Not sure why I feel this way, but I like that my pharmacy knows me and my family. Think about what they see everyday.....It's almost like an emergency room in a hospital, they see it all! I've seen more than a couple decompensations (not me!) at the pharmacy counter and the staff don't even blink an eye.

I've gone to the same pharmacy for at least 17 years now. I do have moments of weirdness when I drop off a new script, b/c my cocktail is pretty extensive already, but that passes quickly. I have a handicapped son, who takes a decent number of meds on his own every month, then the hubby has a couple of routine scripts of his own too. So when I go to pick up I have at least two big pharmacy bags full of stuff.

The benefits as I see them are:
Since they know my name and face I have a shorter wait time when I pick up, they'll get my order and have it waiting at the counter when I get there. They greet me and my son every time they see us in the store, which my son just LOVES the attention. Since I've been with them so long, it seems I've graduated past the "suspicion" level, meaning they aren't surprised if I bring them a script for one of *those* meds that often get abused. If I have a question, I get a quick and friendly, detailed response. They contact me immediately if there's any problem with ANYTHING, and seem to go farther to help with problems. Plus, I feel more comfortable asking any one of them very personal questions. Alot of this sounds like stuff they should do for everyone all the time anyway, but it just feels NICER, I don't know another way to say it. BTW, our pharmacy is in the local Kroger- go figure! They put in one of those drive thru windows and have even broken their stiff rule of not getting OTC items for customers in the drive thru for us when we've been on the way home from hospital.
Be friendly and outgoing with your pharmacy folks and they'll take care of you!