We had spent ten days of indoctrination before the Grand Opening… I use the word
indoctrination to describe those first ten days, because the actual training was minimal.
Admittedly, most of the day-to-day work on the floor of a grocery store is menial. But I was
still struck by the ratio of time spent discussing values, compared to time spent discussing
process… What we did do, for hours, was listen to the Hawaiian shirts talk about Trader Joe’s
company values and the ways Trader Joe’s was different from other stores.59
Trader Joe’s did not trumpet its mission statement during these training sessions, as some
companies do. However, it emphasized the organization’s seven core values: integrity; we are a
product driven company; at Trader Joe’s we create WOW customer experience every day; no
bureaucracy; we are a national chain of neighborhood grocery stores; KAIZEN!; the store is our
brand.60
Trader Joe’s wanted its employees to become familiar with the company’s products. Each store
received an expense account that provided the funds for employees to sample new foods. The
company encouraged its employees to try various products. Employees received a 10% discount on
their purchases too. Of course, the company provided many sampling opportunities for its
customers. If you walked through a Trader Joe’s on a weekend, you might find a handful of different
sampling stations.
Trader Joe’s expected its employees to be generalists, not specialists. Crewmembers learned how
to do every job in the store. The company promoted from within whenever possible. While people
did specialize at times (e.g., the resident artists who made the signage), people tended to rotate roles
not only from day to day, but hour by hour at times. Managers typically did not allow crewmembers
to work at the checkout stations for more than two hours at a time. Each hour a different
crewmember played the role of “helmsman”- greeting customers as they entered the store.61
Trader Joe’s discouraged its managers from making announcements to crewmembers via the
intercom system. Instead, the company implemented a bell system to communicate key messages.
The firm’s website explained the Trader Joe’s version of Morse code: “One bell lets our Crew know
when to open another register. Two bells mean there are additional questions that need to be
answered at the checkout. Three bells call over a manager-type person.”62
Many retailers restocked their shelves almost completely at night, when no customers roamed the
aisles. Trader Joe’s did not adhere to that common industry practice. One could find crewmembers
replenishing shelves even during peak shopping periods at times. However, managers stressed that
helping customers should always take priority over stocking shelves. If customers needed assistance
finding an item, crewmembers walked with them to the product’s location, rather than just directing
them to a particular aisle.
While restocking shelves, crewmembers sometimes realized that the store had run out of certain
items. Managers gave them the latitude to make adjustments on these occasions. Gardiner explained
that, “Crewmembers are told to fill empty spots with products they do have.”63 Product displays
shifted constantly so as to keep the shelves looking full. Gardiner commented, “That means stocking shelves, which could seem like a mind-numbingly tedious job (and it is one) is also a task that involves making a constant series of adjustments.”64 Store managers too did not have to adhere strictly to a “planogram” developed by the corporate office. They could adapt how and where products were displayed based on their understanding of the local clientele.
Some observers marveled at how happy the crewmembers always seemed. Writer Carmel Lobello
wrote, “So what’s the deal? Is there booze in the water cooler in the break room? Are they all having sex? Or are they really just that jazzed about selling $2 jars of chicken satay peanut sauce?”65 Sheinterviewed a long-time employee, who told her, “When you hire friendly ‘people-people’ and then when you take good care of them with really good benefits and a really good hourly wage it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy that way.” He also explained that crewmembers often chose to “hang out together
after work.”66
At times, crewmembers marveled at how friendly customers often were with one another.
Gardiner described one interaction his wife had with another customer at his store: “My wife was
shopping in what we call the HABA aisle (it stands for ‘health and beauty aids’) when a total stranger
started a long conversation about the oatmeal soap. That’s just not the kind of thing that happens in
regular grocery stores. Where do people comfortably initiate conversations with strangers?”67