Trader Joe's reviews

I've worked at Trader Joe's for 4.5 years, and it's done a complete 180 in that time (at least in my region, anyway). At this point I'm convinced that the term "hostile work environment" was created to describe Trader Joe's. As others have said, Trader Joe's is all about the bottom line now. Once you reach a certain salary, they begin targeting you (as if my barely 20K a year is some unheard of salary that the store can't afford to pay). Trader Joe's will never fire an employee unless they are stealing or engaging in some sort of activity that could lead to the store finding itself in some hot water. They will, however, do anything they can to get you to quit. They will change your schedule, change your duties, schedule you only one day a week, and much more. If you're a full-timer, they'll demote you to part time without hesitation (causing you to lose upwards of 40K a year). You will also be written up for literally nothing at all, preventing you from receiving a raise. I know I may sound like someone who has a problem with my store, but honestly, I've seen this pattern repeated at least a dozen times over my tenure at Trader Joe's. Once I passed the $16/hr mark at my last review, I was told that my salary "costs the store too much money," and it was immediately after that that they began targeting me and playing these hostile games. Our regional manager is awful and pushes captains to treat their crews like garbage. If they don't, they'll be demoted and a new Captain who is willing to play the game will be brought in. Trader Joe's used to be the kind of place that would work very hard to make its employees happy, but it's now turned into the type of place that will drive you out and replace you with someone who is happy to work for $10/hr.