It’s hard to go wrong at Trader Joe’s with so many solid and affordable options, but there is one mistake you could be making without even realizing it. If you’re not asking to try products before you buy them, you could end up wasting a lot of money on groceries in the long run. Yep, that’s right — Trader Joe’s has a “try before you buy” policy!
Source
evancohen88: Former Trader Joe’s guy here. This extends to almost anything within reason in the store. We had people microwave soup before, try spoonfuls of ice cream, and even sample a facial scrub. Might feel awkward to ask but to the crew it’s pretty normal.
savageyouth: They also have a policy for having the worst parking lots on earth.
mydickcuresAIDS: If this post makes the front page it’s about to suck much more to work at Trader Joe’s.
RXL: I was looking at a super fancy chocolate bar and deciding on whether or not I should splurge and buy it and an employee walked up behind me and says: “hey you should just ask to try it because we get to eat the rest at the end of the day and I’ve really been wanting to try it”
Customer for life.
Ruler_of_thumbs: *”I’d like to try the Titos vodka, please?”*
Babyfart_McGeezacks: Ok, now this whiskey. Ok, now this whiskey. Ok, now this whiskey.
rynibatt: Whole foods does the same thing!
billpecota: Can confirm…. I work there
dfndoe: In the US many stores will do this including Whole Foods and Safeway. There are some exceptions, for instance medications, tobacco and alcohol cannot be sampled on demand.
OTOH if you want drink some free booze, Beverages and More will accept the remaining portion of any wine or beer bottle that you “find not to your liking” and exchange for store credit. There are people who infamously stockup at the wine sales and return lots of half empty bottles after doing plenty of drinking at home.
novaredditperson: Could you open this please? I’ve always wondered what this “milk” tastes like
And_The_Full_Effect: And they really don’t mind doing it because after you sample it they take the rest to the break room
inthesandtrap: Can you open these frozen tuna steaks for me to sample?
dahanian: One time my mom and I were looking at the dried fruit section and were wondering wether to get dried coconut meat or dried coconut flakes (the flakes were in a not see-through bag) and a worker heard us and just walked up and tore open the bags and was like here you can try them
I just remember being so shocked and wondered if he was allowed to do that to an un purchased product
worldofsmut: tl:dr You should be the annoying person who asks to try 20 things every time you shop there.
YarrIBeAPirate: Whole foods has a similar policy usually. It does not mean they will open every egg nog so you can decided which one you want.
SMURPHYsLaw93: This may get me into their shitty parking lot now.
WormRabbit: Condoms?
the_automat: Yep. But they usually won’t do this with toilet paper
MintberryCruuuunch: Here in seattle, it is around the block without room to fit two cars through the entrance or enough space to turn a corner, then its up a level, over a bridge, you have to recite a verse from the bible and do a 15 point 90 degree turn into a space.
SirTyrael: Anything does not include their legs.
godofwar7018: So if i ask to try a pizza will they give it to me raw or will they heat it up first
TheChief-Drg: Safeway has this policy as well.
marriedtomemes: I remember the first time I went in a Trader Joe’s, me and my two friends were just walking around and saw it was finally open and we went in and had a few free snacks they were giving out and they even had this find a squirrel thing where they gave out free lollipops. They were kind enough to not only appease three 18 year olds but after this random employee asked us if we wanted to try some other random snacks too and just took us around the store opening stuff up. From then on I’ve been Trader Joe’s gang till I die.
cdelorim: Not any more according to our store in Socal. Health department forced them to discontinue because of the risk of people getting each other sick.
Tldr: people don’t wash their hands after shitting so it’s a bad time for everyone.
Jehovacoin: I used to work at a store called EarthFare that had the same policy. It was one of the best sales tactics ever. Someone would ask to sample something in the bakery, and I would take a whole piece of whatever it was, cut it into ~10 different pieces, and set them out as free samples. As soon as someone tries something (80% chance they would think it was delicious) it would increase their chance of buying by ~150%.
For those curious, yes there were people who would try to take advantage of that system, but we didn’t mind. There were a few people who would come in every day and go to the deli, ask for a sample of each thing in the fresh case and on the hot line, then leave. I’m pretty sure some of them used it as their lunch. We were happy to feed everyone because it felt good to make really good food and see the happiness it brought to people. Plus, the money we made on selling with samples made up for it.
notsofullbeard: Former employee of Vons: We were told in training that we are allowed to let a customer try anything in the store. If they wanted one Oreo, we’d open a box. If they wanted to sample soda, twist it open. They pretty much let us do whatever the customer wanted. In produce I was told if a customer wants their watermelon cut up and de-seeded we had to pick out every seed…never had to but was told to go to any extent to make them happy
iamtomorrowman: couldn’t ask for a better retail brick and mortar grocer imo.
biscuits117: Worked here for several years. Yeah pretty much.
Viking_fairy: Big lots too, though we preferred if you let us open them for ya.