Trader Joe's reviews

Age discrimination...being told you are "slow" and giving the younger people the more fun jobs. Those fired or demoted are older for the most part. TJ's does not acknowledge that accuracy, proper product placement and rotation is more important than how fast you can "throw" product.In its zeal to increase profit, TJ's ignores many practices that cost them money. They'd rather promote a know-nothing younger employee (and what I mean is they haven't been there long enough to know enough to be promoted) than let someone with knowledge and experience get ahead - it's all about how much money you make. Tell me something TJ's...why promote that you pay people well when you look to cut them off when they earn too much? DON'T YOU WANT TO KEEP GOOD PEOPLE?

Working at Trader Joes was awful. I've worked in a variety of places including some pretty awful manual labor jobs and Trader Joes is the worst job I've had yet. The scheduling is awful. They more or less demand open availability. I had full availability. I would often be scheduled for 8-9 days in a row because they have you work 4 at the end of one week and 4 at the start of the next. You will close (get out at 12 am to 1 am) and then be due back at 9 or 10. The day after that you're on for 4pm to 12 am again. There is no consistency and your sleep schedule will be destroyed. This is because a computer program does most of the scheduling and management is too lazy to look at what they are actually doing. Raising concerns about your schedule to management will not change anything. You are also scheduled for right around 36 hours and obtaining overtime is very difficult. Your back will hurt. I'm not a stranger to manual labor and don't complain about it usually. The way the registers are set up is terrible for your body. To be fast which is demanded you must twist and lift. That combination is one of the worst known for your back. Look up the NIOSH recommendations for grocery workers. The Trader Joes checkout set-up disregards almost every one of them. They retain crew members by telling them they are in line for a promotion. People who would have left stay in the hopes of becoming a mate only to watch the company bring in new management from outside their store. If promoted to the mate level you can expect about a $1 raise. You make more money by working over 50 hours a week. Essentially you are rewarded by being allowed to accrue overtime. The scheduling for the mates is just as bad as the crew which results in sleep deprived and stressed out management. In years past the 6 month review/raise was around a dollar and now it is much closer to 50 cents while the company is making more money than ever. The captain (store manager) was entirely out of touch with what was happening in his own store and was more focused on impressing the regional manager when he would visit every couple of months. I watched him blow off valid crew member suggestions for improving the store multiple times. Hard work is not rewarded or even appreciated. There is such an emphasis on customer service that it enables terrible behavior on the customers behalf. I saw crew members grabbed by customers, called names, and generally degraded/harassed. This was routine and often by a handful of regulars. Working here will do nothing for your advancement in life unless you are 100% committed to a career in the grocery industry. You will not leave with transferable skills that are valued by other employers other than customer service. Good luck.