Beware of the Juice Man

One of my students, an employee at a Trader Joe's in Hollywood, California, told me a bearded, bespectacled middle-aged man, whose stale armpits and anti-social demeanor gives him an unsavory Unabomber vibe, tenaciously sneaks into the store’s cold box to gather several quart-sized papaya, tangerine, and mango juices, all of which this juice monger argues have “fresher” dates on them than the juices that are accessible to the customers. The store management has assured the disgruntled gentleman repeatedly that they only put fresh juice on the shelves, but the Unajuicer believes they are trying to “sell off old juice” and he will only buy the “hidden” juices stored in the back cold box.

Several times a week, an employee will enter the cold box and find the Juice Fiend tearing apart boxes and spewing paranoid diatribes about the conspiracy to deny him fresh juice as he searches for the choicest expiration dates. He is escorted out of the store and threatened with arrest if he continues to trespass into the cold box, but these threats go unheeded as the Man in Quest of the World’s Freshest Juice will not be deterred.

Comments

[Tom Welch]

I go to Trader Joe's once a week in Gilbert, AZ. I don't worry about freshness dates b/c there's such a high turnover of goods at this store. I rarely look at freshness dates unless I'm shopping on a Sunday morning.

Trader Joe's does a competent job of controlling their inventory.

BTW, we have a new chain store here in the Phoenix area called "Fresh and Easy", a British company. I found that when in this store, you need to check the dates on groceries b/c the store does not have the volume Trader joe's does.

[Jeff McMahon]

Tom, my wife's cousin, a big-wig at Trader Joes, gleefully told us that Fresh and Easy is a bust, its revenues woefully short of the owners' expectations. I've never been in a Fresh and Easy but I hear it's a sad hodgepodge food with no brand identity. I shop at TJs once or twice a week, spending close to $600 a month there.

[Tom Welch]

When I shopped at Fresh and Easy, I was very disappointed. This store claims to sell all organic food but their prices were high and I found their bread section anything but fresh. They did have a half a gallon of carrot juice @ $4.95. I never went back again to the store.

There's a large gap between their marketing and actual shopping experience.

[Jeff McMahon]

Worse, Fresh and Easy stole TJ managers, gave them double salaries, and threatened to take-over Los Angeles. They can go back where they came from with their tails between their legs.