r/ShoppersDrugMart

I worked in beauty retail at a major Canadian chain for three years. I'm going to keep the location and names vague on purpose, but I want people to understand how this industry actually works behind the counter.

The store I worked at ran heavily on grey-market sales. A lot of our volume came from bulk buyers reselling luxury cosmetics overseas. On paper it was just "big sales." In practice it meant the store's revenue was wildly inflated, and a single small-format location was pulling numbers that made no sense for its size and foot traffic.

Here's the part that broke me. Commission was supposed to be individual, but when more than one person helped a client it went into a shared pool to be split. The thing is, we almost never saw that pooled money, and with the volume of sales going through that store, it was a lot of money to never see. I never got a clear, honest accounting of how the pool was actually divided, and from where I sat the math never added up for the people doing the selling. The employee who brought in the highest-volume clients ended up pushed out. A long-tenured staffer got a vaguely-defined "assistant manager" title that seemed to exist mainly to give her a cut. Management lived noticeably well. The rest of us were told to be grateful for hours.

And the hours were the weapon. Every time someone asked a pointed question about commission, or about gratis (the free products brands send that are supposed to go to staff), their schedule quietly shrank. Nobody had to say "stop asking." You just learned.

Ownership, as far as I could tell, didn't care where the money came from as long as the cheques cleared. It only seemed to get real attention when the brand itself started threatening to pull product over the reselling. Corporate involvement came late and felt more about protecting the relationship with the brand than about the staff.

I'm sure I've been quietly blacklisted, and I've made peace with that. I also know this isn't unique to one company. But people deserve to know that when you shop these counters, the friendly commission-based "service" model can hide a lot of quiet exploitation of the people doing the actual work.

I just got promoted to full time and signed up for my benefits with Canada Life. The package includes life insurance, has anyone tried opting out of it? Is that an option? I can’t have life insurance due to personal reasons.

I got accepted at SDM Beauty Boutique for part-time beauty specialist position and I would value any insight or tips!

This is going to be my first actual job and I’m still a student but I have a history of previous side-jobs surrounding graphic design, social media, and marketing in the past. I also do content creation from time to time which helps me gain knowledge with various cosmetic brands and influencing purchases.

Any advice or experiences would be appreciated since I start very soon and I just need a heads up on what I should expect and how I can also be a great contribution.

Thanks!

The last few years (at least) there has been a plethora of pride merch, hats, bags, makeup, accessories and now (idk if it’s just my location that has nothing for purchase?) there’s absolutely nothing?

I've been designated as my stores primary scraper and it makes me wonder about peoples methods! I usually just dry scrape with the provided green scraper but apparently that's an unpopular method at my store as many use wipes or a spray.

Also since no one else in my life would understand or care, I scrapped all aisles (1-7) in a 4 hour shift yesterday (a feat I've only completed once before💪.

Hey everyone, I just need to vent and honestly get some perspective because I feel like I'm losing my mind.

​I recently moved locations to a new store, and my current pharmacy is an absolute dumpster fire. Nobody here seems to give a single fuck. Patients are constantly complaining to me because there is zero problem solving happening, and I get absolutely no help or backup from anyone when I’m trying to resolve issues.

​The differences in provincial practices are one thing, but the staff here is actively gatekeeping resources and information, making it impossible to even ask a question.

​Here is just a snippet of the daily bullshit:

​Zero admin upkeep, nobody updates patient or DOCTOR files, so faxes are constantly going into the abyss.

​Lazy pharmacists. They refuse reauths and their default answer to me or a patient is a shrugged shoulder and "I don't know, tell them to call their doctor" or "Google it." Like, yeah... no shit, we tried that.

​I never realized how good the customer service and standards were at my old store until I got surrounded by people who just shrug patients off. Back home, if I walked over with a problem, my old manager might face palm, but at least the pharmacists would actually try to see what they could do to help.

​I just reached out to my old coworker about all of this, and talking to her basically reinforced my feelings that this pharmacy is just flat out bad. It's so incredibly draining to deal with this every single shift, and I'm so tempted to just quit because it's honestly not worth my time or energy.

​I do plan on trying to talk to the owner first before I walk out., so I'm trying to figure out how to frame this professionally.

​Has anyone else transitioned from a high standard, well run pharmacy to a toxic, disorganized mess? How do you address gatekeeping coworkers and lazy pharmacists with an owner without sounding like you're just complaining, or should I just quit?

Hey everyone, I’m looking for some advice about my Shoppers situation.

I started in December as a Beauty Specialist. I was trained at the main location (both in beauty and cashier/front training). After about a month, the owner offered me a position at another store under the same ownership. But at that store, the manager was really rude—honestly, The manager barely gave me any shifts—just one or two every two weeks. And when i asked her why im not getting the shifts she said i think the owner is confused and we don’t need people she must have put you in the wrong store After 2–3 months of that, I talked to the owner, and she said I could cover shifts at a different store. Since February, I’ve been mostly working there, but I still only get about 18 to 19 hours a week. I never really got a proper schedule at the original store I was hired for.

That original store—the one where I got hired—had that manager who was really awful, and honestly, the whole team was just not a good environment. After she left (she was on a contract), there’s a new manager, but I still don’t get any shifts there. This whole situation started in February, and it’s now June. I’ve told them I need full-time hours since I finished school and need to pay rent.

Someone at the store I’m currently covering shifts at suggested I switch to front cash supervisor to get full-time hours. I hadn’t really thought about it, but I’m considering it because I need those hours. I texted the manager if she’d consider me for the role, but I haven’t heard back yet, and I’m really confused about what to do next. Has anyone gone through something similar or have any advice? I really need some guidance. Thanks so much!

Went to return an opened box of Dr. Scholl's blister cushion bandages because when I used them, they lasted less than 10 minutes on my ankles before they slipped off and stopped covering the blisters. I used 2 out of a box of 6, had the original packaging and receipt and it was within 30 days of purchase, and I was told they wouldn't accept the return because the box had to be unopened.

This was not what I recalled their policy being in the past, and this stipulation, that the items have to be unopened, is not listed on the back of the receipt or on the website, which is a pretty HUGE omission, imho.

I called their customer care line and the representative told me the same thing. I told them that that's a pretty big stipulation to leave out, and that they should be listing that up front.

Anyway, this may have already been talked about but I didn't see it and wanted to give people the heads up.

Just curious if anyone has any experience on the range for Wage Rate, details for Benefits, Insurance, Mat Leave, Union, etc?

Spouse is being offered a full-time position as a Cosmetician / Beauty Specialist, so just trying to see what she could expect for Benefits and what might be negotiable for a wage. Currently she is in the same position part time at minimum wage + commission.

This will be a detailed post. I am friends with a Shoppers Drug Mart assistant manager working in Toronto. My friend is confused about a situation he's facing at work. For the past few weeks, an old white woman has been coming to his store and buying Apple gift cards in the amount of $2,000 to $3,000 each time. When he asked her why she needed so many gift cards, she just said, "I need them for my daughter in Calgary; she needs to buy a laptop." He suspects, and I do too, that she is undergoing some scam, like the digital arrest scam in India. What can he do in this situation? As an employee, he has mentioned it to the manager, but it is not illegal to sell gift cards, and they cannot interfere much in the situation. I asked him if he could go to the police, but since he is on a visa, he is afraid to get involved in that matter. What can he do, or should he just let the situation slide away as it is not his problem?

Is there ever a instruction or help book I can use to guide myself while using tiny term in the back room, because for some reason only managers can train me to use this when they’re here and they barely have time to train me. And I want to learn it on my own. How can I find the guide/user help? I press help on the blue program screen but nothing shows. Any help or info is appreciated!

To preface, I have been with SDM for nearly 3 years in a supervisor role at a single location. This location is in a densely populated area, with a higher than average 2SLGBTQIA+ sub population and store demographic. I am visibly queer/trans. Prior to my employment with SDM, I was employed by another national pharmacy chain in Canada, in various manager roles and locations for 9 years.

The rainbow-washing SDM perpetuates is appalling. Though, I'll admit this year is more tame than the last few years. The Quo Beauty pride line is smaller this year and I couldn't find the usual Pride Vibes banner/adverts on SDMs website (thus far). Fortunately our store's customer's and patients don't fall for the over-priced rainbow merch we display every year. Our 2SLGBTQIA+ community is rather indignant to corporate rainbow-washing. However, my main issue is the incredibly disingenuous slogan SDM reuses every year and expects their staff to be 100% onboard with, PRIDE VIBES. It must have been created by a corporate cis 'pick-me' gay or another corporate ally. It has always come across, to me, as completely lacking substance. I know SDM donates to PFLAG Canada (though it's only *up to* $30,000, based on sales of Quo beauty products) and other 2SLGBTQIA+ initiatives nationally each year. Which I do admit is better than what most corporations are doing, but it's entirely only ever for the branding they get out of it. One might argue they have a monopoly on the Canadian beauty and pharmacy pride marketing landscape.

I have had cis-het employees confide in me that they don't want to wear the PRIDE VIBES shirt because they don't want to be perceived as gay, like it's my problem. I have seen SDM employed plain clothed security guards yell homophoic slurs at community members. I have been continually tokenized by staff whilst being misgendered or dead-named. I have had customer's make homophoic remarks to my face and have been threatened with physical assault because of my queerness.

I am not ashamed of my queerness. I take pride in my identity everyday, all year.

So, I will continue my refusal to don SDMs disingenuous garb this month. Not because I am afraid of being more hypervisible. Not because I have a disdain for crew neck collars. I refuse to wear SDMs tacky pride slogan on my queer body. SDM thinks, because we're employees, they can use our bodies as advertising space. My body is not for sale, I would never disrespect my body in such disregard for corporate sponsorship.

Yes, the 2SLGBTQIA+ community needs visibility and ally's, now more than ever. But the way SDM is doing it feels like a mockery to me, my friends, my partner, and my community.

My mom always gets perfume samples from shoppers drug mart and they give her so much! But when I ask they always say no, like one time I went to day after she got samples and they told me they don’t have any more. I knew that was a lie because there’s no way you have no perfume samples at all. Do I need to buy something to get them? How does this work?

This is my 4th month working as a cashier at a slightly small sdm while going to school every weekday. The job is very demanding, there’s no self checkout, I help out with merchandising, I face, I have to check expiry dates(rotation checklist) and still cash every customer. I would like to know if it’s possible to transfer to the pharmacy as an assistant and what the pathway looks like.

do all cashiers at shoppers have to also face the entire store or do u guys have dedicated facers

I recieved a gift of the 2025 perfume discovery set with voucher. As a result of moving, busy year, etc, I had hardly used/ tested the fragrances, only to find out today they have a 1 year expiration date which passed last month :( Anybody have experience redeeming the perfume after the date?

I thought gift cards can't expire in Canada, which is true but apparently since these vouchers have no specific dollar amount they can wiggle out of this. That's why I never thought it would be an issue.

Very few Shoppers Drug Mart locations are unionized while the grocery chains of Loblaws are.

I was hoping to hear from anyone who has worked for or is currently working for one of the unionized SDM locations.