Business phone system for pharmacies and drug stores in Maine

Pharmacies and drug stores in Maine by the numbers

The Census Bureau counted 175 pharmacies and drug stores in Maine in its 2023 County Business Patterns (NAICS 446110). They employed 3,158 people in mid-March and reported $135.2 million in annual payroll. That is the 39th highest count among the 51 states and DC with published figures. Pharmacies and drug stores make up 0.40% of the 43,345 business establishments in the state.

Per 100,000 residents (2024 estimate) Maine has 12.5 pharmacies and drug stores, in line with the national rate of 12.3. The average establishment has 18.0 employees against 16.5 nationally. Payroll per employee is $42,806, 3.8% below the U.S. figure of $44,477.

Where pharmacies and drug stores in Maine are concentrated

Census published pharmacy counts for 4 metro or micropolitan areas that include part of Maine. The largest is Portland, ME, with 65 establishments. Single-state metro and micropolitan areas account for 67% of the statewide total; the rest are outside any published area or in areas Census suppressed.

Team sizes at pharmacies and drug stores in Maine

9.2% of Maine's pharmacies and drug stores with employees had fewer than five people in March 2023, compared with 18.4% nationally. 27.2% had fewer than ten. That is the size of team where a missed call usually means nobody was free, not that nobody was on staff.

Calls a pharmacy in Maine has to catch

Independent pharmacies take refill requests, prescriber calls and insurance questions throughout the day, often while pharmacists are filling prescriptions. Sorting calls by purpose keeps prescribers and patients from waiting in the same queue. That holds for pharmacies and drug stores in Maine as much as anywhere.

Calls a pharmacy in Maine might handle in a typical week include:

• The pharmacy calls a prescriber for a refill authorization.
• A prescriber's office calls to clarify a prescription.
• A customer calls to ask whether a prescription is ready.

After-hours calls

After-hours messages are mostly refill requests that staff can process at opening.

Callata voicemail is transcribed and triaged for urgency, and business-hours routing decides where calls go once you close.

Phone system pricing for an 18-person pharmacy

Pharmacies and drug stores in Maine average 18.0 employees, so the comparison uses an 18-person team. Per-seat business phone plans bill every one of those people. At month-to-month list prices checked September 28, 2026, 18 users on RingCentral RingEX Core cost $540.00 a month and 18 on Ooma Office Pro cost $449.10. On Callata the same 18 people cost $359.00 a month, less than either per-seat plan.

The annual difference against RingCentral's monthly list price comes to $2,172. Some vendors discount annual contracts; the table shows month-to-month prices.

Area codes in Maine

Maine has 1 geographic area code in service according to NANPA. You can choose local numbers in the area codes your customers know, subject to carrier inventory, or port your current number for free.

How Callata works for pharmacies and drug stores in Maine

For $99 a month, Callata puts a team of up to 5 on one plan ($20 for each person after that): up to 3 local numbers, unlimited inbound calls, a pooled allowance of 1,500 outbound US and Canada minutes per user, browser and cell calling, voicemail transcription with urgency triage, recorded calls with AI summaries and business-hours routing, with E911 on every number.

If you already have a number in Maine, porting it to Callata is free. Texting from a local number requires a one-time carrier registration (10DLC, $49), and the numbers available in any area code depend on carrier inventory when you choose them.

Optional AI agents (receptionist, sales, support or scheduler) can answer calls after hours or when nobody picks up, take messages, text, email and transfer to your team. They are billed from prepaid AI minutes at $0.25 per minute, identify themselves as AI, and may only place outbound calls to people who consented, between 8am and 9pm.

Practices that handle protected health information should review their own privacy obligations before recording calls, enabling AI summaries or texting appointment details, and keep clinical conversations out of text messages unless their policies allow it.