We have a lot more groceries with over 500
stores in 42 states and Washington DC Trader Joe's is a quintessential
American supermarket but even if you're a regular odds are there's a lot you
don't know about this popular supermarket if you want to
behind-the-scenes look into the world of Trader Joe's you've come to the right
place here are more top ten untold truths of
Trader Joe's I won't forget what you've done for me here today crew members are
minor celebrities Trader Joe's is famous for its friendly floor staff or crew
members as they're officially called who walk the aisles in floral print shirts
greeting customers with a smile in fact the supermarket's employees are
so helpful in polite that they tend to leave a lasting impression especially on
those who visit Trader Joe's on the regular many Trader Joe's crew members
have gained something of a minor celebrity status and get recognized
outside of the store excuse me yes this is something that the company takes very
seriously as customer service is high priority employees are frequently
reminded that they represent Trader Joe's whether they're in uniform or not
this means that crew members always have to be ready to put on their customer
service faces when they're out and about any customer who recognizes them as a
Trader Joe's employee has to be greeted with that classic Trader Joe's charm for
these employees the job isn't over once they've clocked out this isn't something
that agrees with everyone many people don't like the idea of taking their work
home with them and customer service in particular can be exhausting if you want
to work at Trader Joe's you need to be willing to fully commit to your role and
can't get scared off by the pressure of representing the company everywhere you
go even when you're not being paid for it you can't handle the truth
saved by the Trader Joe's Bell
if you've ever shopped at Trader Joe's you've probably noticed the absence of
the intercom system unlike other grocery stores the endless stream of top 40 hits
is never interrupted by employees announcements of clean-up on aisle nine
bud as a Trader Joe's customer you've probably also noticed that the music
doesn't go completely uninterrupted instead of voices over an intercom sorry
the voices songs are broken up with the ringing of bells these bells actually
serve the same purpose as an intercom system by ringing them Trader Joe's
employees are able to communicate with one another in a secret code the bells
are located at the registers and are usually rung by the cashiers the code
itself is pretty straightforward the meaning is based on the number of
rings according to former Trader Joe's employees one ring is a call for someone
to open an additional cash register two rings means that a customer or cashier
at checkout has a question while three rings are used to summon a manager to
the cash a particularly busy times you might hear the bell rung four times this
signal means all-hands-on-deck which calls all available crew members to the
registers apparently this system is super efficient and judging by how
smoothly things run at Trader Joe's we're inclined to believe that it also
fits perfectly with their nautical theme since it's the same type of system that
was used on trade ships perks of being a Trader Joe's employee so I was thinking
there might be a job opening if you're considering applying for a job at Trader
Joe's you'll be happy to hear that the job has some pretty great perks for one
thing all employees get a 10% discount off of their groceries this isn't the
most impressive employee discount out there but it definitely makes a
difference Trader Joe's is famous for paying its staff really well crew
members are paid between ten and twenty five dollars per hour pay varies as
every few months employees are eligible for pay raises which are given based on
teamwork productivity and excellent customer service while
everyone will get a raise every time the opportunity is available to all
employees with hard work and dedication crew members have the chance to increase
their salaries by up to 10% each year store managers or captain's rake in
impressive salaries some of them making six figures every year as for benefits
after three months crew members are offered dental medical and vision health
care plans at a reasonable rate additionally 10% of crew members salary
is automatically contributed to their retirement plans employees are also
offered paid time off which increases the longer they work there when it comes
to their crew members the Trader Joe's motto goes you are making an investment
in us we are making an investment in and for you congratulations you're hired
okay employee taste tests okay there's a lot that goes into being a Trader Joe's
crew member like any other customer service position it's hard work on top
of that staff members have several responsibilities behind the scenes while
they're an important part of the job not all of these requirements feel like work
Trader Joe's prides itself on great customer service and one element of that
is their crew members ability to recommend products to customers so that
they're able to give the best possible recommendations and help customers find
exactly what they're looking for employees have to be familiar with
everything they have in stock in terms of food this means that they have to
know what it tastes like and how it can be prepared as a result taste testing is
a big part of working a Trader Joe's employees are expected to try a lot of
the Trader Joe's food and tastings are frequently arranged by management they
also put together recipes using Trader Joe's ingredients which are shared with
their co-workers in the break room cooking with the products is the best
way to learn about them so this probably helps crewmembers out a lot when they're
trying to assist customers there aren't many jobs where you can expect your
colleagues to cook for you on a regular basis but that's just another perk of
Skeen at Trader Joe's the Trader Joe's return policy yeah I'd like a refund for
this krabby patty refund what's wrong with it
when it comes to returning products there is no store as understanding as
Trader Joe's they'll accept anything for return no questions asked and when we
say anything we mean anything whether it's unopened or half-eaten they'll take
it back I really need to received if that weren't enough for you you don't
even need to show them a receipt if you're good about keeping your receipts
and have it on hand when you go to return to purchase you'll get your money
back in cash if you threw out or lost the receipt which we've all been guilty
of before you can still return the product but instead of cash you'll be
given store credit in the form of a gift card in this case the amount of money on
the gift card will correspond to the lowest advertised price of the item you
want to return this is crazy generous of Trader Joe's and in return
staff members ask that you don't take advantage of it
the policy is there to be used when what you bought really doesn't live up to
your expectations but some customers abuse it for example by trying to return
dead plants that they themselves had killed by not taking proper care of them
asking for a refund in cases like that is kind of ridiculous and is a great way
to annoy Trader Joe's employees the gangway factor one of the issues people
have with Trader Joe's is that products have a tendency to disappear where do
you go and it always happens right after you've fallen in love it's the oldest
story in the Trader Joe's book you discover a new product it becomes an
instant favorite then you never find it again as frustrating as it is there's
actually a good reason for it one of the reasons why Trader Joe's products
frequently vanished without a trace is something called the gangway factor
first of all we have to address Trader Joe's commitment to their nautical theme
gangway was a term used on ships to warm people to get out of the way the basic
idea behind the gangway factor is that products that aren't selling well are
removed to make room for new products this strategy makes
a lot of cents for a store like Trader Joe's since most of the locations are
decently small and new items are introduced regularly the gangway factor
allows for a more efficient use of space as it gets rid of items that are just
sitting around collecting dust of course if you're one of the few people who
actually buys an item that is told to gangway you'll be disappointed to see it
go but on the bright side this strategy helps reduce waste in the long run all
unsold products will eventually meet their best-before date and have to be
thrown away if a specific item is selling poorly it'll mean a whole lot of
garbage by swapping out unpopular products for ones that will hopefully
perform better Trader Joe's is making an admirable effort to minimize waste
travel through food Trader Joe's was founded by a man named Joe Coulomb who
upon enrolling at stanford university discovered a whole new culinary world he
was introduced to many new and delicious foods at the home of Alice steer his
future wife his interest in trying new foods and expanding his tastes played a
big role in the development of Trader Joe's around the time of Trader Joe's
foundation Boeing 747 jet was born cologne predicted that this would lead
to an increased interest in travel
which in turn would encourage people to try more foods from different cultures
based on this Colome aimed to develop a supermarket with a diverse food supply
he further incorporated the element of travel by giving his stores a fun
nautical vacation element he also wanted to keep prices low so that those who
didn't have the money to actually travel sir tickets Yemen is $2,100 and we don't
take library cards or shop at more high-end stores still had the
opportunity to try interesting foods and expand their palates to include flavours
from other cultures Trader Joe's by any other name not much at Trader Joe's has
changed over the years it's still pretty faithful to the concept Joe Colome came
up with way back in the 50s it's become such a staple of the supermarket worlds
that it's almost impossible to imagine it any other way
but things could have gone easily another way Trader Joe's came very close
to being called something different originally the supermarket was a
convenience store named pronto Market it just doesn't have the same ring to it
Colome was one of the founding members of pronto market which at the time was a
very small chain eventually he decided to buy it but it was still a while
before Trader Joe's came to be for the first 10 or so years of his ownership
Colome maintained the pronto market name finally in the late 60s the name Trader
Joe's was born and it's been that way ever since it's been so long now that
it's weird to imagine the supermarket with a different name but there is an
alternate universe where the name was never changed
I mean how can all this be happening Trader Joe's supervised sampling would
you like to sample our vegan bacon Trader Joe's employees are generally
good-natured but like anyone else in the customer service industry they have
their workplace pet peeves one of the big ones is when customers sample items
off the shelves without asking first this is one of those social norms that a
lot of people are guilty of breaking I will be happy to answer any questions
about myself but I will not answer questions about anyone else seriously
who can honestly say that they've ever bought a bag of grapes without trying at
least one there's nothing wrong with wanting to taste tests but at Trader
Joe's there are some rules about how you should go about it the supermarket
doesn't allow customers to sample any of their products without a crew member
present so don't go opening any packages without
a staff member there to supervise also it kind of goes without saying that
there are certain products that customers aren't allowed to sample such
as baking mixes or anything frozen why anyone would want to sample a box of raw
cake mixes beyond us but if you ask a Trader Joe's employee if you're allowed
the answer will most definitely be no all in all this seems like a pretty fair
policy both for the customers and the store itself baby's first product if you
know Trader Joe's you know that the bulk of the products sold in the store are
marketed under the Trader Joe's private label at this point something like 90%
of the items on their shelves or Trader Joe's brand not selling name-brand
products is one of the ways in which Trader Joe's is able to keep their
prices so low all of this is pretty common knowledge but do you know which
product started it all I don't know Trader Joe's dropped their first name
brand product in the early 70s about five years after the company was founded
if you want to place your bets on what exactly this product was now would be
the time if you guessed granola and we would be
very surprised if you did you would be correct
today there's very little you can't buy under the Trader
Joe's label but way back when there was nothing but granola why this was the
food item they decided to start with we can't tell you but we can say that it
was definitely successful in paving the way for the rest of the brand if you're
a big Trader Joe's fan you owe a lot to this little guy to address the question
that's on everyone's minds yes Trader Joe's granola is still available
for purchase stick around tap that screen for another great video
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