in a dry, dehydrating atmosphere, surrounded by bright light, loud noises, ringing phones, lost customers, and long to-do lists (we have far more we are supposed to do that just stand at the register); I am in the public eye, expected to smile at every stranger who walks by (even those who are upset, angry, or tired and don’t smile back); I am often sore-backed, sore-footed, head-ached, cramping, hungry and/or thirsty. And then I am expected to smile at every (probably equally-stressed :-)) person who walks into my store. I’ve worked call centers, data processing, museum docent, library desks, and receptionist… but Walgreens is more draining than any of these.

So I guess I would ask for your patience and kindness towards clerks at any store… I know it always surprises me when someone actually wants to know how I’m doing or tries to start a conversation… because so often, working in the service industry, I’m expected not to be a human being, but a super-fast, super-smiley machine.

Doug says:

I find it funny that I have to enter a name and email address to respond…how ironic. I work for Walgreens, and we don’t sell the lists to anyone. We don’t need to. Walgreens is a multi-billion dollar company, and our privacy policies are pretty strict. It’s exactly as marie says, it’s so we can call you if you forget them, or if there’s a problem, to save you a trip if they aren’t done on time or something. Also, if you keep coming back, and want to know how many rolls you’ve brought in for the past year, or what was charged, or anything of the like, we can access the info with a name OR a phone number. You can register one phone number with muliple names, so if your son lives with you, he can have the same number but a different name. No, we don’t need the address, that clerk was wrong, but maybe it’s his managers rules, not a policy. Again, you can fake all the info, but at least be consistent.
Thanks for reading, hope it helps allay any fears.
Doug

me, just me says:

Just give your damn info and quit making the employees lives miserable. You all are such ungrateful people. How would you like to have to deal with rude, selfish people 8 hours a day? It sucks. Crying kids, stupid old people, rude ass people. If you don’t like the service, tooo bad!

ex walgreen employee says:

I used to work for walgreens the reason they ask for your name and phone # is because they still have many customers that use 35mm film and the is times when the processing machines goes down and they are unable to have your prints ready at the time they promised. In these situations they are supposed to give you a call and make you aware of the situation so you don’t make an extra trip to the store for no reason. There are also many time when a customer leaves a print or a memory card in the kiosk machine if you don’t leave a phone # there is no way to contact you and let you know to come pick it up. If the customer refused to give this info I would just make a label with the stores phone # and name of “didn’t provide info”. The name and the phone # were the only fields required to make a label though I never had to enter an address. I would never even ask the customer for one. I normally didn’t even ask them for the first name just the first initial.

LOL I just tried to post this and it wouldn’t let me because I didn’t enter a name and a e-mail address. So you have no problem giving your name and e-mail over and unsecure internet website??

EX CVS employee says:

http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2006/02/10/cvs_faces_pharmacy_reviews/

Go To CVS at your own RISK! Search Google this is not made up.

terry lewis says:

need my picture at the walgreen on edison and grape road in mishawaka indiana

terry lewis says:

need my picture developed at the walgreen on edison and grape road in mishawaka indiana to be picked up as soon as possible please contact me at 317 918 5339 or by email.

Betty Morales says:

Went to my local 24 hour Walgreen’s on Jones Rd Houston, TX 77065 at 9:45pm to process my photos when the photo tech informed me that the photo machines were down for service and would not be back up till 12:30 AM. When speaking to the store manager Stevens he appeared to be oblivious at to the time the machine are shut down for maintained. Went the tech was instructed by the manager to copy my prints the techs response was I would like to go home and that’s going to take sometime. The store manager then took the side of the tech requesting I return at a later time. From my prospective I can take my business else Walgreens, I can only hope other customers follow me straight to your competitor…

Monica says:

The only reason that they ask for your phone number to to enter it into the system. That how all the customers are filed into the computer. Of you ever come back, all you have to do is tell them ur phonenumber and your name will pop up. This is not used for commercial purposes. The system is not even linked to anything else. Just all the Walgreens sytems so you dont have to enter all your info again each time!!! I work at a walgreens and I never ask for an address unless they voluntarily tell me. I only ask for a phonenumber. Some people are even afraid of that cuz they dont want anyone calling them. Again, we do not call you to sell you anything. Its just to file you name and have you in our system. We do have a service that an automated system can call you when your prints are ready but that is totally up to you if you want it done!! If worse comes down to it just tell them a fake number and name. I really dont care. I jusr have to enter a name and phone number to enther the pictures . Especially if you leave and come back, we need a name to put you in a bin. Like I said though, telling us a fake name does not hurt us, we dont care. We are not trying to sell you anything. Why would we have to?? Walgreens is doing well enough without tryin to sell you more stuff!!

Dora says:

I’m a Head Photo tech at a Walgreens and I found this blog rather funny. I have some comments to some people.
To all the paranoid freaks: Maybe you aren’t paranoid and maybe I’m naïve, but we aren’t trying to gather your information to sell it. We are just trying to do our jobs. If you want to give fake information, don’t forget your pictures!

To Eric: Well if you’ve ever BEEN to a Walgreens photo lab, MOST do not have a automatic printing kiosk. Those are made by KODAK and we have severed ties w/ them because of their horrible customer service. Anyway point is that she didn’t bring her PRINTS to be picked up she brought her TICKET to the counter to pick up her pictures. She did clarify this right before you. So, you’re an idiot who probably shouldn’t have posted.

To BETTY MORALES:
You’re comment has NOTHING to do with ANYTHING on this blog. I might be saying this in vain but in the event you or others like you ever read this. I HATE YOU. You are the type of selfish, self-involved(insert more synonyms here)person that has probably never had a job where you get paid jack shit to bend to a customer’s desire. Its funny that you say you can take your business else(where). Where exactly is this ELSEWHERE? Most places that are 24 hrs close their photo lab at 8 pm. So f-u. (Pardon my language. Its just something I’ve ALWAYS wanted to say to a customer.)But if you could find another place to cater your every whim, GO, LEAVE! Take every customer like you with you. Walgreens will do well without you. And that other place won’t do it for long, because the are staffed with PEOPLE. HUMAN BEINGS JUST LIKE YOURSELF. Most people don’t like being treated like lowly servants. Its people like you that stress us out and make us take it out on our good customers.

On to the main people.

To Andrew and wife: I’m probably going to repeat a lot of stuff that Walgreen’s employees have already said. Ok first off, that employee was kind of wrong. We do not NEED your personal information so that you can pick up your photos. I often make up numbers for people who are adamant about not giving away their phone numbers and I never ask for an address because I never mail reminders about unclaimed photos, I just call. That little ticket is NOT a reciept. It says that right on it in BIG BOLD PRINT. If you had not brought that ticket to the photo tech and walked away, your pictures WOULD NOT have been printed because he/she would have no way of knowing who you are, when you want your prints, if you actually wanted your prints, the list goes on. Walmart has a thing where you can put your information on the kiosk, walk away, come back in an hour and your prints are ready. There are some pro’s and con’s to that but i’m not going to get into that right now. Its not the point. Like I said before, the photo tech you dealt with was kind of wrong, he should’ve bit the bullet and made you a john doe. However if you forgot to pick up your pictures on his shift and the next person can’t find your pictures that is YOUR fault. Or if you give your name and no phone number and something happens to where they can’t print your pictures and you come back and they aren’t done that is YOUR fault. While he should’ve have had better customer service skills let me explain what probably happened. He helped you with your order, either because you didn’t know how to use the machine or he just wanted to, and when you were finished you came up to the counter wanting your prints right away. This annoys him because he (well not he but the photo lab itself) was probably busy and couldn’t print your pictures that instant because we don’t have an instant printing machine, ie the kodak picture maker. If he didn’t tell you that already he might not have known that’s what you expected. It does get tiring to explain over and over that it doesn’t come out automatically, and that we have print it on the big machine where we do all of our other prints and you are behind maybe 20 other people in a virtual line. So that’s probably why he acted annoyed when you came to the counter. Then you wouldn’t give him your phone number or address (which I don’t know why he stressed the address) so he has no way of contacting you when your pictures that he helped you with ARE ready and you forget to pick them up. And the way you refused him was probably annoying to at this point. He is also annoyed that he is only getting paid a little over $7 an our to make sure you’re happy, which is sometimes not worth it. So he gets a little satisfaction out of annoying you in return by pestering you about the address. (I have never done this just wanted to). He was right in saying that he can’t make a label w/o A number but he could’ve made one up. Again I’m not agreeing with what he did, just trying to explain it. I think he had poor customer service skills and you should’ve asked for a manger. He didn’t have the right to refuse service for that reason. Walgreens, CVS, OSCO makes SEVERAL good points in his response. Don’t let one bad employee scare you away from a good company. Walgreens is a good place to print your pictures. It is cost effective and usually an easy experience. I know that I am happy to help customers because that’s what makes them loyal. I have several loyal customers myself, who I’m grateful for because their purchases help pay the bills sometimes.

Dora says:

I would also like to say I’ve had my phone number on the walgreens photo system for 3 YEARS and haven’t gotten any type of marketing call that wasn’t a CREDIT card. which they always use my full name which isn’t in the walgreens system.

Cady says:

I am the Head Photo Specialist at my Walgreens and agree 110% with Dora. Because we are a pharmacy, we CANNOT solict or telemarket, Walgreens doesn’t anyway. Like in previous posts, we only ask for name and phone number and thats it! This is for our protection and yours, for example if a customer dropped off a roll of film with child porn on it, we would have to give this name and phone # to the cops. Also, if something happens and your order will be delayed or there is a problem, we need to call you, rather than you coming to the store angry that your order isn’t ready and no one contacted you. Out of the hundreds of customers I have seen, I have never had a customer complain about giving their name and phone #. You do not have to give your address, although sometimes stores may ask because phone #’s go out of service etc and we need a way to let you know to pick up your order.

Pete says:

*sigh* As much as I hate talking about work when I’m off the clock, I’ll expound on the policy. My name is Pete and I am the Head Photo Specialist for a Walgreens in Cape Coral, FL.

We ask our customers for their phone number primarily in case there is a problem with their order (ie. computer locked up and they won’t be ready on time, prints came out blank, etc.) This also tells our people who work in Loss Prevention that we’re not simply printing out pictures and keeping them ourselves. We NEVER use your phone number for marketing!
I understand that for the person who’s only making 10 prints on the digital kiosk and won’t be leaving the store (waiting around for them to be printed) there really is no need to call them because we can just page them back to the Photo Lab. But those customers are very rare. I can also understand your side of the story where you’re wary of giving out your phone number to someone who’s looking at pictures of your family. But we handle things very professionally. In fact, I run my Photo Lab with as much privacy and confidentiality as the Pharmacy does across the store. But the phone number we take is only for identification and not for marketing. Please don’t let it scare you away from Walgreens.

Countess M says:

All my info has been in Walgreens computers ( photo and pharmacy ) for three years, and NEVER have I receieved any mail from them or phone calls ( unless my pictures have been there for a while ).

Walgreens never sells customer info, we arent CVS, oh, and all you paranoid people…if you have a drivers license…you can be looked up on the internet, heck, if you have a name you can be, a phone you can be looked up. A pharmacy prescription….yup, you can be found. So everyone…hide in your house, lock the doors, shut off the lights, put the tinfoil hats on your heads…and calm the heck down allready….

It is as bad as it seems … and they are out to get you…
::rolls eyes::

Soulja says:

I too am a manager for Walgreens and the first thing I want to say goes to the various employees “speaking out” against customers. Calling people dumb or ignorant isn’t necessary and it will only lead to more customers leaving the store upset and aggrevated. By making these types of comments you are sending the wrong message to potential customers about Walgreens. The truth is that Walgreens does want their business and the last thing we need are employees going out and making rediculous comments under our company name and behind the mask of the internet.

As far as this topic is concerned, everything I’ve read is excuses. From both sides of the argument, customer and employee, there is nothing but excuses. Walgreens does ask for this information for customer service so that we can contact you in case something does go wrong. It also helps in situations where people do not pick up their prints. Loss prevention is an issue that has led this and most companies to collecting personal info. We do the same with refunds because we get enough people that try to scam the store that we need a way to document instances where these scams are run. The employees that say “he was tired” or “not properly trained” or anything else I’ve read here are also making excuses. The fact of the matter is that this clerk should have processed the pictures regardless. He had seen the photos, it was an order the customer was willing to wait in-store for, and despite the number of photo orders in line, a kiosk order isn’t difficult to run in-between regular film rolls, especially if it was only 5 prints. My head photo tech will usually bump the kiosk order ahead just to make the customer happy.

For customers that do not want to give out personal info, we have no issues with that. Give us a fake address and phone number and be done with it. Just remember that if you fail to pick up your photos within a few days, they will be set aside and after 30 days destroyed. You will have only yourself to blame at this point.

As employees, we need to remember that despite how frustrating it is to work in retail in general, not just Walgreens, we have to treat customers with respect. I cannot recall a time where I was so frustrated with one customer and not been able to smile and help the next person without an issue. Sure, there are times a few minutes in the stockroom growling at the wall may become necessary, but that is as far as it should go.

Amy says:

Ok I work in a Walgreen pharmacy, some of these “off-topic” things get me going…….

“But the more serious point… I wonder how long it’s going to be before this information is used against someone in a court of law. “According to CVS, you’ve been purchasing a lot of cough syrup.” DRUGGIE!!”
******
Sooner then you think. I don’t know about everywhere, but soon in MI we will need to take all your info to sell you pseudoephedrine. Wanna know why? Because people make drugs out of them. No info, no pseudoephedrine, plain and simple. We will soon be required to keep track of those purchases, like it or not.
*****

“If anyone has had a RX filled at Walgreens maybe you’ll understand my delima, I had a prescription (which was a controlled substance) filled at my local Walgreens, one month it was $134.20 for 150 pills the next month the same amount same everything but now the price was $398.00 same ins and the clerk said it was the ins. the next month I went to another pharmacy same prescription but different amount of pills (the doctor has to write out each month handwritten scrip) was $1.00. Please tell me why the pharmacy clerk didn’t inform me sooner of the price change. I am on Social Security Disability on going to a pain clinic and have used Walgreens for quite a number of years. My monthy check isn’t enough to usee Walgreens again. Can someone please help me convey that to the proper people at Walgreens. I am sure that other customers are in the same boat. It really isn’t easy being at the mercy of drug and insurance companies. If anyone sees this please email me who to contact. Thanks
Sincerely,
cpickles01@earthlink.net”
*****
I take it you are on some sort of Medi-care or SS. Most of the time, we actually like to -think- customers keep track of their insurance. I’m not sure why they didn’t call you, but it sounds to me like you were in the “doughnut hole.” Insurance will only cover so much, until -gasp- you actually have to pay some. The price we tell you is the co-pay from the insurance, not some off-the-wall price we make up. If it was, I’d sure be making more then I do.
*****

“From the bottom of my heart, your very welcome…I’m sure America is glad to hear they are fitting the rest of your bill (through Social Security Tax) for your 150 PAINKILLERS a month (a whopping 5 per day). But I am afraid to inform you that the costs of Health
Care are Rising, Why? Because millions of people like yourself are sucking funds out faster than Grampa turning up a bottle of shine. 150 Pills of a controlled substance per month?!?! Please note: These are Habitual Addictive Drugs are you planning on getting off these soon or just complain about your cost? or rather why Walgreens, who fills 500-2500 RX’s per day couldn’t call you at home?”
*****
Not everyone has the choice to get off these. Some people are on these for life. Ever think that maybe -just maybe- he was in an accident, and can’t work for a living, lives with constant pain? Trust me, 150 pills of a controlled substance are nothing! I have customers taking upwards of 6 Oxycontins a day, so please don’t chew him out over his drug habits if you don’t know they story. I can’t stand medicaid/SS anymore then the next guy, but some have a real need for it.

lola says:

You are a bunch of PARANOID, psychotic, sad people. What the hell is walgreen’s going to do with your phone number? They don’t CALL you unless you don’t come pick up the crap that you ordered, that they paid to make, and then you don’t bother to pay for!

Junk mail?? OHHhhh no, not JUNK mail! OHHHH NO!! But it so PAINS me to do that wrist twitch required to throw it in the recycling bin!!

OH NO! OH MY!! OH LORD! THEY’RE TRACKING ME!! THEY’RE FOLLOWING ME EVERYWHERE!! Seriously, pack up all your belongings and go move into a cave. You are taking yourselves WAY to seriously if you think that walgreen’s employees or otherwise give a DAMN where you live. Sure, give out fake addresses, but don’t act as if you’re a GENIUS for doing so.

And don’t you DARE harass or insult the employees because they are doing THEIR JOBS and **you** are a crackpot. I hope someone goes into wherever YOU work, crazy photo guy, and harasses YOU and gives YOU shit and is a dick to YOU over something that is clearly not YOUR fault.

Really. I hope they do. Then maybe you’ll know what the hell it feels like.

photo nazi says:

actaully, if you give someone else’s phonenumber…and dont pick you rfilm up…then some stranger is going to be getting phone calls about film of theres…thats not theres…um, yeah, thats real nice. What Ive done in my store is I set up a number that we use if a customer doesnt want to give there home number ex: (area code ) 666-6666
and we put them all under that one number.

Mandy says:

I work in the Walgreens Pharmacy. We use personal information to identify you and get in touch with you, not sell you things. If you come in to pick up your script, we need your address to confirm you are who you say you are. We absolutely do not sell your information, will not sell your information, and will never use your information for anything other than confidential identification and contacting you in case of emergency.

Tasha says:

Although I think some of the claims from the customers on here are paranoid and insane, employees should not be on here being rude and very very disrespectful. If it wasn’t for customers - good and bad - we wouldn’t even have our jobs!
We don’t require address, but we do ask for phone number and name just to track your envelope so we know who you are and what envelope you go with and where to call if a problem arises. Sorry people are being so shitty on here.
CHILL OUT.

lola again says:

Ya know Tasha, the FUNNY thing is, that the people talking all that shit and SAYING that they’re employees may or MAY NOT be employees. So I wouldn’t worry TOO much about it if I were you. I could come on and say I was the president of the CIA and that *I* think all these people are fruitloops, and it wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference, cause it’s the internet. I’m probably not he president of the CIA, and a lot of people saying they work at walgreens might not.

Rene says:

I work at walgreens # 5424, San Antonio, Texas (210)924-6575 that’s my work number if you want to call and verify it.

I work in the photo department and we, at least at my store, never ask for an address or email address. The only info we ask for is a name so we’ll know you’re picking up the right pictures and your phone number just in case someone has the same name. San Antonio has 1.3 million people in it so chances of someone having the same first and last name is very large, therefore, it’s important that we at least have a phone number so that you’ll get YOUR pictures and not somebody elses.

Cosmetics Department Girl says:

I just have a simple comment for the lady (Betty Morales) that came in at 9:45 to do her photos. Sometimes the smallest lack of information causes big missunderstandings. The Photo clerk by this time of night would have been well on their way to go home. The machines are usually shut off at 9:00, and then they clean up, count down their drawer, do various tasks. Alot of the times we are scheduled from 2-10pm, sometimes 3-10:30 for example. So maybe this person had only 15 minutes left!! Therefore, in situations like that, it is required that you or a manager take the film and info and tell the customer what time in the morning they can pick it up. Simple as that.

Rosie says:

We do that because if there is a problem with the pictures we can give the customer a call.. We are supposed to ask for the address but i do feel that is not necessary.

Mandy says:

Well Lola, I must ask you this. Why would a complete stranger, one whom doesn’t work at Walgreens, say that they do? Why would a customer pose as a Walgreens employee just to defend the company name? Seriously, think about it. By the way, I work at #4699 in Deland, Florida and my work number is (386)734-4371. Call us sometime.

Mandy says:

(386)738-4371*

Mandy says:

Gah, my bad. I didn’t mean that to Lola. Haha. Sorry kids.

LINDA says:

I WORK AT WALGREENS AND YOU GIVE YOUR ADRESS AND NAME SO NEXT TIME YOU OR FAMILY GO TO GET PHOTOS DONE YOU WILL BE OUT EVEN QUICKER, AND NO WE DONT GIVE YOUR NAMES TO ANYONE ELSE EVER, I JUST WISH THE TECH COULD HAVE YOU A BETTER REASON.

vt says:

I’m a manager at Walgreens and I think that it is unfortunate that you are all reading so far into this. Yes, we ask for names and phone numbers so that we may contact you - regarding your order, only. In this case, she had requested the pictures to be printed, but the photo clerk needed something to identify her when she picked them up. For privacy reasons, we don’t keep a big bin of the prints and let everyone rifle through them and choose which ones belong to them. I’ve put down fake names and numbers for people if I know they’re going to hang around or they’re incapable or unwilling to give their information. You get a ticket that has the information on it, and if it’s ficticious, hopefully you remember so that you can pick it up. We often destroy pictures and negatives in 6 months to three years, so sometimes being able to reach you is in your best interest. As far as digital pictures go, the cache is cleaned out as space is needed - normally 3-15 days. I can’t defend the clerk in this scenario. He screwed up. And he’s probably either quit or been fired since then.

Cosmetics Department Girl says:

Um,….Nooooo, she printed/made her own pictures on the machine herself and then went to the counter to pay for them! Gawd people. Don’t make a mountain out of a moe-hill!! That is why she declined to give out her phone number! I think it’s stupid too! All she needed to do was PAY!

She probably wasn’t even a regular customer, and just chose a random store to quickly print them! You don’t need a damn phone number to Pay!!! That is the issue and the point!

Employee says:

I would just like to apologize for the inconvenience you expirenced at one of the walgreens stores, I would also like to apologize for the employees that are commenting on here, their views do not reflect the feelings of all walgreens employees. I’m currently a Assistant Manager and a former head photo specialist. The employee you dealt with was wrong and out of line, bottom line. And I’m sorry that we have lost your business because of this. We don’t sell your number, we use it to contact you if there is a problem and the address is only to send you a post card if you haven’t picked up your film within 3 months, it also makes it easier for you when you come back, all you have to do is give your phone number. We use the computer to record the number of prints, so when we have to do an inventory we can compare the number on the computer to the number on the machine. Walgreens is just trying to make things easier of the shoppers, you don’t need to fill out an envelope we do it for you. Once again I’m sorry for trouble you had at one of the stores but please remember that this store does not represent all walgreens stores.

Chris of #1512 says:

“Cosmetics Department Girl says:

“Um,….Nooooo, she printed/made her own pictures on the machine herself and then went to the counter to pay for them! Gawd people. Don’t make a mountain out of a moe-hill!! That is why she declined to give out her phone number! I think it’s stupid too! All she needed to do was PAY!

She probably wasn’t even a regular customer, and just chose a random store to quickly print them! You don’t need a damn phone number to Pay!!! That is the issue and the point!”

Well, Cosmetics Department Girl, it looks as if you don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t mean to be rude when I say this, but there are some technicalities involved with Walgreen’s 1 Hour lab.

How exactly are we supposed to scan a stack of pictures without a label? Use the customer’s retina as a UPC? I think not. This would require a minimum of a phone number and a name, real or fake.

Now let’s say that somehow you got around the whole label-creating stage and rung up the customer WITHOUT putting their order into PC+.

Assuming you did not properly input the prints into PC+ (IE name + number, resulting in a photo label), then your End of Month reports are now officially screwed. Unaccounted prints go up, and you’ll most likely get audited by your district LPS. Congrats on screwing things up.

Also, let’s not forget that the orders themselves are generally not started until they are “claimed.” If I don’t know who left the kiosk receipt on my counter then I won’t start the order until they return and give me sufficient information to enter into my system to keep things correct. While it’s probably pretty rare that you will actually get in trouble over 5 prints, it will not be my shiny hiney that is getting dinged over it.

Once again, I don’t mean to be rude over this, but you should know topics in-and-out before you publicly speak about them… especially on the internet.

Chris, HPS #1512
Germantown, TN

Cosmetics Department Girl says:

TO: Chris of #1512

My thought’s exactly,..you should. But you don’t have to make a mess out of my simple comment. When there’s not a quote button and you don’t copy/paste then you run the risk of being missunderstood.
The person above me said “the clerk needed something to identify her when she picked them up”
Which is what triggered me to say,…”nooo she printed/made her own pictures on the machine herself and then went to the counter to pay for them!”

OK!!??

And then the rest of my comment was because the whole page is out of hand….and I was siding with the customer hoping that people understood the point the person that wrote the story was trying to make. The key word is LOGIC. (refer to story at top) Put yourself in the shoes of a customer.

I NEVER said anything about not making a label. I assumed that was a given. Excuse me for not being more clear.

Yes there are some technicalities involved with Walgreen’s 1 Hour lab, BUT every customer is different, and they don’t care about your technicalities, they don’t work there! I’ve learned that the hard way. Do you think they care about my PM’s? NOoo!! They will check out where ever they WANT to. The customer is always right.

Chris of #1512 says:

My intention was to show you that she did not print the pictures out herself… they were being held in the print queue - she still needed to hand over her information for the ball to get rolling, laser to start printing, whatever. Whether it be a fake phone number and some random mumbo-jumbo for a name, she still needed to provide at least the minimum that our system asks for.

Don’t get me wrong - the clerk that insisted he needed her address was very incorrect. I am not in any way defending HIM. I am just merely pointing out that her pictures were not already printed and she didn’t just “have to pay”.

Also, in case you didn’t know, Walgreens employees are not allowed to take it upon themselves to put an order under a “dummy” or “ghost” name/number (at least this is and always has been the policy for my district). It has to be under the information given to you by the customer, real or not.

And I have yet to meet a customer that is “always right” ;)

HPS, Omaha, NE says:

Yeah, and Walgreens has a mailing list that we solicit our customers on…my address, my mother’s address, my grandmother’s address, my in-law’s address, their parents…you get the idea…are all in PC+ and NONE of us has EVER received a single piece of mail from Walgreens, or even *gasp* a phone call! I love how people are convinced that everyone is out to get them (or at least send them junk mail).

PST #3288 - Buffalo, NY says:

I agree with all the WAG employees on this page. Customers need to get it through their thick skulls that we are running a BUSINESS and in business there are certain PROCEDURES that we have to follow. I had a customer come in yesterday who used the KPM and when I asked for his number he flat out shoted “NO! We’re not dating!” For one, this was completely rude and also idiotic. I understand if you paranoid freaks think that we’re going to sell your information to the big bad marketing list warehouses, but no, we are just trying to run a business where our accounting is done by phone number. In reality it can be any 10 digit number you pick as long as you can remember it. The part that really gets me is that when I flat out tell them that Walgreens has a strict privacy policy that every photo tech must sign before working there and they still don’t give me their info. Are you calling me a liar? What? Just because I work at Walgreens I don’t know how to tell the truth? People sicken me sometimes. This job would be great if it weren’t for the customers. Get off your high pedastal and realize that I’m just doing my job and don’t give me such a hard time. Photo is stressful enough as it is without dumbass customers bitching at me about their paraniod delusions of telemarketers filling tiher mailboxes with junkmail and calling them at all hours of the day and night all because they gave me their number. Get over it.

Thank god for the internet to give me a place to vent. :)

Marie says:

I’m amused how this technical discussion has degenerated into employees’ vs. customers’ rights.

I believe both customers and employees must be considerate of each other. As an employee, I’ve been encouraged by and beaten down by customers, and I definitely prefer the former. As a customer, I’ve had pretty much the same experience (encouraged or beaten down) at the hands of employees. So it really is important on both sides.

I think the dynamic between a customer (let’s call her Clara) and an employee (let’s call him Ed) is interesting. Clara has the money that Walgreens covets. She can walk out of a bad interaction, or go to the manager and get Ed in trouble. She can be manipulative to Ed or lie about him to his manager. She has a lot of autonomy and a lot of choice in what stores she goes to and who she interacts with. And Walgreens wants her money, so it’s more inclined to work with her.

Ed doesn’t have that choice—once he got hired, he stands at one counter all day talking with whoever comes to him. What Ed does have is knowledge. He knows how things work in the photo lab, and where the loopholes are in terms of the time and cost of Clara’s photos. If he and Clara establish a good rapport, he’ll work on her behalf. If Clara tries to overpower him, he will work to undermine her choices—or at least won’t give her his specialized knowledge.

I think this is true in most stores. I know when I’m overwhelmed with an I-C-15 or an enormous stack of photos, an angry, impatient, demanding person is the last person in the store I want to help—I have so many things on my closing list, just to keep my job. But when that person slows down for a minute, sympathizes, laughs about the crowd, and asks when I can get the photos done, I’m much more likely to do anything that I can to help them.

Haha, sorry for the long post!!

P.S. if you want a throwaway email, go to http://www.mailinator.com. Perfect for the mandatory registration at Walgreens.com or elsewhere :-)

Walgreens Photo Tech says:

All you walgreens employees need to remember you are representing the company, good or bad, and you really shouldn’t throw your names and store numbers around like that. To the customers: I apologize for the few bad seeds that give Walgreens a bad name.

Leland says:

For PST #3288:

Rude? I thought that was funny and plan to add it to my list of stock responses. Now it’s time for a reality check.

Most of your customers could not possibly care less about your policies or the fact you’re trying to run a business. All they care about is getting their pictures with as little grief as possible. If a very small minority of people don’t want to give their phone number, give them their way and accept their money. You did say you were running a business didn’t you?

You should study what Marie wrote. She gets it.

Just a girl says:

Ok looks like the problem here was the clerk. gosh.

Just a girl says:

Ok looks like the problem here was the clerk. gosh.

customer#123456 says:

Gosh! After learning that the beautiful prints coming off my printer I rushed t the nearest CVS an was told by their manager that their prints were printed by the photo-emulsion process on a machine. Now their macjines cost upward of a 100, 000 US and I couldn’t afford to buy one this month. I hurried home and put 4 prints on a cd to try them out. Heck, when I got back the manager was gone, just a couple of incompetent untrained laides in white labcoats that didn’t know I was talking about when I said photo-emulsion! Seriously, What do they do, grab someone off the street and put a white coate on them and say “push this button”! Anyway so I went down the street, to Walgreens and asked them the same question. They replied that the prints would be on photo-emulsion paper and not inkjet. The lab person shwed me where to insert the cd and how to choose what I wanted printed. The little machine spit a “non-reciept at me and the guy said they would be ready in about 10 minutes, apologsing for the wait because there was one person ahead of me. I was not asked for any info. One this basis I definetly be back!
If for some reason you think i am lying aand am not really a walgreen’s customer you can check my customer number above!

Ma'am says:

How totally obnoxious to be not just asked, but demanded to give personal info. You were so right to go to CVS instead (not that they are so great….). But, the obvious ploy is, MAKE UP AN ADDRESS. It serves them right: all their mail will be lost/returned whatever. I do this a lot. Make up phone numbers, too.
What I REALLY don’t like at Walgreen’s is this: they asked me whether I wanted a photo CD (along with prints) and I said sure. Silly me! It appears to me that I can’t DO anything with this CD except look at the pictures: can’t e-mail them, can’t print them, NADA! It’s ANOTHER RIPOFF, and a BIG ONE!

Walgreens Recuiter says:

Careers: Walgreen’s Management FAQ

Here is they say:
http://www.walgreens.com/about/careers/retail/faq.jsp

Here is the REAL TRUTH:

What experiences or qualities should an individual possess to become a Manager? 1) A STRONG Back - they are stock clerks - You’ll learn very quickly how to use a ladder, Empty off a belt, and push a cart around the store. If you got a B.A. in P.E. (Physical Education) in college this is job for you. HAHA 2) Are you single? No well you could be we are open 365 days a year. We stay open even when our Pharmacy is closed… And yet we are America’s PHARAMCY!!! Are you bored every Holiday and wish you could be at work? Well this job is perfect, don’t expect to have most holidays off. Wanna take a week off at Christmas to fly out and see family? HAHA yeah right! Never! 3) Can you deal with technical problems day in-day out, while stocking, getting register change, returns, covering department lunches & breaks, customer complains, IC3, apply new stupid policies & rules from every level of corporate to increase sales, and listen to everyone bitch about the job; oh yeah and the bare bones amount of payroll hours to cover departments (as if there is a day where someone doesn’t call in).

Do you have to have a college degree to work as an Assistant Manager? No - But who spent 10k, 20k, 30k Plus to f**king stock shelves! You’d be suprised how many manager’s we have with degree’s (Non-Retail), we hope they say and fight for a store so they leave the REAL coprorate jobs to those with higher GPAs. HAHA If you have a degree..Don’t expect your boss to they moved up by simply stocking faster than the next guy.

How do you pay employees?
Twice as much as the highest paid clerk - What this means is that those Assistant Managers, EXA’s, and Managers without degree’s ARE STUCK. What are they going to do? Get a job somewhere else making what they make without a degree or go off and get a degree while working retail hours… Yeah right I have yet seen it. At $6.00-7.00 an hour for a starting clerk why whould you want to put up stock, run photo, or even worst be a low paid pharmacy tech when you could make more somewhere else as by simply cashiering. So who is responsible for the bulk of the physical work?…you guessed it the MANAGERS.

I find it FUNNY that a company whose mission is to be America’s Most Customer Friendly Pharmacy is so stingy on their payroll to accually alocate time to spend with customers. Esp to those busy stores with 20k + daily SS sales.

How long does it take to become a Store Manager?
Are you a female? or better yet are you a Black Female? What I’m getting at is that DM’s hide the fact that they have quotas to meet on Female/Male and Ethnic Ratios for the district. If you are a Female your NOT expected to do all the Physical parts of the job ( like stacking water, overheads , and stacking repacks) just delegate it to a Male Manager. HAHA

So are you up for the challenge?? Do you have what it takes??

I hope so cause 9 out of 10 Walgreen’s Managers feel discontent… don’t believe me? Ask em HAHA I’m sure I’ll get bashed by all those STOCK CLERKS who read this. Lets face it TRUTH HURTS. HAHA

Tabitha says:

I agree.

chris - photo lab tech says:

ok. i work at walgreens in the photo department and there are several reasons why we have to get that information. the biggest one being is that we are required by law to report any child porn, drug use, abusive, or killings. weather we have seen the photos before we actually print them does not matter. it is for the safety of everyone. by taking down this info we are able to report these photos to the police to make YOUR life safer. if we didnt take this info, what if we got a child molesters photo’s? we wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. then what if he went on to molest your child/brother/sister? we do not sell this information and to the person who said that the fbi is in our windows system, you are completely wrong. we dont even use windows and it would be impossible since the photos are never saved. you can complain all you want but honestly you guys dont know how much work we do just to make your photos look great and we really dont need you to bitch about having to give out your info. it is not being sold. and like i said, it is just a security measure. we have to do it for everyone. and for those of you who think that there isnt a child molester alive who would bring their photos to walgreens to be developed, you are dead wrong. just in the past year i had to have the cops called 4 times for child porn.

Randy says:

If that’s the case, Chris, it needs to be clear to customers *PRIOR* to their dropping photos off for development or using the self-service development kiosk that they must provide and name/address/phone number/whatever else, and that they cannot pay for nor take home the photos until *AFTER* that information is provided. I constantly wonder why it is so hard for organizations to provide this requirement in advance if they are going to demand certain personal information for use of facilities.

J says:

I am the HPS in a cali store , and the only reason why we ask for your phone number is to make the envelope, not for marketing purposes. It is a LP issue when names and phone number’s are made up, and the photo speciliast get questioned. I can care le