People Love This Pharmacy Even More Than Costco’s — Year After Year

Warehouse club giant Costco has some catching up to do, at least when it comes to customer satisfaction with its pharmacy services.

That’s according to the latest J.D. Power U.S. Pharmacy Study, which polled over 14,700 pharmacy customers and covered four types of pharmacies.

Mass market retailers, like Costco, are outperforming chain drug stores. But there’s one mass merchandiser that Costco can’t keep up with.

Following is a look at the top-ranked — and worst-ranked — pharmacies in each category.

Mass merchandiser pharmacies

The average satisfaction score among the pharmacies of mass merchandisers, such as big-box stores and warehouse chains, is 706 out of 1,000 points. The chains in this category that scored above the average:

1. Sam’s Club — 778 (No. 1 in this category for the 10th consecutive year)
2. Costco — 765

Walmart (687) and CVS Pharmacy inside Target (684) had below-average scores.

Note that you do not necessarily have to be a member of a wholesale club to use its pharmacy, including Sam's Club. As we explain in “6 Ways Anyone Can Shop at Sam’s Club Without a Membership“:

“Anyone can buy prescription medications from Sam’s Club pharmacies, according to the retailer’s website. Prescription drugs are also exempt from the nonmember fee.”

Supermarket pharmacies

The average customer satisfaction score among brick-and-mortar supermarket chain pharmacies is 715 out of 1,000 points. The chains in this category that scored above the average are:

1. Wegmans — 764
2. Publix — 760
3. H-E-B — 756
4. Walmart Neighborhood Market — 727
5. Stop & Shop — 724
6. ShopRite — 721

Several chains fell below average: Albertsons (709), Giant Eagle (706), Kroger (699), Hy-Vee (697), Fry’s (684), King Soopers (683) and Safeway (672).

Drugstore pharmacies

Among the brick-and-mortar drugstore chain pharmacies included in the study, the average overall customer satisfaction score is 643 out of 1,000 points. The chains in this category that scored above the average are:

1. Health Mart — 759
2. Good Neighbor Pharmacy — 732

CVS Pharmacy (641) and Walgreens (634) had below-average scores. Rite Aid Pharmacy came in last with a score of 625.

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Mail-order pharmacies

The average customer satisfaction score among mail-order services is 697 out of 1,000. The operations that scored above the average are:

1. PillPack by Amazon Pharmacy — 745
2. Kaiser Permanente Pharmacy — 740
3. Amazon Pharmacy — 734
4. CenterWell — 707
5. PharmaCare.us — 703
6. Walmart Pharmacy Mail Services — 699

Rx America (695), AllianceRx Walgreens Prime (690), CVS Caremark (685), OptumRx (683) and Express Scripts Pharmacy (671) earned below-average scores.