4 ms·

What makes Trader Joes Trader Joes is that they carefully curate the entire experience and having a loss of control over how they are presented to the customer

What makes Trader Joes Trader Joes is that they carefully curate the entire experience and having a loss of control over how they are presented to the customer is a big deal. What if, one of the buyers transporting food improperly chills some steaks and 15 people come down with food poisoning. Then, you have the media blaring out "OVER A DOZEN PEOPLE SICKENED BY TAINTED MEAT FROM TRADER JOES"?. It doesn't matter that the media report is inaccurate, all of a sudden, you have people associating Trader Joes with unsafe food handling practices and the PR damage from one incident alone is more than any possible profit they derive from this tiny store. So, while I understand how the practice is entirely legal, I can also see how it's a nightmare from Trader Joes perspective and how they'd rather it all go away.

namidark 12y ago
Trader Joe's has had quite a few food recalls lately.
chaostheory 12y ago
The meat example is a good reason, but it doesn't apply in this case. > "Pretty much anything I can buy in the U.S., I can legally import into Canada. There are permits required for meat, seafood and dairy. We stick to vegetarian packaged nonperishable items." > "I would prefer Trader Joe's accept my long-standing offer to follow guidance on how they would like me to operate," Hallatt says in an email." http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/08/30/217210915/bag-it-trader-joes-tells-pirate-grocer-in-canada http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/08/30/217210915/bag... It's really difficult to change the quality of unopened, non-expired, pre-packaged food. The more I read about this, the less reasonable the company behind Trader Joe's seems. Even companies like Apple allow other channels to sell their products.
- madeofpalk 12y ago
  > Even companies like Apple allow other channels to sell their products. Not really. Well, Only channels that Apple allows will are allowed to resell their products. Apple does not take too kindly to the 'gray market' products and unauthorised resellers.
  - lucaspiller 12y ago
    Here in the UAE there are a tonne of unauthorised resellers. Mostly importing products as they are cheaper and don't come with local restrictions (FaceTime is blocked on iPhones bought in most of the Middle East). Apple has authorised resellers, an online presence, and next year are opening a retail store, so you'd think they would try and do something about it...
  - chaostheory 12y ago
    > Well, Only channels that Apple allows will are allowed to resell their products. That's not true. There's a huge grey market for Apple products. Just look at Ebay. When you go international it's much bigger. > Apple does not take too kindly to the 'gray market' products and unauthorised resellers. They may not be happy about it but they don't sue anyone over it as long as the sellers aren't trying to pass counterfeit merchandise as Apple products, or fake Apple stores as official Apple stores.
mullingitover 12y ago
> What makes Trader Joes Trader Joes is that they carefully curate the entire experience and having a loss of control over how they are presented to the customer is a big deal. Ha! Every Trader Joe's I've ever shopped at has actually been a pretty miserable shopping experience. I keep going back because their stuff is so good, but it's not a carefully curated experience, unless the curators are sadistic. They're ruthlessly efficient, and have sales per square foot figures that are the envy of the grocery industry.
- gcb4 12y ago
  their food is just a more "Kraft food" version of hippie food you find in regular "organic" markets. basically pump oils and sugar. instant tasty,
  - tormeh 12y ago
    "If it tastes good, spit it out" may be an exaggeration, but there's a lot of truth to it...
    - SoftwareMaven 12y ago
      I don't think there's any truth in it. We developed taste buds to guide us to what we should eat and what we should avoid. That evolution has been usurped by food science. On the other hand, "if it has an ingredient list, it's not food" is much closer to a truism. It's obviously an exaggeration as well; nonetheless, I tred cautiously with ingredient lists.
      - tormeh 12y ago
        And now the situation we use our taste buds in is so different from the situation they were trained in that our taste buds are behind the biggest health issue in the world after aging.
  - mullingitover 12y ago
    I have yet to find a hippie market that has their selection of beer, wine, and spirits (TJs started out as a wine shop).
prof_hobart 12y ago
>loss of control over how they are presented to the customer is a big deal. As there people presumably wouldn't be customers of Trader Joe's products without this store, I'm still not sure I understand the issue.
greedo 12y ago
I'm sure plenty of businesses would rather it all go away when it comes to things they can't control. But this guy isn't breaking any laws, and filling in an economic desire. Tough luck for Trader Joes, and I think they're behaving reprehensibly.
hussong 12y ago
> What makes Trader Joes Trader Joes is that they carefully curate the entire experience and having a loss of control over how they are presented to the customer is a big deal. Apparently not in Germany, where you can buy a small selection of Trader Joe's products at Aldi (they are owned by the same parent company / foundation).

namidark 12y ago

Trader Joe's has had quite a few food recalls lately.

chaostheory 12y ago

The meat example is a good reason, but it doesn't apply in this case. > "Pretty much anything I can buy in the U.S., I can legally import into Canada. There are permits required for meat, seafood and dairy. We stick to vegetarian packaged nonperishable items." > "I would prefer Trader Joe's accept my long-standing offer to follow guidance on how they would like me to operate," Hallatt says in an email." http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/08/30/217210915/bag-it-trader-joes-tells-pirate-grocer-in-canada http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/08/30/217210915/bag... It's really difficult to change the quality of unopened, non-expired, pre-packaged food. The more I read about this, the less reasonable the company behind Trader Joe's seems. Even companies like Apple allow other channels to sell their products.

madeofpalk 12y ago
> Even companies like Apple allow other channels to sell their products. Not really. Well, Only channels that Apple allows will are allowed to resell their products. Apple does not take too kindly to the 'gray market' products and unauthorised resellers.
- lucaspiller 12y ago
  Here in the UAE there are a tonne of unauthorised resellers. Mostly importing products as they are cheaper and don't come with local restrictions (FaceTime is blocked on iPhones bought in most of the Middle East). Apple has authorised resellers, an online presence, and next year are opening a retail store, so you'd think they would try and do something about it...
- chaostheory 12y ago
  > Well, Only channels that Apple allows will are allowed to resell their products. That's not true. There's a huge grey market for Apple products. Just look at Ebay. When you go international it's much bigger. > Apple does not take too kindly to the 'gray market' products and unauthorised resellers. They may not be happy about it but they don't sue anyone over it as long as the sellers aren't trying to pass counterfeit merchandise as Apple products, or fake Apple stores as official Apple stores.

mullingitover 12y ago

> What makes Trader Joes Trader Joes is that they carefully curate the entire experience and having a loss of control over how they are presented to the customer is a big deal. Ha! Every Trader Joe's I've ever shopped at has actually been a pretty miserable shopping experience. I keep going back because their stuff is so good, but it's not a carefully curated experience, unless the curators are sadistic. They're ruthlessly efficient, and have sales per square foot figures that are the envy of the grocery industry.

gcb4 12y ago
their food is just a more "Kraft food" version of hippie food you find in regular "organic" markets. basically pump oils and sugar. instant tasty,
- tormeh 12y ago
  "If it tastes good, spit it out" may be an exaggeration, but there's a lot of truth to it...
  - SoftwareMaven 12y ago
    I don't think there's any truth in it. We developed taste buds to guide us to what we should eat and what we should avoid. That evolution has been usurped by food science. On the other hand, "if it has an ingredient list, it's not food" is much closer to a truism. It's obviously an exaggeration as well; nonetheless, I tred cautiously with ingredient lists.
    - tormeh 12y ago
      And now the situation we use our taste buds in is so different from the situation they were trained in that our taste buds are behind the biggest health issue in the world after aging.
- mullingitover 12y ago
  I have yet to find a hippie market that has their selection of beer, wine, and spirits (TJs started out as a wine shop).

prof_hobart 12y ago

>loss of control over how they are presented to the customer is a big deal. As there people presumably wouldn't be customers of Trader Joe's products without this store, I'm still not sure I understand the issue.

greedo 12y ago

I'm sure plenty of businesses would rather it all go away when it comes to things they can't control. But this guy isn't breaking any laws, and filling in an economic desire. Tough luck for Trader Joes, and I think they're behaving reprehensibly.

hussong 12y ago

> What makes Trader Joes Trader Joes is that they carefully curate the entire experience and having a loss of control over how they are presented to the customer is a big deal. Apparently not in Germany, where you can buy a small selection of Trader Joe's products at Aldi (they are owned by the same parent company / foundation).