Trader Joes vs "The Supermarket" (sales, insurance)

[Clarks]

I have been doing some price comparisons between Trader Joe's and Albertsons and Vons, Trader Joes's is less money for staples such as milk and eggs and beer and bread, and especially cheap wine, two buck chuck. On most items they are cheaper.

One would think that the big chain supermarkets with their buying volume would be cheaper, but they aren't.

Why is this?

[EscapeCalifornia]

The chain markets also have to pay union wages, retirement, and a medical plan that didn't even have an employee contribution or co-pays. I was making $15/hr as a grocery clerk in the mid 90's while non-union stores were probably paying half that with no benefits.

[BRinSM]

for the most part trader joe's only sells one brand for each item they carry (usually their own), maybe that has something to do with it.

[NYSD1995]

Trader Joes sells one brand of nearly everything: Trader Joes.

TJ is not in direct competition with supermarkets, it is in competition with gourmet food stores like Whole Foods. The profit margins on TJ's items are much higher than comparable supermarket goods.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Clarks

I have been doing some price comparisons between Trader Joe's and Albertsons and Vons, Trader Joes's is less money for staples such as milk and eggs and beer and bread, and especially cheap wine, two buck chuck. On most items they are cheaper.

One would think that the big chain supermarkets with their buying volume would be cheaper, but they aren't.

Why is this?

That's interesting and I wouldn't have thought TJs would be cheaper either.

I'll bet (from reading other states' City Data threads) Trader Joes is the most missed thing by ex Trader Joes states' residents (like ex-Californians) when they move to their new "Trader Joe"less state. Even more than In n Out.

Isn't it three buck chuck yet?

I never goes to TJs with a supermarket grocery list mindset. It's usually a special trip for the unique TJ stuff.

They used to have these things called "Great Cakes". They were these muffins made of dates, plumbs, and other stuff. They were a little smaller than a hockey puck. Twenty two grams of fiber.

[Clarks]

The chain markets also have to pay union wages, retirement, and a medical plan that didn't even have an employee contribution or co-pays. I was making $15/hr as a grocery clerk in the mid 90's while non-union stores were probably paying half that with no benefits.

Seems a decent place to work, hard to beat $50,000 a year as a store clerk.

LA Downtown News has a story about a recent talk Trader Joe's founder, Joe Coulumbe, delivered at a SCORE function ("Trader Joe Comes Downtown (http://www.ladowntownnews.com/articles/2006/05/29/news/news01.txt - broken link)").
Interesting tidbits from the story:

• Trader Joe's will do about $5 billion in business this year.
• The average full-time Trader Joe's employee earns $50,000.
• The first Trader Joe's store carried 100 brands of scotch and 50 types of rum.

In case you're wondering what he looks like, the story includes a recent photo of 75 year-old Joe Coulumbe.

Seth Godin, marketing guru extraordinaire, writes about lessons learned from Trader Joe's:

"Most of what they sell is private label. Now that they have scale, they are able to negotiate great prices from their suppliers, and more important, encourage/force their suppliers to make unique items, or organic foods, or foods of higher quality for the money. All of this is a virtuous cycle. The key mantra is that Trader’s finds foods for its customers, NOT customers for its foods."

Trader Joe's offers a variety of benefits to its Crew - both full time and part time - to assure their health and well-being and that of their families. These benefits are intended to provide assistance for many aspects of life, from health care to employee discounts. Our benefits include:

• Medical, dental & vision insurance
• Company-paid retirement plan
• 10% employee discount
• Paid time off
• Employee Assistance Program
• Free Trader Joe's shirts
• Disability Insurance
• Great Pay
• Flexible Hours

[EscapeCalifornia]

I can't believe people at TJ's bringing in $25/hr. I wouldn't be surprised if there were only a very very full-timers at a store (like the managers) with the rest being part time (up to 39 hrs/wk) making much, much less.

[bellalunatic]

Love the benefits package, and that fact that they do their business so well, but the owners are Germans that run grocery stores in Germany as well, so that clearly that explains why.

[Clarks]

So, you are stating this is not a true statement? Note the word Average, average means no no really makes $50,000, some make more some make less. Still, anything within 20,000 either way seems pretty good for a non college required job.

The average full-time Trader Joe's employee earns $50,000.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by Clarks

So, you are stating this is not a true statement? Note the word Average, average means no no really makes $50,000, some make more some make less. Still, anything within 20,000 either way seems pretty good for a non college required job.

I know what an average is.

I'm saying that their claim is average "full time" employee, not average employee. If you have three full-timers in a store, making $40k, $50k, and $60k, respectively, the claim can be true even if there's 20 part time employees making $12/hr.

They also don't state where these full-time employees work. They could be in regional management, purchasing, IT, marketing, etc or anywhere else but the sales floor.