I feel betrayed - Anonymous employee Trader Joe's Employee Review

2.0
Jul 30, 2013
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great health insurance until further notice. I won't be surprised if we lose it soon. 401k, food discounts, lots of tastings. Made lifelong friends

Cons

Read all the other reviews. Do you see a pattern? The company is making changes that they should of made when the economy started to go bad years ago. Instead we are slapped in the face with unstructured crazy changes. Most of us understand that some people don't get raises at their jobs at all. The company has been beyond generous with us but now since they need to start saving $ they are having the management not award raises to at least half of the employees in their store and the reasons behind it are ridiculous. Furthermore, they overhired for the summer which made everyone get their hours cut. Well unless you write an order then you get your 5 days, but some people don't want to write an order and be blamed for things that they might not of done. We understand the summer is slower but it appears they are hiring new people so they can be paid less. As for the mates, the ones hired from the outside are trained to be almost robotic. It's just sad, the culture of the company is going down the toilet because they couldn't adapt fast enough. I'm ready to move on and trying my best to do so.

Explore other reviews about Trader Joe's

5.0
Jun 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Excellent work environment and team.

Cons

Might not be a con for some but the job requires you to spend a lot of time on your feet moving objects so not recommended if you have any injuries or ailments.

4.0
May 27, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-Great way to meet people, socialize, and learn customer service -Always tasked with different things every hour -Friendly crew who will always help you to learn and get better at your job -Get a slight pay raise every 6 months -No outside commitments and amazing benefits if you work full time (about 28 hours a week for every 6 months) -Will take time, but find your friend group, stay with them and have fun, you can't please everybody -Care for your body, do not overdo it with physical labor, its a retail job and you only have one fragile body for yourself, get help or insist about your pains

Cons

-Not many, unless you are stuck in a bad store with bad management -I had some good luck of working in 3 great stores, so YMMV -Sometimes can get cliquey like you are back in high school -Getting promoted up to store management may involve buttering up and being a "yes-person" -Care for your body, do not overdo it with physical labor, its a retail job and you only have one fragile body for yourself, get help or insist about your pains

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