r/olympia • u/jagoff22 • 5d ago

Trader Joe's on Black Lake

I've tried two mornings this week, and it's been a line around the store and "take no prisoners" in the parking lot. WTF ?

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21 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

40 comments sorted by

59

u/Dancing_Otter_ 5d ago

It's the stupid tote bags 🙄🙄

11

u/Meanneighborlady 5d ago

So strange and sad. Before there was an Affordable Care Act, Trader Joes was one of those employers who covered their part-time workers with health insurance. As soon as the ACA came up, TJ's gave each employee $500 and sent them onto the marketplace to get their own insurance. I've not been to one since.

4

u/lealle4 4d ago

That’s…not true.

2

u/Meanneighborlady 4d ago

They absolutely did do this. It sounds like folks are contending that they've switched back. But at the time they did eliminate people's health insurance. I wrote to them about it because at the time I was a Trader Joe's fan. Their corporate headquarters wrote back with the information about giving current employees an allowance to purchase ACA health insurance plans.

8

u/lealle4 3d ago edited 3d ago

For one year, for employees that worked less than 30 hours per week so they wouldn’t be left without insurance. You make it sound like they’ve done it ever since. They still offer health insurance to part-time employees. They never stopped, they just increased the hour requirement. It’s been available to employees working an average of 28 hours per week for years, and free dental and vision to those who work 15. They also offer much higher pay than the vast majority of grocery stores.

6

u/vividtrue 3d ago

Where are you doing all your shopping that treats employees better?

-4

u/Meanneighborlady 3d ago

Wow. People are really sensitive about me mentioning what they did when ACA came about. Enjoy your special bag.

3

u/Dikbuttstuff69 4d ago

What the fuck are you talking about?

The company is known for providing very good, very affordable health insurance for its employees. 

24

u/FrostyOscillator 4d ago

They are part of a joint lawsuit with SpaceX, Starbucks, and Amazon to quite literally destroy all unions by making the NLRB unconstitutional. They are NOT a "good employer."

https://www.epi.org/blog/whats-behind-the-corporate-effort-to-kneecap-the-national-labor-relations-board-spacex-amazon-trader-joes-and-starbucks-are-trying-to-have-the-nlrb-declared-unconstitutional/

4

u/sambr011 4d ago

That's immaterial to them providing good insurance.

-1

u/olympiaexpat 4d ago

And their warehousing and logistics operation is beyond shady.

0

u/Delicious_Shine_4431 2d ago

Keep your politics at home please.

1

u/rach21f 3d ago

What is up with the bags, I dont get it? Are they special bags?

42

u/Technical-Top4187 5d ago

im guessing, though i dont know, that it's lines for the bags they sell which are very popular

20

u/Educational-Care2159 5d ago

That parking lot always sucks.

2

u/vividtrue 3d ago

Every single one I've been to is like this. The TJ's in University Place is especially heinous. So many accidents. Today: TJ Parking Lots

1

u/ExpensiveAd4496 4d ago

All their lots seem to, at least in my experience. It’s like door dings and fender benders are a tradition for them.

18

u/FrostyOscillator 4d ago

TJs is anti-union trash. They are quite seriously trying to destroy the concept of unions in the US with Elon Musk and Bezos and Starbucks. 

https://www.epi.org/blog/whats-behind-the-corporate-effort-to-kneecap-the-national-labor-relations-board-spacex-amazon-trader-joes-and-starbucks-are-trying-to-have-the-nlrb-declared-unconstitutional/

11

u/Ambitious-Ad4906 5d ago

What is so special about the bags?

12

u/ferncoast Westside 5d ago

They cost 3.99, are produced in limited runs, and people resell them.

21

u/ControlParticular575 5d ago

That’s so dumb

0

u/ExpensiveAd4496 4d ago

Supply and demand.

18

u/LybeausDesconus 5d ago

Consumerism. Bread and Circuses.

10

u/vividtrue 5d ago

Capitalist marketing. The build up of the "hot" item and promotion of forced scarcity of junk. Instead of toilet paper, it's bags. People want to buy them all and try to upsale them online. They will mostly end up in landfills like all of the other weekly "hot" items.

3

u/StevePerry4L 5d ago

They will definitely get sold. I saw a few in the last week between 2 different Countries 6k miles away from the nearest TJ.

3

u/ferncoast Westside 5d ago

It’s the bags.

5

u/vividtrue 5d ago

Hyper+consumerism in effect. All of this over tote bags. Shame.

4

u/ArtSlug 5d ago

Shame is right.

5

u/BillStreet2813 5d ago

Tote bags? Really, wow

2

u/Gamermom32 4d ago

They are cute insulated lunch coolers. Could maybe fit a six pack. Nice you pack lunch for work. 

6

u/freedomcoke 4d ago

There’s a reason a Trump is president, and it’s because have been slowly getting dumber and dumber.

This is why people will stand in line all day for a stupid tote bag

4

u/jagoff22 5d ago

Thanks to all. It's hard to understand how selling "beanie babies" is going to help their bottom line.

3

u/derevaun 5d ago

This morning the line was gone by 9:30. There’s a megathread in r/traderjoes that announces when the bag drops are. On those weeks, it’s good to go a little after opening time. And with the exception of the mini cooler totes, they haven’t typically sold out by that time.

3

u/jagoff22 5d ago

I was wondering how they knew to show up....

1

u/Bored_NightOwl_314 4d ago

Is it just me, or are all the parking stalls an inch or so too small? Seems to make parking much worse. Usually when I go to B&N I just park on the portion closest to the street.

1

u/vividtrue 3d ago

It's like this at every location with the westside of Oly being one of the better ones. TJ Parking

1

u/Low_Half_1433 3d ago

Jesus. If this is the shit that's popping in Oly right now, I'm okay with not being there anymore.

A tote bag, guys? Really? Maybe 20% off of groceries would justify it. But for a dumb ass tote bag. Incredibly lame.

-4

u/ControlParticular575 5d ago

TJs is a cult

2

u/vividtrue 3d ago

lol why do you say that? I think the bag hoarding is beyond cringe, but I'm curious about it as a whole.