Working At Trader Joe's: Employee Reviews and Culture (2024)

Discount on groceries, biannual raises

40% below average and median wages for my area. The pay is unsustainably low.

Free food tasting

I do all the work and no one else helps and mates don’t do anything

Payday

Busy environment, fun workplace vibes, and we are constantly trying new foods or eating our favorites

Management and rules can vary by location, which makes it confusing to know what is the right protocol

20% discount on groceries when you spend more than $20, I've also heard they have good health insurance, but its not easy to get

The Culture, very inclusive

How the pandemic affected the business. But I’ve learned to accept change

The people I work with

Coworkers, customers, flexibility and the atmosphere.

Health insurance and free tastings.

the customers, my coworkers. a lot of feedback to improve performance

the pay rate, how understaffed the store was

discount on groceries, health insurance

The culture, learning about food and new products and the people

I love working at Trader Joe’s I’m looking for new career opportunities

Learning and 401k vey personably working there

Personal interaction

Nothing. I enjoyed working there_y_

Being able to shop there.

Personal interaction

Nothing. I enjoyed working there_y_

Being able to shop there.

Relaxed management and friendly attitudes of workers and customers.

Laborious work with a lot of customer interaction.

Discount on purchases and job benefits.

Great employees, very understanding with hours, good work/life balance, fun, never bored.

Unhappy customers

Discount, health benefits, retirement plan

very accommodating while I was in school. Co-workers are very positive.

Does not have the job I need with my degree

health care and hopefully a higher salary enough to pay my student loan

The constant ensuring of outstanding customer service, little to no down time/breaks.

Employee discount on groceries is 20% during this pandemic. That has been so helpful.

Multitasking abilities, interaction with customers and crew, product ordering and merchandising, and solving different daily challenges.

The water falling scheduled hours/shifts

Received great training and was allowed to make decisions regarding all store matters without question.

The pay is great

- Harassment in the workplace is dismissed, - not great communication from management. Being yelled at by people who refuse to wear a mask, managers do not do anything about it

Hazard pay and 20% discount

Flexible hours although many weekend hours.

Freaky co-workers and people who don't believe coronavirus is a threat to our health

401-k

Fun and friendly work environment, variability in tasks keeps things interesting.

Customers are not always nice.

Amazing environment

Small store, difficult to move around and work efficiently.

Very easy to accumulate paid time off.

The speed and efficiency that is required to get the job done.

Currently there are no parts of the job I do not like.

The ability to be yourself and a friendly management team.

I enjoyed the customer interaction, and the hands on work the was in the store. Was also a very happy place to work at.

I didn’t like working really late at night. Doing the same thing in the same spot everyday was also boring.

Free food And the discount I. The food. They gave great benefits and treated there workers great.

Have a younger sister in community college that would be interested in applying there, due to the rave reviews from other employees. Tips for the interview process? Currently working in a apparel retail element. How would TJ work with her school schedule? Thanks for doing this

About half of the employees at my store (including myself) are students. Assuming you can work weekends, they're very accommodating. Interview process - make sure to be really friendly and bubbly. They prefer that over everything else. Once had a mate tell me "we can teach you how to stock, we can't teach you how to be interesting."

What's the nicest thing a customer has done for you?

I honestly can't think of anything. I've had people compliment my looks?

oddest request you got from the a customer?

An entire case of goat milk.

How did you get a job at Trader Joes?

I was recommended by a family member, and killed my interview.

Does the store give you Hawaiian shirts to wear as uniform? Or do employees purchase them and wear them as part of the uniform? What about the Trader Joe branded shirts?

All free!

how amenable is TJ to hiring part-timers who have their own schedule (that may or may not be easy to work around)?

That's the majority of employees, actually

What are some Trader Joe's knock-off versions of brand name stuff that is just as good or better? Any recommendations? How does the job treat you? Management and finances/benefits? Anything you wish were different?

The peanut butter cups! Much better than Reese's. I also recommend the cheddar popcorn. They treat you really well - it's a very physically demanding job, but management is amazing. The health benefits/insurance are great (you can get comp for being injured off the job, even if you're part-time, and we get vision/dental). The pay isn't great to start out with, but gets better the longer you stay. I wish there were more safety protocol in place to help with stocking - we were never really taught how to lift besides pictures/videos, and I feel like that should be explained by the mates. I know many people with back/wrist/knee problems, including myself.

Will you really open any product (ETOH excluded I bet) for a taste test?

Yes, within reason of course. They do encourage the crew members to open product up if a customer is curious but hesitant. I've only experienced two or three occasions where a customer tried to take advantage of this and wanted us to open literally 10+ products. Management had to step in and kindly inform them that one or two products is fine but we have to draw the line somewhere, plus we have the no hassle return policy where you don't even need to bring a receipt, so they can buy with product with confidence and if they don't like it are welcome to return it. For the most part people are very good about this but we do have few people who do regularly abuse it, the biggest offenders being mean little old ladies.

Do you get discounts on groceries?

10% off. Alcohol is an exception though in some states. In California they'll give you the 10% off but in some other states they can't do it because of alcohol laws and tax issues.

I've never been to a Trader Joes, but my wife goes all the time. What's the big *** deal? It just a grocery store isn't it? Any glory holes in the bathroom? That's why I don't go.

It's not really JUST a grocery store. 95 percent of our product is house label, which is either cheaper rebadges of major "hippie food" brands or self-produced stuff that kicks ***. Plus the employees are well-compensated so we're always in a reasonably good mood when you come in. If I had to do that job for minimum wage and no benefits I guarantee you I would not be a pleasant fellow; it's demanding work.

Do you guys really get your panties in a wad over dumpster divers or is that just management giving you a hard time?

Management gives us a hard time about it because it is TECHNICALLY theft. But nobody really cares other than allowing it could get us in trouble. At least at my store, we're shut down completely by one in the morning, if you want to dive just make your dive at 2 in the morning.

I am surprised no one has asked you why you quit yet. May I ask why you quit?

Sure thing, but it isn't too simple. It's a few things mixed together. 1. I was promised another, better job that was semi-related to my field of study through a family friend. This later fell through, after I quit (on good terms), and I was livid. 2. School. I needed to focus on school, to keep my grades strong and to remain a full time student. I was going to be living on campus when the school year started, which would have made the commute to my store 20-30 minutes for a part time job (if there was no traffic). 3. Mental health - I became pretty bitter at many aspects of the job. Many customers were rude *** and that gets very tiring after a long time, even for someone like me who has thick skin. Over time, I looked for reasons to be bothered with customers, who I became very cynical of. I was not a jerk to customers at all, I was actually very friendly! But in my mind I was very bitter and fed up.

So, anything that is bad about Trader Joe's?

Hmm, can you be more specific? On the corporate, or store side? Regarding employees, store cleanliness, etc? There are the customers that *** all over the bathrooms, or stand on the toilets while they *** which was so *** in it's own way for starters.