I’m mostly talking about the Trader Joe’s near me. They have around 30 registers in the back, with two separate lines. The lines snake around the sides and block all of the cold foods. This isn’t your typical huge square footage supermarket, most of the shopping is done downstairs and then upstairs is all of the fresh cold foods and the checkout registers. I can’t say I’ve ever seen someone put an empty cart there and then go downstairs, that would be weird. But if you are on line and the cheese is 15 ft away, it’s really no big deal to step off and get what you want. And then again for the meat and vegetables. It’s totally normal.
Apparently this is the world’s busiest Trader Joe’s, so I guess we do things a bit different here to keep it all moving smoothly.
When I was still listening to Comedy on SiriusXM, I heard a comic with a hilarious bit about a woman at Trader Joe’s pulling this stunt. His strategy was to take the Cookie Butter out of her cart and buy it for himself, imagining her consternation when she got home and couldn’t find her Cookie Butter.
Well now I’m astounded by having an “upstairs” and “downstairs” in a grocery store. Stairs and carts don’t exactly work well together!
Given that image, I can see how it makes sense to continue to shop for items in that aisle while in line (though not going to other aisles), but I still struggle to imagine pushing a stranger’s cart or asking someone to push mine. Just a social/cultural barrier, though I imagine if I shopped there I’d experience it and adapt.
Honestly I’d probably avoid a store that busy as much as possible!
My ex-wife speaks Norwegian. I am considering learning Norwegian so I can talk to her in a language my children will not understand, mostly so I can be rude to her.
I’ve shopped at that store, they have special escalators for shopping carts, as do other multilevel grocery’s (some of the NYC Whole Foods are multilevel)
It can be insanely busy. I’ve seen them hold people outside because the store was full, then once you make it in and finish shopping, you might have to stand in a holding area to wait to join the incredibly long line.
I always blamed of the crowding at the NYC Trader Joe’s on their pricing policies, Trader Joe’s charges the same prices at all stores nationwide, which makes them a cheap option in a HCOL area. I just went there for their shredded vegetable ‘bird nests” and herb and spice flavored popcorn..
At least this was true 5-10 years ago, I don’t live there now and I haven’t kept up.
I think it’s part of the aesthetic of Trader Joe’s. I’ve never been to one, anywhere, that wasn’t crowded and claustrophobic. I think it’s the physical equivalent of why restaurants are always so loud now: some people evidently like feeling that they’re a part of a massive swirl of humanity.
Personally, I would prefer to shop quietly in the darkness of lonely ice caves, but I can see why that’s not a viable business model.
Same here. I do almost all my grocery shopping in the morning on Thursday, which is “senior day”, and I can’t remember ever having more than two or three people ahead of me in line. And it’s not uncommon for a cashier to open up a new line and call me over.
On those occasions when I shop at Trader Joe’s there are always enough registers open that it’s rare for me to have to wait in line at all.
That was definitely the case during COVID. I haven’t had to wait outside since then at least.
I just stopped by today to grab something for lunch and the lines were long, not as bad as I have seen them, but I estimated maybe 80 people ahead of me. It still only took 15 minutes from getting on the line to checking out. 34 registers make it go much faster than you’d think by looking!
You might be surprised. All the Wincos in Portland have discontinued self-checkout (apparently we Portlanders can’t be trusted), AND they rarely staff more than two out of fifteen checkout lanes.
It can be a bit of an Epic Quest. Or at least an ordeal.
Had a man call us up, he wanted us to fix a tax problem. We don’t do tax problems, but decided to listen to him as we know people who do and, many times, to fix their tax problems they need our bookkeeping services.
Anyway, no, it wasn’t like that. He hired a maid/housecleaner/home assistant about 20 years ago. He decided he didn’t want to pay the 15% (roughly) social security tax, so he just paid her cash. At that time, she had recently immigrated to the US, so she agreed to this, not knowing any better.
For 20 years.
Well, guess who went to the local SS office to find out they they had made $0 in SS contributions their entire time they’ve been in the US, and therefore isn’t due a SS check?
To his credit, he does want to get this fixed, but holy hell, if he does so, he’s going to get hit with so many fines and penalties it may make sense for him just to write her a monthly check until one of them dies.
But, Jesus H Christ, people, just pay your damn taxes!
My Social Security saga has taken a new twist. I went to check my account online to see if there was any update on my benefit status. I found a reference to a benefit payment supposedly made today, which was not shown on my bank account record. There was also a copy of a new letter which confirmed that my Medicare premiums were now going to be deducted from my monthly payments. This letter also referred to my Medicare account number, which did not match the one on my Medicare card. This concerned me so I called 1-800-MEDICARE to see if they could clear this up. After an amazingly brief hold time I got to speak to an agent who started checking my record. She quickly confirmed that there was something wrong, which she was going to have to refer “up the chain” to get resolved. I was assured that I would receive a phone call within 7-10 days with an answer.
In the meantime, of course, I’m still waiting to hear about the status of my back benefits and when I will actually start receiving my monthly benefit payment.
There were a couple in the area of Toronto where I used to live. I never liked either of them because of the inconvenience. But the way they worked was with escalators designed for the carts that locked the wheels while they were on them.
I’m happy to be out in the wide-open suburbs with normal grocery stores again. OK, they may be several acres in size, but at least it’s all on a single level. And it’s not so bad when you’re familiar with the store and know exactly where to go for what you need.
A friendly nitpick from a voracious pedant: Bodies of land have “isles”, small islands like the Isle of Wight in the English Channel. Grocery stores have “aisles”, walkways between shelved merchandise.
At any rate, familiarity is far superior to a map. It’s why I usually shop at the same places all the time – I know where to find things!
