Trader Joe's Founder Speaks at SCORE Function

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").

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.

Comments

[Maxwell Hunter]

$50,000? Are you serious? That's a large salary. Most librarians don't make that much. Well, what I mean is average starting salary is $40k-$50k. How is this possible? I've heard that they have good benefits as well. I wonder if that's why the employees are so damn "happy". At the same time it's a busy job. The closest 'TJ' that I can get to is downtown Manhattan at Union Sq. Wow.

[Erika May]

1. Please bring back the HOLLANDAISE Sauce.

2.Sourdough muffin lists vinegar as ingredient. Does one of your many sourdough breads contain vinegar under the ingredient "starter"?
Vinegar is better for diabetics.
Thanks,
Erika

[Marilyn954@mac.com]

Does Trader Joe's have mail order?

[k]

Q&A

1) FULL-TIME to Trader Joe's means managerial staff.

2) Send the request to the front office. There are only 12 people there.

3) No.

[em]

I used to work at Trader Joe's while I was getting my teaching credential and I can speak to the salary issue. "Full Time" employees are the managers and up. (Yep, they make c. $50,000 and that was over 12 years ago. Pretty nice, huh?)

However, everyone else (check out, stocking, carts, etc. people NOT wearing a Hawaiian shirt) are not allowed to be full time. They can beg, plead, etc. nope. Full time is only for managers. NOONE else is allowed to go above 19.5. Ever. These 'part time/full timers' make an hourly wage very similar to what I made when I worked at Starbuck's.

(Actually, Starbuck's, I found, treated their employees better. More hours, GREAT benefits, etc. JMO)

[M.B.H.]

Please bring Trader Joe's to Vermont VERY SOON and let it be in my town...Essex! Thank you.

[mr big dicks hot chicks]

Any product specific questions should be directed to tjs.

[mr big dicks hot chicks]

Any product specific questions should be directed to tjs.

[Wholesale nfl jerseys]

Please bring Trader Joe's to Vermont VERY SOON and let it be in my town...Essex! Thank you.

[Joyce Oliver]

Trader Joe is coming to KC,MO! YEa Yea. What's the opening date?

[louis vuitton bags]

Basically my life is just hard work, I can say that I live a seventy-year-old, is not that comfortable life than a month, like pushing a stone up the mountain, the stone kept rolling down and Tuishang Qu.

[Barbara]

Your Triple Ginger Snaps seem to have changed. They seem more crisp and not as much ginger in them. I liked them better when they were a little chewy. Could it be you have changed the recipe?

[Claire Story]

Please bring back Trader Joe's Mint Water. It is so refreshing and wakes up my brain!

[The North Face]

So fun article is! I agree the idea!

[Concerned and Willing to Fight]

What about their average warehouse worker??? Those employees get treated like trash. Considered a temp but allowed to work for years straight. I've got pictures of rats, rat babies, rat feces (all over soon to be shipped product) and testimonies of retaliation and cover-ups. Isles in the warehouse are allowed to stink for weeks before they are properly cleaned up. The customer sees the store FRONT but do not see Trader Joe's dual personality when it comes to their warehouses. $50,000 for an average store employee but $19,000 for the average Trader Joe's warehouse employee. #westcoast

[North Face Outlet]

Those employees get treated like trash.