Trader Joe's pay changes nationwide

[SamSpade]

As a temporary response to local mandates, Trader Joe's is raising non management pay $4 / hour for part of 2021.
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/l ... ationwide/

[storewanderer]

It is a good idea to try to get ahead of the ordinances that are going to keep coming if you can.

Other option is to whine, complain, close stores, threaten to close stores, etc.

I'd be interested to see what, if anything, Trader Joe's is doing in the background to pay for this. Are they just absorbing the cost increase, or have they done things in the background to pay for it? Not all retailers are as successful as Trader Joe's so it isn't as easy for many of them.

[TW-Upstate NY]

Never having been in a Trader Joe's about the only thing I know about them is they are outrageously popular and they are an Aldi operation. Do they operate with the same type of minimal staffing Aldi does? The less people you have to pay that to the easier it would be absorb it at least to an extent and not push it all off on the consumer. Also probably figuring into their thinking is with the high volumes they do they can make some of it up that way as well. I say good for them and to get back to the fact they are part of Aldi, I wonder if they will follow suit.

[klkla]

Never having been in a Trader Joe's about the only thing I know about them is they are outrageously popular and they are an Aldi operation.

They are not an Aldi operation. They're owned by different factions of the same family. They've never shared common ownership of Trader Joes but the brothers split the Aldi business in the 1960's over a dispute about whether they should sell cigarettes or not.

Trader Joe's in the United States is owned by Aldi Nord and Aldi in the U.S. is owned by Aldi Sud. Both chains operate fairly small stores but Trader Joe's stores are much busier and are very well staffed.

[storewanderer]

Never having been in a Trader Joe's about the only thing I know about them is they are outrageously popular and they are an Aldi operation. Do they operate with the same type of minimal staffing Aldi does? The less people you have to pay that to the easier it would be absorb it at least to an extent and not push it all off on the consumer. Also probably figuring into their thinking is with the high volumes they do they can make some of it up that way as well. I say good for them and to get back to the fact they are part of Aldi, I wonder if they will follow suit.

Trader Joe's is like an Aldi with personality. More SKUs, but same idea of primarily private label. Far more perishables. Fun store atmosphere. Way higher sales per square foot than Aldi.

[rwsandiego]

It is a good idea to try to get ahead of the ordinances that are going to keep coming if you can....

This is one of the reasons people love Trader Joe's to the point where they have a cult following.

...
Other option is to whine, complain, close stores, threaten to close stores, etc....

And one of the reasons you never hear "man, I just L-O-V-E Ralphs (or Fry's, etc) and they do not have a cult following.

[storewanderer]

And one of the reasons you never hear "man, I just L-O-V-E Ralphs (or Fry's, etc) and they do not have a cult following.

Going to have a cult going out of their way to shop (and work) elsewhere with moves like this. This leaves a terrible taste in my mouth. It isn't even whether or not I support what the city council is doing, it is just the message closing the stores sends to everyone involved and how it impacts the community, surrounding small businesses, etc.

Loyalty is a two way street...

At least Trader Joe's crew members can rest easy knowing they are being taken care of with a pay increase pro-actively implemented chainwide by the corporate office, and do not have to worry about threats of their store being closed permanently over a 120 day city council ordered pay increase.

[jamcool]

Trader Joe’s is not a traditional full line grocery store.

[SamSpade]

Trader Joe’s is not a traditional full line grocery store.

Off Topic

I would disagree with that although there are things that (larger) grocers carry today that are outside what TJ's carries.
You won't find:
Plastic garbage/food storage bags, batteries, over the counter medicine, auto/hardware (although you will find beauty, household cleaning supplies, vitamins, pet)
Service meat or bakery (although they carry a selection comparable to many grocers and probably exceed a SuprerTarget or Walmart supercenter in terms of variety in these pre-selected departments)

I would say that Trader Joe's carries about what a small-town grocer or a pre-1980s "supermarket" might if they don't dip too much into general merchandise.
Locally, ours in smaller/older spaces have worked with landlords to boot adjacent tenants and expand into their spaces as Trader Joe's has expanded offerings. Some are even in former 'traditional' grocery storefronts, such as northwest Portland's.

[storewanderer]

To add to the ongoing mess regarding this whole topic, there is more to the story on Trader Joe's:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trader-joe ... y-workers/


So they give the extra $4/hr (up from extra $2/hr) but now cancel mid-year raises (it doesn't clarify in the article if they are canceling those for good, only for 2021, or only one of the two due in 2021) which typically would be a permanent .65-.75/hr raise.

So there is the "catch" on this one.

So how does that change everyone's opinion?

Employees come out ahead short term but not long term in this case for those who stay working there for a while.