r/tjcrew • • Mar 26 '25

FAQ for Future and Current Crew Members

77 Upvotes

Aloha!

Please refer to this post for any questions you may have about the job, whether you want to know how the interview process is, what training and orientation entails, raises, you name it! This list may accidentally leave out some information, so please feel free to comment under this post; fellow crew members can help answer to the best of their abilities. Please remember: some questions may be best answered by your captain or mates at your store as some questions may be store-specific. Please take initiative and ask them first! Also, please familiarize yourself with this subreddit’s search button, as your question may have most likely been answered already!

“I’m going in for my first/second/third interview. What should I know beforehand?”

  • Be yourself. Be genuine and outgoing, and eager to work with the team. 
  • Wearing business casual is your best bet. You may hear about people being a bit too casual with their interview outfits, but don’t take the risk. Leave a good impression.
  • Even if your previous experiences at other jobs weren’t so good, don’t talk ill of them and instead talk about what you learned from your time there
  • Think of examples of when you experienced or witnessed great customer service or acts of kindness
  • Know some of the values of Trader Joe’s; a key value is integrity. Talk about what that means to you and how you experienced it
  • Know a product you enjoy and talk to the interviewer(s) about it
  • Have good availability. Varies from store-to-store, but usually 3 days per week minimum, with availability on weekends
    • Shifts are 7.5 hours with exceptions for those going to school, coming in from another job, etc. 

“What are the benefits?”

  • 20% discount on groceries on and off shift (you can use your discount to buy lunch during your break)
  • Premium pay is an additional $10/hour on top of your usual pay on Sundays and federal holidays. Check Dayforce for those holidays
  • Insurance benefits:
    • Vision and Dental insurance is free when you work the minimum 390 hours during a given measurement period
    • For medical coverage, 728 hours minimum during a given measurement period is needed to qualify; different plans will become available after the period, to which you can select based on your needs. Insurance covers for spouse and children as well.
    • Check Dayforce and see the current measurement period under the Benefits tab

“What should I expect on my first day?”

  • Orientation; getting paperwork done, watching videos, taking a store tour with a trainer, and safety training
  • This can be a fast-paced job depending on the day, as well as physically demanding. Wear comfortable shoes (ex: Hokas, Adidas, Sketchers, or any shoe that is made for support. Investing in good shoes is key to your health)
  • Learning how to be on both teams: Product vs. Customer Experience
    • Product: working on the sales floor, assigned to a section and working through stock (either dry back stock or perishable stock depending on your shift). Remember to rotate older dates to the front and newer dates to the back when rotating perishables!
    • Customer Experience: bringing that WOW Customer Experience at the registers, helmsing, and at food/wine demos. Taking the time to interact with customers and giving them that genuine experience as you help them
  • “Everyone does everything”: there are no “departments”, so you’ll be expected to help in each section and to be on register (minors may be excluded from register depending on state); every hour you will be tasked to work on either Product or CE, with a mandated 30-min lunch break halfway through your shift (you may ask for an hour lunch, just talk to a mate)
  • Bring your water bottle and make sure to stay hydrated during your shift; bring snacks, especially protein-rich snacks as well
  • Don’t be afraid of asking questions!
  • Don’t expect to memorize everything in one day! Take it a day at a time, eventually you’ll be able to keep up and remember details
  • Take microbreaks during downtimes on register, demo, etc. It’s important to stretch since this is a physically demanding job, and this way you’ll decrease possibility of injury due to repetitive motions

Now to the miscellaneous questions!

“Why are my hours getting cut?”

If you’re asking this post holidays up until late summer, it’s because that is the “slow season”, although it is store dependent. Talk to your scheduling mate and keep an eye out for posted shifts on Dayforce. If it’s not because of being in the slow season, then again, talk to your scheduling mate. We can’t give you that answer

“How much is too much when calling out?”

Again, store dependent. You’ll read all sorts of anecdotes in this sub, some ranging from calling out once a week to some only calling out a few times a review period. Ask your captain.

“When do we get paid?”

Every other Thursday, with some banks paying out as early as Monday. Some bank institutions may pay out early, but there have been instances where those who get paid early have gotten their paycheck “late” on occasion. No, it’s just been early. It’ll come on Thursday, don’t worry. There tend to be hiccups from time to time, but nobody has gotten paid late.

“Review period/raises?”

We get performance reviews twice a year. Mates and captain give you feedback: what you’ve done well, where you need improvement, etc. Standard raise is a 75¢ raise, whereas a $1 raise you’ve went above and beyond in Customer Experience. Not passing your review means no raise, and may be met with disciplinary action if necessary. To pass your review: just show up and put in effort at work, and be kind to crew and customers alike!

WOW bonus is an alternative to the $1, but it is taxed. 

Mates and Captain choose who gets the WOW raise or WOW bonus.

WOW Raise and WOW Bonus may be stacked, but some captains may not do that.

WOW Bonus is not the same as the End-of-Year 401k deferral bonus.

It is possible to been written up during the review period and still get your raise (again, store dependent)

Welcome again to those who are joining us or plan on joining us! Still have questions? Please ask below! They’ll be answered to the best of our abilities! Thanks for reading!

If you're a current crew member, the Hub on Dayforce is your best friend. Please take some time to check some sections out, as they may have the answers you're looking for!


r/tjcrew • • Aug 01 '25

MEGATHREAD - Uniform Search and Swap Post

18 Upvotes

Welcome to the ISO Crew Uniform thread, a monthly opportunity for those looking for crew uniform pieces and to those looking to get rid of theirs. Posted on the first of each month.

Please be respectful to one another whilst searching for uniform shirts, and please keep it amongst crew members only. All subreddit and Reddit rules apply. Any questions/issues can be brought to the mods' attention via modmail. Thank you, happy hunting!


r/tjcrew • • 1h ago

Hiding

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• Upvotes

Anyone else find creative spots to do their order in because they keep getting pulled to do something else? A forced leave me alone if you will 🤠


r/tjcrew • • 2h ago

Was asked by my Captain about becoming a mate

11 Upvotes

I have been dabbling with the idea for a little, but was never set on it until I was now asked about it. I told them I would like to have a more in depth, logistical conversation about the role, as I would when considering any new position.

Would any prior or current mates like to give me input/ pros and cons of getting promoted? The more brutally honest the better lol.

For context, I’m in my mid 20s, and currently working at a smaller store with “less foot traffic”. Also I guess it isn’t a full requirement to have a waterfall schedule at my store, so I guess more leniency with scheduling compared to other locations.

Things I am taking into consideration: Work/Life balance, The pay bump, and dealing with difficult situations and conversations. All obviously comes with the responsibility of being a manager. I want to continue to enjoy working at TJs and it’s been a great couple years with the company, but I also know how the physical and mental toll of being in a managerial position can be a lot. I also want to enjoy my life outside of work haha.

At least half of my store’s mates are also in their 20s, and I’ve asked their advice on this as well. Some of them I’ve even seen go from crew to being promoted and enjoying it, but again, just wanted to hear some anonymous opinions. Thanks!!


r/tjcrew • • 8h ago

How long are your lunches?

22 Upvotes

Just curious as to what the majority of yall do? Are yall locked in with the 30 minute lunches or do you keep your peace and take the full hour? Does everyone even get the full hour, or does your store only allow 30 minutes? For those of you who work 6 hour shifts sometimes, do you still take the full hour or do you take a 30?


r/tjcrew • • 20m ago

Switching sections!?!

• Upvotes

Ranting out here
I work in an extremely busy store and have been writing by order for one of the sections (according to numbers - highest sales)
Recently asked the mate incharge( if you can call them that) to be switched out of it, and they (Captain & Mate) str8 up denied it!
FML
Anyone been there, done that?
How did you survive?
TIA


r/tjcrew • • 10h ago

Retroactively taking out AR

16 Upvotes

Has anyone had them retroactively take out AR bc they forgot to take it out 3 months ago?
My AR was sitting at $243 and then yesterday it went down to $137 even tho I haven’t taken any AR recently. My captain looked it up and they took out $106 retroactively from a paycheck in July were they gave me my AR but didn’t take it out of balances? I just find it very suspicious and it makes me feel very mistrustful in the company to do something like that without any kind of communication. Someone else mentioned they heard they had some issues in July or something so that’s been happening. I’m curious if this has happened to anyone else and if so why isn’t the company sending out an email to all employees letting us know about this mistake and explaining why we’re all getting AR taken out randomly. I feel that we are at least owed that. Idk the whole situation makes me feel very uncomfortable and weird towards Trader Joe’s..


r/tjcrew • • 8h ago

How do you feel about Reg - Demo - Reg at your store?

10 Upvotes

I transferred recently and my old mates were considerate and would break up your day with product and registers pretty evenly and would never sandwich demo with two register hours. This store I transferred to does this all the time and I think it sucks. I wouldn’t be mad if it was a rare thing to help out the team, but if it’s almost everyday I get burnt out pretty quick and quite resentful.

Today they switched it up and gave me two registers in a row and then demo. At the end of my second register hour a mate asked if it was okay if they scheduled me like that and I said no - I really don’t want to do that. I guess it couldn’t work out on their side so I asked if I could please take a 10 during my register to at least take a break in this three hour stretch. Normally they are not flexible with giving 10’s during register hours so I was thankful I got one today.

So what do y’all think? Am I overreacting and is this normal at most stores or would you hate if this happened to you too?


r/tjcrew • • 5h ago

Any law school crew out there?

3 Upvotes

I’m getting the grad school itch and I’ve always thought my skills and academic strengths could maybe possibly hopefully work with law school.

I still would want to keep this job though since I’ve gotten up to a good hourly after working here for a couple years now, but I’ve seen a lot of posts saying it’s hard to work and go to law school because it’s such a time demanding program.

Any law school student crew out there? I was thinking of doing 3 day/20 hour work week schedules if I did go to law school part time. Do yall think that’s manageable with this job? What was your experience like working this job and going to law school or any high intensity grad program, for that matter.


r/tjcrew • • 5h ago

Can someone explain the 401/bonus situation to me like I’m 5?

2 Upvotes

The more I read about it the more confused I am 😂 most people at my store just take the payout so I can’t ask them


r/tjcrew • • 21h ago

The new QIL

41 Upvotes

Am I the only one hating the new QIL?

Search "tom" selecting category Produce and get 6 results

Search "tomato" and get 12 results

Search "tomatoes" and get 5 results

Can't choose a warehouse anymore

Can't choose dry vs cold pro

Don't get me wrong. I love a thumbnail as much as the next guy.

But the last version of QIL worked just fine.


r/tjcrew • • 9h ago

Endcaps and displays

4 Upvotes

Hey guys! I am the new display lead for my store and I was curious if you all have any ideas for different endcap displays? Pictures for inspiration would be awesome! (:


r/tjcrew • • 2h ago

Merchandising!

1 Upvotes

Hey y’all!! I’m a new mate and just took over beer wine liquor! Super stoked and trying to improve the vibes with merchandising art and signage. Would love if any of you have pics or can take pics of your sections for inspo. Thanks!!!


r/tjcrew • • 20h ago

I'm glad our stuff is low tech so we don't gotta worry about hacked freezers heating food

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29 Upvotes

Or having our apps hacked to potentially steal customer data, like what happened with giant. We don't have an app either!

Just regular breakdowns cause we never do preventive maintenance. Just fix AFTER it breaks


r/tjcrew • • 1d ago

Customers will look you dead in the eye like this and say “were you waiting for me”

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362 Upvotes

r/tjcrew • • 1d ago

Anyone else?

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129 Upvotes

"Sorry, it's out of stock "

We hit a new record today with half the box order TOS!


r/tjcrew • • 1d ago

Most unhinged tasting?

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66 Upvotes

Not our most unhinged, but here’s our butter flight.


r/tjcrew • • 19h ago

How do you all handle a crush on a regular?

9 Upvotes

Currently have a crush on a regular that comes once a week. He’s usually really polite and sometimes compliments me and I just get so awkward. I want to talk to him but you know not sure how if it’s unprofessional and I’m worried I’ll get in trouble. Have you guys ever been in a situation like this?


r/tjcrew • • 18h ago

Dayforce outage?

1 Upvotes

Anyone having issues with loading Dayforce?


r/tjcrew • • 1d ago

Fluctuating TOA balance?

28 Upvotes

Has anyone else experienced strange fluctuations in their TOA balance recently? Over the last month or so, my TOA balance has gone negative, then back to positive. It’s also gone up and down outside of pay period days when it’s usually added (without having used any of it and not because of missed punch corrections).

I know that the way it is calculated/ payed out switched back in June, but this is just strange. Any ideas?


r/tjcrew • • 11h ago

Running a Gofundme for a TJ crew member who's been scammed.

0 Upvotes

Hi all, hope all's well at work in TJ's and life in general. This is a fundraiser for a crew member who's been scammed by cybercriminals and is hoping to recoup what's been stolen from him. This was going to be part of his retirement but he got scammed. A police report has been filed. I'm reaching out to our awesome TJ's community for any possible help. Either way, thank you and be careful out there...https://gofund.me/091d9efd3


r/tjcrew • • 1d ago

scholarship news?

11 Upvotes

Just curious if anyone has heard anything back from the scholarship? My application still says it’s under review and no one at my store seems to know what’s going on.


r/tjcrew • • 1d ago

Looking at transfering to stores #263 or #13 in Santa Clarita, CA!

3 Upvotes

Does anyone have any info for the stores in Santa Clarita? lmk!


r/tjcrew • • 1d ago

Anyone know about North Star ?

8 Upvotes

There was a new icon that popped up on the computer called “North Star “ and I was wondering if anyone knew what it was


r/tjcrew • • 2d ago

Looking for a brown or “burnt orange” / brick colored sweater. (or zip!)

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34 Upvotes

if you have any you don’t want i would love to buy or trade for them! just message me :)