The mates and captain can make or break morale. - Crew Member Trader Joe's Employee Review

3.0
Jan 8, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good food, nice customers, fun work environment IF you work at a good location, and you can try foods w/o paying IF you work at a location that allows it. Most did, but my second location didn't because management were mean and money hungry.

Cons

I worked at two different locations in the same city. At the first one, the mates and captains were kind, funny, chill, and amiable. At the second one, the mates and captain were awkward, fake, and rude. There's generally comraderie amongst the crew regardless of the mates and captains, but if yours were horrendous like mine were, they may make it so you can hardly talk to your coworkers without getting in trouble. My advice is to shop at the location you wish to work for and ask the crew that's ringing you up if this is a good location to work at; avoid asking older employees because they've most likely been there for 10-15 years and have no plans to move up or leave the company and are extremely loyal to people who genuinely just see them as work horses. Ask young people. The younger the better. We had our captain and mates bragging about sales during a PANDEMIC while we, the crew, were the ones interacting with customers, soothing their panic, trying to gently tell them to give us 6ft distance, and more. Like, of course sales were good, it's a grocery store operating during a pandemic where people are scared for their health, their lives, their jobs, and their futures. Not really the time to be gloating. We also were told we couldn't wear GLOVES, let alone masks, until well into the pandemic. We were told we couldn't come in if we wanted to wear masks or gloves, and this is information you can look up. They also tried to suppress information about employees getting COVID until they couldn't anymore (AKA, until it was too obvious to ignore how many crew members were missing/out sick). Also, for women, watch out for male upper management who want to, uh, blur the lines between what's appropriate and what's inappropriate in work relationships.

Explore other reviews about Trader Joe's

5.0
Jul 14, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Flexible schedule Salary raises Discount

Cons

Work weekends Crowded Heavy lifting

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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