Yes, there is a law. Few people know about the federal government mandate regarding prescription wait times. In 2004 Congress passed and George Bush signed an act requiring at least a 20 minute wait time for a customer to receive a prescription. The reason given was that if sick people were kept waiting for their medicine, they would be less likely to think about the mess in Iraq, giving the administration a free hand to continue the war indefinitely.

I usually spend the 19 minutes not involved in actually filling your prescription surfing the internet for pornography. I would really like to not have to do this, but the law is the law you know....

I actually had a bit of a blogosphere hit writing about this very subject. Take a look and see Paul's future: http://drugnazi.blogspot.com/2006/08/i-realize-today-ive-done-you.html

Walgreens especially is notorious for being slow. I don't know why.

I'm on very good terms with my pharmacists, and my experience is that what takes time is not dispensing but using the computer: checking and updating my records, verifying against the insurance company's system (this is about the slowest single item), updating the inventory for the number of pills dispensed. If your prescription is on paper, it also has to be transcribed by hand. There may also be a queue of called-in scripts that have to be filled, and there are background tasks like talking to suppliers that also consume time.

Finally, it's better customer service to predict a long delay and than execute faster than predicted than the converse. I often get told "20 minutes" and have my meds in ten.

Being a Pharmacy Technician at our local Walmart, I can explain why it takes so long to get your medication through the system. At the drop off window we receive your paper prescription (meanwhile doctors from the many nearby clinics and emergency rooms are sending us prescriptions electronically from their offices for patients that will soon arrive)...we work with the patient to make sure all of the correct address, identification, allergy, and insurance information is verified...we must be very careful because a pharmacy is no place for even a typo. We review the prescription for validity and we also scan a copy of your prescription into our system. All that was done while you are at the window...add in the how much is this going to cost me and that adds more time...when you leave the window we transcribe the information from the prescription into our input system (if there were people behind you, this is delayed as we need to take the next person in line and do the inputs between people and when the line is gone. After our input/transcription, the pharmacist does a 4 point check to make sure everything is correct and that the patient can get the medication (if there is anything - and I mean ANYTHING out of place, the pharmacist has to call the doctor to verify...have you ever tried to contact a doctor on a dime?...we wait in line too! If your insurance company rejects your prescription, the Pharmacist and Technician have to do the legwork to help YOU get your prescription paid for...telephone hold times can go up to an hour...dont forget your prescription is not the only one that might need this) Once the 4 point check clears it is released to filling. Filling is the 2 minute job...the fast and easy part (that is if we enough of what you need to cover what was prescribed, anything out of normal might need to be ordered - and even than that makes the wait time the next day or up to a week). If we dont have it we have to contact you - more phone time that further delays others behind you. Once filled the Pharmacist has to check and sometimes double check everything all over again...this isnt for kicks....its what they are required to do by law. Think about what it would be like if your medications were handed to you slapped together like a McDonalds value meal...think of what the errors would look like and the many friends and family members you might have to bury because of wrong medications. The system is the way it is to protect YOU! By all means, we would love to get your medications through as fast as possible. We arent sitting on them behind that counter. We have nothing to gain by holding anything back. Next time you get your medications from your local pharmacy, know that extreme care was taken on your behalf to make sure you are getting the correct medications at the best possible price we can possibly offer. Give your pharmacy time to do their job because standing there complaining delays us even more. Of all of this, I left out all of the other tasks within a pharmacy such as disinfecting work surfaces, keeping the area uncluttered and clean, filing, ordering, inventory, hazardous waste management, and keeping other supplies stocked. Not to mention the many tasks a pharmacist has to do.