The pharmacy run looks like the easiest errand on the list. You drive, you pick up a bag, you drive home. That is why it gets handed to whoever lives closest and then stays there for years. Before you say yes, check the few things that decide whether it is a ten-minute trip or a standing errand that eats your week.
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Check the pickup window
Ask the pharmacy when refills are usually ready and how long they hold a bag before returning it to stock. Ask whether they text or call when an order is ready, and whose phone number is on the account. If the number on file is a landline nobody answers, fix that first. A pickup you cannot confirm is a trip you will end up making twice.
Compare the ways the bag can reach Mom: a counter pickup, a drive-up window, or a delivery option if the pharmacy offers one. Each choice changes who drives, how long the trip takes, and whether someone needs to be home to receive it. Write down which one you chose and why, so the next person does not have to guess.
Ask what the counter needs
Some pharmacies want the patient's name and date of birth. Others ask for identification from anyone picking up for someone else. Ask what they need from you, and whether they will hand the bag over if Mom is not with you. Save the answer in the family notes so the next driver does not have to make the same call.
Know who answers the medicine questions
The pharmacist answers questions about what is in the bag, how it is taken, and whether a substitute is acceptable. Your job is the errand. Tell the pharmacy who the family's contact is for medicine questions, and make sure that person is the one who keeps the family's medicine plan. If a question comes to you at the counter, take the message and pass it on.
Check the bag, then hand it off
When you pick up, check that the name on the label is Mom's and that the bag is sealed. Do not open the bottles or sort them. Hand the sealed bag to the family member who keeps the medicine plan, the same day if you can. The pharmacist and the family own what is inside the bag. You own getting it home safely.
Write the exit line before the first trip
Decide how many runs a month you will cover, which days you cannot, and who backs you up when you are out of town. Write the backup's name next to yours. If you want out, say when, and name the person who takes the next run. A pickup with no backup and no exit line becomes the job nobody ever agreed to.