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Trader Joe’s says it will never do self-checkout

“We’re not trying to get rid of our crew members for efficiency’s sake,” the company’s president said.
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3 min read

Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know

Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.

Leave it to Trader Joe’s to zig whenever everyone else zags–or in this case, when everyone else bags.

While self-checkout is growing increasingly popular—accounting for 55% of grocery checkout transactions in 2022, according to a VideoMining study cited by Grocery Dive—Trader Joe’s is not getting on the bandwagon.

“We believe in people and we’re not trying to get rid of our crew members for efficiency’s sake or whatever…the reasons are [stores] put self-checkout in,” Jon Basalone, president and vice CEO of Trader Joe’s, told Inside Trader Joe’s, the chain’s podcast.

“Self-checkout is work,” TJ’s CEO Bryan Palbaum added. “I don’t want that.”

Basalone said he was at a store recently and, despite having worked at TJ’s for 33 years, was unable to self-check out his products.

“I couldn’t get the thing to scan…and then the person came over and was trying to explain to me,” Basalone said. “I’m like, ‘I do this for a living, and I can’t get this thing to work.’”

No way, Joe’s say: It is not, to be sure, the first time Trader Joe’s has pushed back against trends sweeping the supermarket industry.

As Retail Brew reported in February, one of the most frequently searched questions on Google about the store is “Why doesn’t Trader Joe’s deliver?”

“We do not offer curbside pickup or delivery, and we don’t work with third-party delivery services like Instacart or Dumpling because they can’t match our outstanding in-store value and shopping experience,” TJ’s explains in the FAQ section of its website. “After considering the options, we’re still just big ole fans of the neighborhood grocery store where we can say hello when you’re looking around wondering—‘what’s for dinner?’”

Speaking of which, the most popular Google query that begins “Are Trader Joe’s employees…” is not “Are Trader Joe’s employees unionized?” (No. 2) or “Are Trader Joe’s employees paid well?” (No. 4).

Nope, the most popular query is, “Are Trader Joe’s employees trained to flirt?”

Get over yourself: On the podcast, Tara Miller, TJ’s VP of marketing, put the question to the CEO and vice CEO.

“Can you please tell us once and for all: Are our crew members told to flirt with customers?” Miller asked.

“Definitively, no,” Palbaum said. “We just have such a unique environment in our stores that, to go into a Trader Joe’s store and feel that everyone is genuinely interested in whether or not you are having a good day, compared to maybe perhaps other retailers, I could see how that might be misinterpreted.”

“You run into so many people that aren’t genuine, that aren’t kind to you,” Basalone added. “When you walk into a place when that’s happening, it feels like, ‘Whoa, okay, I think they’re flirting with me,’ when actually, yeah, that’s just what niceness feels like.”

Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know

Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.