I've been thinking about this for a while now, and I hadn't been able to come up with a decent explanation as to why we were losing hours at work the past few months.  I work in a pharmacy.  I am a technician.  I help people on a daily basis who are just trying to get by one day, and one pill, at a time.  Technicians are scheduled 10 hours for every 100 prescriptions that we fill.  Over the last month, we have lost 60 hours for techs.  That means that we lost one full time person and one part time person in the last week. 

It is taking longer and longer for our drug shipments to come in.  We have had to cut back on how often we can order products because prices for delivery have skyrocketed since gas prices have risen.  Now we only get one order a week, and that has to last us until we can get by to the next week.  I don't know how many people I have heard say that they are going to have to find other ways to get what they need.  People who drive from rural areas to pick up medicine have started going without them just so they can save a trip into town, gas,  and money when their refills are due. 

As we keep losing customers, I'm afraid that soon enough, I'll be out of a job.  But that isn't the real problem. I'm more worried about the people who are going to be hurt the most.  Like patients who are on a fixed income and can't afford the best in health care.  Many of them are on special programs to save money, such as mail-order.  But with fuel prices rising,  I can only imagine how much these companies are going to charge.  

I would like to think that Corporate America would want to step in and assist those in need during a time of crisis, but I fear that most companies are out there to bleed us all dry anyway.  If any thing in this world is going to get better, its going to have to be a group effort to help each other out.  I've already begun talking to my manager to provide a delivery service to the local retirement communities, that way people can save time and money by having what they need come to them. There are three such communities within a 10 block radius, so I've even thought that bicycle delivery could be an option.  

We're sinking, and this is just the tip of the iceberg, ladies and gentlemen
SBak, out.