Trader Joes

This is the place for general and miscellaneous posts on topics which might extend past the boundaries of any specific region. No non-grocery posts.
Post Reply
veteran+
Valued Contributor
Valued Contributor
Posts: 2234
Joined: January 3rd, 2015, 7:53 am
Has thanked: 1204 times
Been thanked: 72 times
Status: Offline

Trader Joes

Post by veteran+ »

Many of my friends ended up at TJs after Ralphs, Vons and F&E closed stores in the Coachella Valley.

They revealed that TJs was nothing like what MOST people think (including the pundits). One thing always stood out to me (from their feedback) was the intense internal politics and different "clicks" that created toxic environments AND the many safety hazards the employees had to navigate through.

Interesting recent article about TJs:

https://www.supermarketnews.com/issues- ... fe-opinion
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Trader Joes

Post by storewanderer »

There appears to be some kind of a blueprint here when a Union-based or otherwise somehow political group attacks a business and finds or inserts a couple of "employees" to get it to do a union drive.

Didn't they downgrade the retirement plan contribution at the same time as they made the hazard pay that was supposed to be temporary, a permanent thing? Maybe I am remembering incorrectly?

We keep hearing the same script about these union drives whether they are at fast food, retail grocery, retail other, or anywhere else... Unsafe working conditions. Complaints about pay/benefits.

Also pretty sure these unsafe working conditions as well as losses in pay/benefits are "things" at stores that are unionized too... like that rotten two (or more than two) tier wage system in place where new employees will never get what the old ones got when it comes to pay/benefits. Also what happened to things like triple time holidays, double time Sundays, etc.? Those sound like pay cuts to me and they happened with the union's blessing at many chain grocers...

I am afraid these employers will do what they do, union or not.
veteran+
Valued Contributor
Valued Contributor
Posts: 2234
Joined: January 3rd, 2015, 7:53 am
Has thanked: 1204 times
Been thanked: 72 times
Status: Offline

Re: Trader Joes

Post by veteran+ »

Ummmmmmmmmm, I don't think so.

From my own experience with them I noticed all these things first hand in their stores.

TJs has a vigorous hiring process for Store Captains. I experienced this while still managing the Pavilions in Rancho Mirage (looking to make a move).

I was interviewed several times at different stores including the original TJs in Pasadena. I was given tours and allowed to explore the stores on my own.

I got an offer from them, as well as from Whole Foods and F&E. I stupidly accepted F&E offer (I believed their 5 year plan, LOL).
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Trader Joes

Post by storewanderer »

veteran+ wrote: April 2nd, 2023, 7:47 am Ummmmmmmmmm, I don't think so.

From my own experience with them I noticed all these things first hand in their stores.

TJs has a vigorous hiring process for Store Captains. I experienced this while still managing the Pavilions in Rancho Mirage (looking to make a move).

I was interviewed several times at different stores including the original TJs in Pasadena. I was given tours and allowed to explore the stores on my own.

I got an offer from them, as well as from Whole Foods and F&E. I stupidly accepted F&E offer (I believed their 5 year plan, LOL).
At least F&E was an adventure (of some sort). Whole Foods after Amazon took over, hard to say how that would have gone. Trader Joe's and its slow and steady way of doing things... would just have kept going.

I find the service at Trader Joe's is excellent. The employees are upbeat and efficient. Checkout rarely has a wait and everything is efficient. The stores seem to have some rotation/shrink issues on specifically refrigerated and bread (mostly thaw and sell) stuff due to being over SKUed. Produce at least in my area has been cut drastically in the past year and while it is fresher it is rather unappealing and I find I buy very little produce there now since they have cut out a lot of selection.

I wonder if parts of the labor concerns with regards to salaries/benefits and maybe even also working conditions are due to a couple of things. For one on pay, a lack of "skilled labor" in their stores. For instance there is no meat department, so you have no meat cutters, which tend to be a high wage position. Anyone I talk to now who is wanting to work in a non-management type position in grocery I suggest they go to the meat department and start to cut and eventually they will desire to be a department manager most likely and it is one of the better paying positions in the store. This will prove to be bad advice if more stores go to pre-cut meat but I expect some chains will always cut in store. Anyway back on topic another issue is possibly the work structure in the stores. Do Trader Joe's even have department managers in their stores at all or is it just the Captain and then generic supervisors who are overseeing everything? I see employees working in all different departments depending on the day. Some employees may not like to stock frozen for a few hours today, cashier a few hours, then go stock produce for a couple hours. Some may just want to stock frozen all shift for instance.

The other thing that I think is great about Trader Joe's is they operate in city locations (like San Francisco) where other grocers have this nasty tract record of closing stores, and they somehow operate these city stores with the same high staffing levels and same great prices as they have everywhere else. But I can't help but wonder if in order to support this lower priced/higher staffed model in very high overhead locations if they may be not paying as much as they might need to be paying employees which may be causing some upset.

I still think at the end of the day Trader Joe's does right by the customer. Based on what I see of their employees things look good. Their stores have the same operational feel to me as always. Many other chains, operations have deteriorated and standards have fallen. At Trader Joe's everything seems steady. Yes they aren't dancing in the aisles but they work efficiently and interactions seem genuine.
buckguy
Store Manager
Store Manager
Posts: 1004
Joined: January 31st, 2017, 10:54 am
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 61 times
Status: Offline

Re: Trader Joes

Post by buckguy »

Not entirely a surprise. I've noticed a lot of turnover over the last year or so at my usual TJ's and they don't seem able to maintin the chipper environment of the past. They seem to operate some very oddly sized stores, including some that are super tiny, so I would imagine that the backroom's not great environments.
veteran+
Valued Contributor
Valued Contributor
Posts: 2234
Joined: January 3rd, 2015, 7:53 am
Has thanked: 1204 times
Been thanked: 72 times
Status: Offline

Re: Trader Joes

Post by veteran+ »

I think your experience with TJs has to do with the area you are in.

Trader's in Colorado seems really awesome.

In Los Angeles.....................not so much. Major staffing issues especially up front. Generally very nice and knowledgeable employees.

Different standards at different locations including totally differently designed shelf tags or NO shelf tags (weird). And of course parking is awful. Increasingly disappearing skus! Fresh is just not right.

And like I said before, backrooms are a mess (not dirty)!
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Trader Joes

Post by storewanderer »

The disappearing SKUs thing at Trader Joe's is annoying and seems to be hitting non perishable center store really significantly the past couple years.

What did the store with no shelf tags do for price labeling?

Some years ago they switched to computer generated shelf tags, which lasted for all but a week, then went back to handwritten ones.

What is the situation with the staffing up front? Do they have too few registers or only open a few? Here I have two locations I go to- Reno which is a very busy store and too small, and Carson City which is a not busy store and too big. But Carson City despite usually only needing 2-3 registers open, will sometimes get busy, and get 8 registers open. I am impressed them even put cash into so many registers given most of those registers probably see less than 20 transactions all day. I have seen some in larger cities that seem to have too few registers, but for the space they have they have a lot of registers.

I am sure the backrooms and logistics are a lot of fun because every process is outdated. I see them making notes on paper to take orders. No cameras in these stores either. Different world from most of retail.
veteran+
Valued Contributor
Valued Contributor
Posts: 2234
Joined: January 3rd, 2015, 7:53 am
Has thanked: 1204 times
Been thanked: 72 times
Status: Offline

Re: Trader Joes

Post by veteran+ »

storewanderer wrote: April 3rd, 2023, 10:50 pm The disappearing SKUs thing at Trader Joe's is annoying and seems to be hitting non perishable center store really significantly the past couple years.

What did the store with no shelf tags do for price labeling?

Some years ago they switched to computer generated shelf tags, which lasted for all but a week, then went back to handwritten ones.

What is the situation with the staffing up front? Do they have too few registers or only open a few? Here I have two locations I go to- Reno which is a very busy store and too small, and Carson City which is a not busy store and too big. But Carson City despite usually only needing 2-3 registers open, will sometimes get busy, and get 8 registers open. I am impressed them even put cash into so many registers given most of those registers probably see less than 20 transactions all day. I have seen some in larger cities that seem to have too few registers, but for the space they have they have a lot of registers.

I am sure the backrooms and logistics are a lot of fun because every process is outdated. I see them making notes on paper to take orders. No cameras in these stores either. Different world from most of retail.
1. Every store has a different artist to design their tags. So if you go to a differnt store from your own, identifying the product that you are used to buying takes more time. All that "art" does not provide for quick shopping (you know me, I want fast one stop shopping).
2. Some stores clearly identify "organic" and some do not.
3. Some stores have great shelf tag maintenance and some are missing tags all over the place (the one at La Cienega Bl. and San Vicente Bl. being one of the worst). You have to ask a clerk for the price.
4. Sufficient number of checkstands but not enough checkers and NO baggers. And to boot............4 "managers" at the elevated office perch and they do NOTHING...............LOL.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Trader Joes

Post by storewanderer »

veteran+ wrote: April 4th, 2023, 7:43 am
1. Every store has a different artist to design their tags. So if you go to a differnt store from your own, identifying the product that you are used to buying takes more time. All that "art" does not provide for quick shopping (you know me, I want fast one stop shopping).
2. Some stores clearly identify "organic" and some do not.
3. Some stores have great shelf tag maintenance and some are missing tags all over the place (the one at La Cienega Bl. and San Vicente Bl. being one of the worst). You have to ask a clerk for the price.
4. Sufficient number of checkstands but not enough checkers and NO baggers. And to boot............4 "managers" at the elevated office perch and they do NOTHING...............LOL.
For produce they have an entirely separate table for Organic but other items I guess I look more at the packages themselves than the shelf tags. But you're right, some shelf tags make it very obvious what is Organic and what isn't throughout the store but if the tags do that or not varies by store.

The missing tags is an interesting one- that is probably due to the way SKUs keep coming and going. Not really an excuse, but if they can't figure out how to deal with this removing tags process (meaning someone has to replace the lost tags when they stock something that has no tag), they need to flip the tag when the item goes out of stock then flip it back around when the item shows back up.

I think they lately focus on having as many people on registers as possible as opposed to having baggers. The Reno one will have people from the floor up there bagging only after every register is open. They've added more registers somewhat recently, I am not sure how many they have, maybe 12. Carson never has a bagger unless it is a cashier who has no customer who comes to bag at a register that has a customer.
Post Reply