The Pharmacy Staffing Shortage, Is the US College Price Tag Still Worth It? and Why You Should Say Yes More Often

0:00:03 Summer’s here and you can now get almost anything you need delivered with Uber Eats.
0:00:06 What do we mean by almost? You can’t get a well-groomed lawn delivered but you can get
0:00:11 chicken parmesan delivered. Sunshine? No. Some wine? Yes. Get almost almost anything
0:00:15 delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol in select markets. See app for details.
0:00:22 McRispy fans, there’s a new jaw-dropping McRispy at McDonald’s. It’s called the Fire Cracker McRispy.
0:00:31 It has the crispy, juicy, tender chicken you love, topped with crispy jalapenos and a super tasty
0:00:39 sweet and spicy sauce. You’ll wish this spectacle of flavor never ended. Try the new Fire Cracker
0:00:46 McRispy today at Participating McDonald’s restaurants. Welcome to the Prof. Jude Pod’s
0:00:49 office hours. This is the part of the show where we answer your questions about business
0:00:55 big-tech entrepreneurship and whatever else is on your mind. Hey, Prof. Jude. Hey, Scott and team.
0:00:59 Hey, Scott. Hi, Prof. Jude. Hey, Prof. Jude. Hey, Prof. Jude. Hi, Professor G. Last week’s
0:01:02 office hours, we answered your questions surrounding sheen’s design practices,
0:01:07 qualities to look for when hiring, and how to pivot when you’re a mid-career professional.
0:01:15 IP protection be increased? I think you could argue that the final frontier of that or the
0:01:21 next frontier is AI. The key to being successful, I think, is to develop allies along the way.
0:01:30 Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. Every day, three or four emails to strangers, contacts,
0:01:34 colleagues from your alma mater who are working in investor relations, comms,
0:01:40 video production, content strategy, and sort of get on it and just get back into the ecosystem,
0:01:44 if you will. Today, we’ll answer your questions about the current pharmacy staffing shortage,
0:01:49 whether the U.S. college price tag is worth it and how to navigate life transitions.
0:01:52 I’m already intimidated. You know what? I don’t know any more about this
0:01:56 shit than you, but I don’t know any less. First question.
0:02:02 Hi, Professor Galloway. My name is Mann. I currently live in Washington State.
0:02:06 I have been a fan since I listened to your interview with Barry Holmes,
0:02:12 in which you mentioned your book, The Ford. My question to you is about the pharmacy’s
0:02:17 workforce because I’m a pharmacist. The pharmacy world is dealing with the shortest of technicians
0:02:23 due to low wages. What do you think corporate need to do to provide incentives for the pharmacy
0:02:31 technician? I enjoy watching all your polls. Enjoy all your dad joke on the show. Thank you.
0:02:35 So, boss, we really need to be friends. Such that every time I see you, I can say, “Hey, man.
0:02:44 Hey, man. I love that. I love that.” I say, “I respond to texts from other men, I would say,
0:02:47 “Hey, man, and if I like them or I’m close to them, I’m like, ‘Hey, brother.'”
0:02:52 Anyways, what do I think? Supposedly, and I’ve read something about this, there is supposedly a
0:02:57 looming pharmacy crisis in America, specifically staffing shortage due to increasing burnout
0:03:02 among pharmacists. I guess a lot of boomers are just sick of this shit and retiring. According
0:03:07 to the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, applications to pharmacy schools have
0:03:15 declined 64% from nearly 100,000 in 2012 to about 36,000 in 2022. Data from the Philadelphia College
0:03:20 of Osteopathic Medicine revealed that there were about 61,000 job postings for pharmacists in the
0:03:27 first three quarters of 2023, but only about 13,000 pharmacists graduated in 2022. Why is this
0:03:33 happening? What’s going on here? Some workers have staged walkouts, including well-known protests
0:03:41 called Farmageddon, which involve three days of nationwide walkouts in CVS and Walgreens.
0:03:46 What’s being done to navigate the pharmacy shortage? National retailers, including Walgreens and CVS
0:03:50 Health, are investing heavily in automation and micro-fulfillment centers where robots handle
0:03:55 most of the tasks to streamline and reduce the workload. In February of this year, Walgreens
0:03:59 announced a partnership with pharmacy school deans at 17 universities to increase student
0:04:08 enrollment in pharmacy schools. What’s going on here? Theoretically speaking, if there’s a crisis
0:04:14 in a shortage, that would mean the market would naturally, on its own, intrinsically, need to
0:04:20 offer greater wages and you would see an increase in wages. Just as through the pandemic, we couldn’t
0:04:27 get any frontline workers or any staff or service workers back to, people just got sick of trying
0:04:31 to get people to put their masks on. Meanwhile, putting their own health at risk for nine bucks
0:04:39 an hour. I was on the board of Panera Bread and wages went up, I think 30 or 40%, just in a
0:04:44 probably a six or a 12-month period. Not because we’re good people, although I do think they’re
0:04:49 good people, but because we had to. It was just striking. I remember this one stat that the CEO
0:04:55 was saying that usually they have a job fair and they get 100 applicants and they might hire 20 of
0:05:01 them. 18 would show up day one. They would say, two, just don’t show up. It went down to something
0:05:06 like 20 people would show up at the job fair. They’d make 10 offers and of those 10, only two
0:05:11 or three would show up the first day of work, which just struck me as, where are people getting
0:05:17 money? It does feel, and I think this is a good thing, that at the lower end of the wage scale,
0:05:23 there was all this pent up bullshit or wages were too low and all of a sudden, I don’t want to
0:05:27 say the dam broke, but basically these people said, this just isn’t worth it. I’m not going to work
0:05:32 this hard and put up with this bullshit to live below the poverty line. There was a massive,
0:05:39 massively overdue increase in wage pressure, which led to higher wages at the lower income level,
0:05:43 which is a wonderful thing. At the end of the day, it’s supply and demand. I would think that over
0:05:50 time, you’re going to see wages rise among pharmacists, just as if you’ve seen wages rise
0:05:57 among nurses. Now, if I were to say, what is the culprit here? It’s that an industry is too
0:06:01 concentrated. One, I would argue, and I don’t have the data here, but I would argue if I were to
0:06:05 put forward a thesis around what’s happened. It’s one, regulatory capture by the pharmaceutical
0:06:09 companies and hospital networks that have essentially starched out all the margin,
0:06:14 and the frontline workers, the doctors, and the pharmacists and the nurses have not kept
0:06:22 anything near the pace of the increase in healthcare costs. It has gone to insurance companies
0:06:27 who get 45 cents on the dollar for admin and profits. The best argument in my opinion for
0:06:34 nationalizing medicine is 45 cents on the dollar gets starched out of the system by insurance
0:06:40 companies. If you pay a dollar in insurance, you get 55 cents in care back, too, there’s a pretty
0:06:46 serious concentration around the front end. That is, I think between CVS Health and Walgreens,
0:06:53 I would imagine that it’s pretty concentrated. There’s not enough people bidding on the labor
0:06:59 here. If there’s really only two, and they themselves are struggling on the front end,
0:07:03 they’re facing some of the same pressures, I think, as frontline healthcare workers are facing,
0:07:09 that they’re not in a mood to be super generous. Quite frankly, they don’t need to because if
0:07:15 they control the majority of the job listings around pharmacists, they set the price. Again,
0:07:20 I think it’s another example of the concentration of power in an industry is not a good thing.
0:07:26 I would argue that it’s an interesting profession. I would think over the long term that the
0:07:30 market will largely self-correct. It may take longer than it should because of this regulatory
0:07:36 capture and this concentration of power that I was talking about. So there you go, man. Next question.
0:07:43 Hi, Scott. This is Florian from Zurich, Switzerland. I love your podcast. Your candor and humor are
0:07:47 refreshing, and I often find myself returning to your work when looking for interesting content.
0:07:52 Here’s my question. I’m a father of two teenage boys about to graduate from the Swiss public school
0:07:58 system. Their high school degrees will allow them to attend Swiss universities, where education is
0:08:05 excellent, and tuition is very affordable, between $1,000 and $2,000 a year. Given this,
0:08:09 would you still consider sending your sons to a U.S. college despite the high tuition fees?
0:08:16 Is the differential in tuition fees warranted in your view? As a pro bono professor at NYU,
0:08:21 I look forward to receiving your honest opinion. Regards, Florian.
0:08:27 Thanks, Florian. First off, let’s just take stock of your blessings. You live in Zurich,
0:08:30 which I think is one of the most beautiful, civilized,
0:08:34 just generally pleasant cities in the world. I think it would be wonderful to be raising boys
0:08:40 there. The father of two teenage boys. I’m a father of two teenage boys, and I’m not exaggerating.
0:08:45 Every day I have a moment where I think, God, I’m just so blessed. I just think about my boys,
0:08:51 and I just think, Jesus, I have experienced something that just has made it all worthwhile.
0:08:55 So anyways, back to your question. According to the College Board, the average 2023-2024
0:09:01 price to tuition fees, housing, and food of private non-profit four-year colleges is $56,000.
0:09:08 I think at NYU, it’s actually about $100,000. I think tuition is $72,000. I think it’s well
0:09:12 above $100,000. It’s $510,000. In a four-year public college, as in-state students face an
0:09:17 average cost of about $24,000, I think those numbers are low. But anyways, according to the
0:09:20 National Center for Education Statistics, the average price of college tuition fees in room
0:09:26 and board has increased 155% between 1980 and 2023. Why? Because me and my colleagues every day
0:09:30 look in the mirror. When we wake up in the morning, we ask ourselves one question.
0:09:35 How can I increase my compensation while decreasing my accountability? There’s this
0:09:40 notion that somehow we’re more noble than your average bear. We’re not. We’re not any less noble,
0:09:47 and there’s a lot of good people in education. But be clear. We want to have a home in the
0:09:51 Hamptons and have a nice life and pay for our own kids’ overpriced college education as much as
0:09:56 anybody else. We have discovered the ultimate business strategy and CLVMH strategy. Let’s
0:10:02 reject so many people through artificial scarcity by constraining supply unnecessarily such that we
0:10:06 can position ourselves as an aspirational luxury brand and raise our prices faster than inflation,
0:10:10 and then hire a bunch of administrative people, administrators who do interesting work that
0:10:16 has absolutely no fucking impact on anything, see above DEI, sustainability, leadership, ethics,
0:10:21 Jesus fucking Christ. I’m going to teach my son, or I’m going to teach a kid at the age of 27
0:10:26 how to be more ethical. Yeah, good luck with that. Anyways, where are we? Okay, so this is
0:10:31 the bottom line in what I would do. America does a small number of things really well. We make the
0:10:37 best weapons in the world. Looking to kill a bunch of people? We’re your retailer of choice.
0:10:42 We make incredible software. When I say software, I’m encompassing all technology.
0:10:47 Another thing America does really well, really well, distinct of the price,
0:10:52 is the college experience. I’ve spoken at Oxford and Cambridge and spent time in the
0:10:59 Baconi. I taught at Instituto Impressa in Madrid for a semester back in 2007, I think,
0:11:05 but anyways, I’m pretty familiar with European universities. They’re fine. They’re better value.
0:11:11 They give you the skills you need. They do not have the same brand equity, right? Michigan,
0:11:16 Stanford, and Carnegie Mellon are global brands, right? The Baconi is sort of,
0:11:22 Essex, sort of. Cambridge and Oxford, definitely, but the other several thousand universities in
0:11:27 Europe no one’s ever heard of. And I do think it’s an advantage. We live in a LinkedIn information
0:11:33 economy and having a brand name US University does give your kids an edge. Also, also, in terms of
0:11:39 the experience, oh my gosh, we’re so good at that. College football games, fraternities and
0:11:42 sororities. Yeah, I said fraternities and sororities are a wonderful experience for people. They shrink
0:11:46 a big university down to a small number of people. By the way, fun fact that I used to tell people
0:11:50 when I was the Interfraternity and Counsel President at UCLA, no joke, that’s right, I was king of the
0:11:55 jarheads. Was it the moment a kid joins a fraternity or sorority, they become much more likely to
0:12:02 graduate. It’s important to immediately find a group of people or a tribe or whatever to create
0:12:07 that connective tissue. Anyways, the university experience, the US University experience, land
0:12:15 and grand schools, it is singular. It is singular. So what should you do? One, if your kids are up
0:12:21 for it, apply to several US colleges. Hopefully, hopefully this is what happens. Your son or your
0:12:26 daughter get into three or four, actually you said sons, teenage boys, plural, get into three or four
0:12:30 universities and then this is what you do. You play them off against each other because the
0:12:35 interesting thing about the university admissions process is we all want to get in, right? We’re
0:12:40 desperate to get in. But once we get in, they all want your kid because they have something called
0:12:45 yield rates that has a huge impact on their rankings. And that is if someone gets into Duke and UVA,
0:12:50 they will announce or they will publish what the yield is. What do I mean by that? The yield between
0:12:54 Columbia and NYU, that is people that got them to both schools, used to be like 90-10. Everyone
0:12:59 went for the big brand prestige of Columbia. And then Ross and Rachel, friends, basically,
0:13:06 and Will and Grace, everyone wanted to be in SOHO. And so now our yield, I think it’s like 55-60 to
0:13:10 45-40. In other words, Columbia still gets a higher yield than us, but we’re within striking
0:13:14 distance of being a parody. Through no fault of our own, the faculty and administrators will take
0:13:18 credit for the amazing work we’ve done at NYU. Some of that is true, but it’s mostly because we
0:13:22 live in the coolest neighborhood in the world. I’ll stick to that. I think SOHO is an amazing
0:13:27 neighborhood. Anyways, ideally, ideally, and one, best laid plans and then your teenage boys will
0:13:31 tell you what they are doing. I like to think it’s so funny with parents. We think that we have so
0:13:35 much influence over our kids and the reality is they kind of come doing the makeup of their own
0:13:41 mind. And if it is affordable and it’s all else being equal, by all means, and again, it’s up to
0:13:47 them, the U.S. university experience is singular. I would recommend it to anyone globally. It’s
0:13:51 an amazing experience, something that would treasure the rest of their lives. Thanks for the question.
0:13:55 We have one quick break before our final question. Stay with us.
0:14:04 Support for this podcast comes from Grammarly. Your team spends half their time writing
0:14:09 and not productive writing, annoying writing, clarifying writing, just following up writing.
0:14:14 And we all know how that happens. When confusing email turns into 12 confused replies and a
0:14:18 meeting to get a line. That’s where Grammarly comes in. Grammarly is a trusted AI writing partner
0:14:23 that saves your company from miscommunication and all the wasted time and money that goes with it.
0:14:27 But it’s more than just a grammar check. Grammarly can help generate AI prompts or even
0:14:32 help you strike the right tone and personalize your writing based on audience and context.
0:14:36 We here at the PropG team use Grammarly and all I have to say is it makes our writing better and
0:14:42 more efficient. Plus, Grammarly integrates seamlessly across a half a million apps and sites,
0:14:47 no cutting, no pacing, no context switching. Personalized on-brand writing help is built
0:14:51 into your docs, messages, emails, everything. So why not join Grammarly to work faster,
0:14:56 hit your goals while keeping your data secure. Learn more at Grammarly.com.
0:15:06 Support for PropG comes from Fundrise. Artificial intelligence is poised to be one of the biggest
0:15:11 wealth creation events in history. Some experts expect AI to add more than $15 trillion to the
0:15:16 global economy by 2030. Unfortunately, your portfolio probably doesn’t own the biggest
0:15:21 names in AI. That’s because most of the AI revolution is largely being built and funded in
0:15:26 private markets, which means the vast majority of AI startups are going to be backed and owned by
0:15:33 venture capitalists, not public investors. So until the AIPO, you can’t get a piece of their success,
0:15:38 but the Fundrise Innovation Fund is changing that. The Innovation Fund pairs a $100 million
0:15:42 plus venture portfolio of some of the biggest names in AI with one of the lowest investment
0:15:47 minimums the venture industry has ever seen. You can get in early on the AI revolution with
0:15:53 Fundrise Innovation Fund at Fundrise.com/PropG. Carefully consider the investment material before
0:15:58 investing, including objectives, risks, charges, and expenses. This and other information can be
0:16:03 found in the Innovation Fund’s perspective at Fundrise.com/Innovation. This is a paid advertisement.
0:16:10 Support for this podcast comes from Huntress. Keeping your data safe is important, however you’re a
0:16:16 small business owner. Then protecting the information of yourself, your company, and your workers is
0:16:22 vital. And comes Huntress. Huntress is where fully managed cybersecurity meets human expertise. They
0:16:27 offer a revolutionary approach to managed security that isn’t all about tech. It’s about real people
0:16:32 providing real defense. When threats arise or issues occur, their team of seasoned cyber experts is
0:16:39 ready 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for support. Visit huntress.com/PropG to start a free trial
0:16:50 or learn more. Welcome back question number three. Hello Scott. I’m Thomas. I recently moved out of
0:16:57 my hometown in Quebec to a new city, Montreal. This move allowed me to transfer to my company HQ,
0:17:03 work on more interesting projects, and experience new and exciting things as I approached my mid-20s.
0:17:08 I’m here with my girlfriend and we live in a nice apartment downtown. It’s great.
0:17:15 However, I won’t hide the fact that it’s a significant change to absorb. I am particularly
0:17:20 stressed about maintaining my close relationships from a distance and creating bonds with new people
0:17:26 in Montreal. Since you have moved to multiple cities throughout your life and strongly advise
0:17:32 young people like me to move to a city, step out of their comfort zones, and seek new experiences,
0:17:37 what advice would you have for someone like me who’s in the middle of a life transition?
0:17:42 Thanks so much for your help. Love in your book. So first off, Thomas, one of the pieces of advice
0:17:46 I give to young people about how to create the atmosphere, it’s your success. It’s simple and
0:17:51 that has moved to a city and you’ve done that. You can be good in Montreal and get much further
0:17:56 faster than if you were great in your hometown in Quebec. So moving to Montreal, moving to the
0:18:02 big city, if you will, is an investment in yourself and is going to better leverage your
0:18:06 skill set. Also, the fact that you moved there with your girlfriend, you’re in a relationship,
0:18:10 do you realize only one out of three men under the age of 30 has a girlfriend? Two out of three
0:18:14 women under the age of 30 have a boyfriend that you think, well, that’s not mathematically
0:18:19 impossible. It’s not because women are dating older as they’re pursuing more economically
0:18:25 and emotionally viable men. Another talk show. So, boss, I just have one word of advice for how to
0:18:30 integrate and develop that kind of social capital you’re looking for as a young man in a new city.
0:18:38 Yes. Say yes to everything for a while. Say yes to drinks with coworkers, a coffee, ask people out,
0:18:44 get your girlfriend’s friends, invite other couples out, whatever it might be, do a dinner
0:18:50 party. Just kind of say yes to everything and you’re so fortunate to kind of hit the ground
0:18:55 running there with a partner. That just makes things so much easier and you’re not going to get as
0:19:02 lonely. But just my brother, you’re obviously a shit-together guy and you’ve got a partner in
0:19:08 crime here. Just go out. Be friendly. Introduce yourself. Get involved. Maybe if you play sports
0:19:14 in a local league, I don’t know if you attend a church or a temple or a mosque, but get involved
0:19:20 in the local chapter, what have you. And you kind of work through to get your sort of your squad,
0:19:24 if you will. But the key is getting out of the house, saying yes to everything. Try to resist
0:19:28 the temptation to just hang out with your girlfriend and watch Netflix all the time after
0:19:33 a hard day’s work. Get out, do stuff, join groups. But my brother, let’s finish where we started.
0:19:39 You’re living in Montreal with your girlfriend after getting a job. It is good to be you, Thomas.
0:19:44 Congratulations and thanks for the question. That’s all for this episode. If you’d like to
0:19:48 submit a question, please email a voice recording to officehours@propertymedia.com. Again,
0:20:04 that’s officehours@propertymedia.com. This episode was produced by Caroline Shagren. Jennifer
0:20:09 Sanchez is our Associate Producer and Drew Burroughs is our Technical Director. Thank you for listening
0:20:13 to the PropG pod from the Vox Media Podcast Network. We will catch you on Saturday for No
0:20:19 Mercino Malice as read by George Hahn. And please follow our PropG Markets pod wherever you get
0:20:28 your pods for new episodes every Monday and Thursday. Daddy was a tall drink of lemonade
0:20:31 right there. Hello. Give me a little bit more sky.