Turned away at Walgreens Drive-thru Pharmacy

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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on January 8, 2014 at 8:46am

I've been refused service at restaurant and bank drive-through windows on both my bicycle and my motorcycle. 

There was a time for a number of years when I was car-free in High School and college when I rode my motorcycle or bicycle everywhere year-round as my only forms of transportation.  Back in the 80's almost no drive-through would allow a motorcycle through just like today most don't allow bicycles. It took a lot of nation-wide advocacy and pressuring of businesses by motorcycle groups such as the AMA for things to change a little in the 90's.  The businesses used the same lame excuses of "safety" and "insurance" to deny service to non-cars in an autocentric 4-wheeled cage culture.  

Today I am pretty soured on the whole drive-through experience and almost never will use one or frequent most businesses that have a drive-through model of "service."  Other than the bank this is pretty easy to do as I abhor the corn syrup garbage they serve at fast food joints.  I don't like the bank drive-through because where am I going to fill out the bank slip and sign my checks while sitting on a bike?  I don't carry a pen with me (they always break if I try and leak all over my pockets) and the little mailboxes that they keep the slips in right before the bank drive-through are never stocked up with the right deposit forms anyhow.  I prefer to go inside and use the table in the lobby with the half-dead pens on the short cables to do my paperwork on and talk to a real live human being standing right in front of me instead of through a tinny speaker coming out of clown's ass that I can't understand.  Anyhow, I don't like scrabbling around in a car trying to do paperwork while waiting in a motionless line like I was out on the Kennedy "Expressway."  If I wanted to be stuck in a line of idling cars belching out carcinogenic toxins into the still air I might as well be in traffic anyhow.

To hell with the blasted drive-through (or drive-thru as people call them in today's post-literate Idiocracy world.) 

 

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Permalink Reply by Mike Fiasco on January 8, 2014 at 9:30am

When you hear "insurance issue" the message is really "litigation issue".  Since the pharmacy or bank drive thru is on private property, the business can be liable for any injury that occurs there.  A slip and fall inside the store will result in a medical settlement.  A ped or biker being hit by a car in their parking lot will result in a medical settlement.

With all due respect to the cycling and PI attorneys, we're familiar with the default position that "the store didn't do enough to ensure the safety" of the public.   If a cyclist is hit in a drive thru, any number of the attorneys on this forum would get as much as they can for their client, and maybe use the "didn't do enough" position.

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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on January 8, 2014 at 10:04am

It's too bad that we live in such a car-centric culture where an automobile driver who strikes a pedestrian or bicyclist (whether on the public street or on private property) is not the one who is ultimately deemed responsible...

If you wanted to kill someone in our society and get away with it, just do it behind the wheel.  You'll almost always get off Scot Free or only get a slap on wrist for your actions/inaction.  If anything they will blame the car/car-maker and not the one supposedly "in control" of it. 

Mike Fiasco said:

When you hear "insurance issue" the message is really "litigation issue".  Since the pharmacy or bank drive thru is on private property, the business can be liable for any injury that occurs there.  A slip and fall inside the store will result in a medical settlement.  A ped or biker being hit by a car in their parking lot will result in a medical settlement.

With all due respect to the cycling and PI attorneys, we're familiar with the default position that "the store didn't do enough to ensure the safety" of the public.   If a cyclist is hit in a drive thru, any number of the attorneys on this forum would get as much as they can for their client, and maybe use the "didn't do enough" position.

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Permalink Reply by ad on January 8, 2014 at 10:33am

This is exactly why places such as banks and pharmacies are scarred to allow bicycles or peds to use a drive thru.  Until the automobile insurance mandatory minimum is raised to a level that is not laughable for a person facing serious injury, this type of problem will always be present.   

Mike Fiasco said:

When you hear "insurance issue" the message is really "litigation issue".  Since the pharmacy or bank drive thru is on private property, the business can be liable for any injury that occurs there.  A slip and fall inside the store will result in a medical settlement.  A ped or biker being hit by a car in their parking lot will result in a medical settlement.

With all due respect to the cycling and PI attorneys, we're familiar with the default position that "the store didn't do enough to ensure the safety" of the public.   If a cyclist is hit in a drive thru, any number of the attorneys on this forum would get as much as they can for their client, and maybe use the "didn't do enough" position.

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Permalink Reply by S on January 8, 2014 at 10:47am

James BlackHeron said:

It's too bad that we live in such a car-centric culture where an automobile driver who strikes a pedestrian or bicyclist (whether on the public street or on private property) is not the one who is ultimately deemed responsible...

The driver is deemed responsible but the company that owns the property can be blamed and probably has a lot more money that can be recovered in a settlement and that's the more important bit.  Winning a multi-million dollar judgement from the smuck driving the car is fine but if that person only has a few thousand in assets and his or her insurance will only provide 20k for liability and expenses, that judgement is essentially useless. 

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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on January 8, 2014 at 11:08am

I agree.  The liability/litigation issue is just another symptom of today's class-warfare.  Those with the deepest pockets are the ones most likely targeted.  Litigation often costs a lot of money, and is exceedingly profitable to the litigators in some cases, so litigators are not a likely to aim for the low-yielding fruit of the common guy who's fault it was really for driving too fast/texting/not paying attention while operating his ton of murderous metal.  Instead they aim their money-making litigation machine at the deep pockets of anyone/anything nearby who can be blame-shifted to.

IMHO $50/gallon gas will solve a lot of these car-culture problems. 

S said:

The driver is deemed responsible but the company that owns the property can be blamed and probably has a lot more money that can be recovered in a settlement and that's the more important bit.  Winning a multi-million dollar judgement from the smuck driving the car is fine but if that person only has a few thousand in assets and his or her insurance will only provide 20k for liability and expenses, that judgement is essentially useless. 

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Permalink Reply by Tom Dworzanski on January 8, 2014 at 11:16am

Walgreens just called in response to this situation!

I missed the call but the voicemail included a detailed response and an assurance that this was all a miscommunication. They are happy to serve cyclists.

You may listen to the voicemail here:

This is a complete transcript of the voicemail:

Hi Mr. Dworzanski. It's Chris at Walgreen Pharmacy, the pharmacy manager. I'm calling in response to this communication. Just wanted to let you guys know, or let you know, that we will accept a bicyclist into our drive-thru. From what I heard from my staff, a person in a car told her we wouldn't help her. We would've gladly helped her. So, definitely not anti-cyclist. We actually make room to put bike things outside of our front door to park your bikes and lock them up. If you have any questions please call me 773-772-2370. Hit option 4 twice. We're really sorry that that happened. We would've helped her without any problem at all. So call me if you have any questions. Otherwise, have a great day and happy new year. See you later. Bye.

This is a copy of the (admittedly rather aggressive, though I feel justified) message I sent them, to which this man was responding:

Dear Walgreens,

I am writing to complain about Store #9000 (2001 N Milwaukee Ave in Chicago). I recently read on an online forum (You may see it here: http://www.thechainlink.org/forum/topics/turned-away-at-walgreens-drive-thru-pharmacy ) that cyclists are turned away at the pharmacy drive-thru. While I may not be a user of the pharmacy drive-thru, I none-the-less shop at Walgreens almost daily for miscellaneous needs.

As an avid cyclist and someone who cares deeply about the sustainability of my city, I find it shocking that your pharmacy staff, the same staff that insists I “be well," would refuse to serve a customer on a bicycle. A person on a bicycle is just as capable of and just as entitled to transacting business with the pharmacy through the drive-thru window as any motorist. Perhaps cyclists are more rare in your drive-thrus as they are less likely to need the medications needed by those who travel in a sedentary state, however we nonetheless do get sick sometimes.

The most shocking part is the absurdity of the assumption made by your staff member that the ban should be based on the possibility that a cyclist will be hit by an apparently blind driver. Letting go of the fact that vision requirements are a prerequisite to obtaining a drivers license, I would like to ask: Why then does your company maintain parking lots through which people walk if they potentially just as unsafe? Isn’t there just as much, if not more, or a danger of a person being plowed over walking to or from your stores?

Please look into this matter, both by contacting those responsible at store #9000 and also by consulting with the other resources available to you to answer my question as stated in the subject. Is Walgreens Anti-cyclsit? I need to know because my continued business with your company, and perhaps that of others, rests on you successfully proving to me that you have real, sensible, and non-discriminatory reasons for refusing to serve a customer on a bicycle.

Thank you,

Tom Dworzanski

Frequent Customer

The most unfortunate part of all this is that it seems like yet another case of driver intimidation. Whether or not the pharmacy staff erred is uncertain as there seems to be a slight conflict in the details, however I think given their response, it shouldn't happen again.

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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on January 8, 2014 at 11:38am

+1 and good work Tom!

Tom Dworzanski said:

The most unfortunate part of all this is that it seems like yet another case of driver intimidation. Whether or not the pharmacy staff erred is uncertain as there seems to be a slight conflict in the details, however I think given their response, it shouldn't happen again.

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Permalink Reply by Richard tencats on January 8, 2014 at 11:39am

PNC drive thru has been not a problem for me when on my bike. I've probably been thru the same PNC drive thu lane for near 15 transactions this year 2013 and last year 2012 about the same. Always felt welcomed when on my bike making deposits.

Anika said:

PNC doesn't allow you to bike thru the drive thru for service either. It's a pretty big ordeal to unload two kids and lock up a cargo bike just to make a business transaction but they cite insurance as the reason. There is a walk up window that can be used at the one on Fullerton but it is only open when the actual building is not.

You can walk your bike into the Walgreens at Armitage and Milwaukee.

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Permalink Reply by David Barish on January 8, 2014 at 12:44pm

I know some fast food franchises that are open late at night are only open via the drive up window and only open to people in cars. They seem to have a fear that somebody on foot or not in a car is more likely to do something criminal.  I have ridden my bike to the drive up window of my Walgreens with no problem. With ATMs being more pervasive its less of a problem of banks. an unmanned or unwomanned booth is not going to give you a hard time. 

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on January 8, 2014 at 12:47pm

When I lived in Rogers Park and often rode my bike to a drive up ATM in Evanston, I sometimes said hi to a bike cop doing the same in the next lane. Never got hassled there.

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Permalink Reply by dan brown on January 8, 2014 at 1:38pm

Laura - sorry to read this. I fought this battle for a few years and finally quit fighting it. Now I just bring my bike in and if anyone tries to say something to me I pretend to not understand english or act like I am blasting music in my earphones (but I don't ride with them anymore) ... and just walk the bike around the store or place it next to the security guard, etc.

I was told once (maybe at a McDonalds or Burger King, can't remember) that the reason for the policy is to prevent people from grabbing the food (or in your case the Rx) and taking off. When it is a car they have a license plate number. In fact, IIRC; this was told me when I 'walked up' to a drive through to order (the lobby was closed but the drive - thru remained open till midnight, etc.)

Dan

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