Walmart is asking some of its 16,000 pharmacists across the U.S. to voluntarily take pay cuts by reducing their working hours in a bid to lower costs, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The cuts, which haven’t been previously reported and are aimed at pharmacists in higher wage brackets, highlight the new pressures at Walmart pharmacies, where shoppers are lining up to buy weight-loss drugs that drag on profits, despite their high price.

Walmart also has agreed to pay $3.1 billion as its share of an opioid-related legal settlement, which is adding to its legal costs this year.

[That doesn’t sound promising as an economic indicator. I don’t get my prescriptions at Walmart now, but I have in the past, and they were pretty efficient. If they reduce pharmacist hours, those lines and delays will make themselves felt immediately. And what does ‘voluntary’ mean in this context, anyway? — Ed]