Ahoy, Mateys!

When your customer experience is just so good, how do you possibly express your unrequited love for Trader Joe’s?

Perhaps you share food essentials with friends and family:

Or maybe you’re crazy enough to write an entire blog about Trader Joe’s...

Or maybe, just maybe...you’ll join their team (it is recruiting season nevertheless).

After getting testimonials from past, current and future (they may not know it yet) employees, I realized that Trader Joe’s truly is an experience beyond grocery shopping (shameless plug). Let me take you through the greatness of Trader Joe’s employment.

Here’s what your day would look like:

9:30am - Clock in and check out the daily log to see tasks for the day. The managers will have employees work in the departments that they prefer working in, except on rare occasions (Polis, 2011).

9:30-10am - Stock shelves

10:00am-12:00pm: Work the register. Everyone is usually only on register for 2 hours at a time since it is tiring and repetitive.

12:00pm-1:00pm: Take a half hour break and eat lunch.

1:00pm-3:00pm: Work the register. Employees are told to “perform great customer service which includes having small talk with the customers” (Polis, 2011).

3:00pm-5:00pm: Set up “satellite demo” and hand out free samples.

5:00pm: Clock out

What’s it really like working at Trader Joe’s?

The Trader Joe’s hierarchy is organized unlike many grocery retailers. There are more middle managers: each store has one "captain," or store manager; a team of "mates," or middle managers; and everyone else is "crew" (Gillett, 2017). While crew members are encouraged to take ownership of their success and mistakes, managers are always on hand to offer guidance or help when necessary (Gillett, 2017).

Aimee, a Trader Joe's employee, loves it and she'll tell you why the employee structure is so beneficial (bonus: enjoy her extra air time as the cinematography struggles to turn off the camera).

Don’t think you have the time with school?

Here’s one student’s story of how she balances her shifts:

"Stressed and embarrassed, I went into my store and explained my situation. 'Yeah, that's tough,' the mate said, and pulled up our schedule. 'All right, you want just tomorrow off, or the next day too?' When I apologized, he simply said, 'We'll figure it out. Get an A, OK?' and dismissed me with a high-five." (Gillett, 2017).

As happiness is higher on millenials’ agendas than past generations, along with a stronger desire for flexible schedules and a work life balance, Trader Joe’s reflects this culture in their work ethic (Babin, 225). In addition, millenials seek frequent praise and reassurance from their bosses, something this student definitely got! (225).

Some (not so secretive) secrets you would learn:

Ever wonder what the bells are for?

One bell ring calls for an employee to come up and help the register. Two bells means help of any kind and three bells calls a manager (Breslouer, 2015). Trader Joe's prides itself on providing an efficient grocery shopping experience; they know how important it is that their customer doesn't have to wait too long to check out, a key aspect of what drives the customer's experiential value (Angell, Lecture 4, September 13). Trader Joe's has established itself as a leader because of its excellent customer service. 


Don’t the employees miss out on the sample station though?     Not a chance. Employees enjoy their own grub in the break room. In order for employees to familiarize themselves with products and provide an attribute-based evaluation by “speaking genuinely about the flavors, textures, and overall tastiness of the food” (Babin, 269), they are constantly trying new products (aka they’re basically eating ALL day). And just like customers, Crew Members also definitely hit up the sample station: “I can’t even begin to tell you how many teeny tiny cups of coffee I chugged or samples I inhaled in a given shift,” one employee says (Raga, 2017).

I actually found it very difficult–if not impossible–to find a negative take on Trader Joe's employment. So just how does this tie into our consumer behavior? Based on consumer lifestyle segmentation, VALS consumers will find value in resources that allow them to self-express and excite (Babin, 123). So, if the employees enjoy what they do, are well-versed on the items they sell, and express the value it would bring to the customer, he/she will make purchase decisions based on attributes and experience. Thanks in part to supportive management and excited employees, customers at Trader Joe's consistently find themselves in "an experience beyond grocery shopping."

See ye next time, mate...fer another cup o' joe!

––––

References:

Babin. B., & Harris, E. (2016). Consumer Behavior 7. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Breslouer, Lee. “Trader Joe's Employees Dish on Their Secretive Employer.” Thrillist, 12 June 2015.

Gillett, Rachel. “Trader Joe's Voted One of the Best Places to Work.” Business Insider, 20 Sept. 2017.

Polis, Carey. “Food Informants: A Week In The Life Of A Trader Joe's Employee.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, Aug. 2011.

Raga, Suzanne. “14 Tasty Secrets of Trader Joe's Employees.” Mental Floss, 4 Aug. 2017.


Images (in order):

https://me.me/t/trader-joes

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d1/91/5d/d1915d7ce8be81b7e25e997f97e83941.gif

https://goo.gl/images/qchboz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sGqAsMwRAo

https://goo.gl/images/Pr84YY