"..often a little ahead of its time or is at the forefront of the curve."

[kyburg]

Trader Joe's has begun phasing out some products from China.

The discount natural-foods retailer has discontinued single-ingredient items from mainland China but will continue to carry products that have an ingredient from China in their makeup.

Affected products include edamame, or fresh green soybeans, and others.

Well, then.

In the ongoing battle on who gets your grocery dollars - who's listens to you when you ask for something?

I keep saying caitlin and terredancer should ring up the corporate office and ask them for a new store near them. I think they'd do it. This is why.

"Trader Joe's is often a little ahead of its time or is at the forefront of the curve. Any supermarket chain, if they could, would like to do the same thing if it's feasible," he said.

But big chains are terrified of price increases, he said.

"They're afraid people will leave them for a penny."

I worked for Coca-Cola, and still have that BIL who works for Nestle. This is absolutely true, and if you doubt me, go check Wall-Mart on sale paper day.

Comments

[exedore.livejournal.com]

That is awesome for TJ's. I wish we had one here, but sadly London barely has a presence from Whole Paycheck. The upside is that UK supermarkets are required to put country of origin on all produce, so we find out that our peas and baby corn come from African areas while broccoli, carrots, and corgettes are all home grown.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

TJ's hasn't been good at labeling food origins, but when they have, I've avoided the Chinese stuff (and choose seafood depending on origin, to avoid other countries). Their bag of organic green vegetables used to live in our freezer as a "just in case we run out" bag, then I saw that it's grown in China and shipped here -- what's the use, other than to encourage organic growing in China? (And then, is it all that well regulated?)

I know plenty of people who prefer to shop Wal-Mart for that penny, but as broke as we've been, I've only been inside one twice ever, for something we needed that simply wasn't sold elsewhere. (It is now, I shop elsewhere for it now.)

Folks prioritize spending in different ways -- some folks think cable's a necessity, some don't care. Some thing internet access and a computer aren't necessary, some don't think a car is necessary. Some would think spending more than a dollar a pound on dog kibble is ridiculous. For us, putting our money, even when limited, where our social consciousness leads us is very important, and that's away from China, toward food grown as locally as is feasible, toward organic, toward places where animal welfare matters, toward environmentally sound farming and sustainable fishing practices, etc.

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

What is absolutely true: that chains are terrified of penny increases, or that TJ's are phasing out Chinese supplies?

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Yes, to both.

[(Anonymous)]

Some would think spending more than a dollar a pound on dog kibble is ridiculous.

*laughs* I've been called insane by people for buying food for my cat that costs on average $5 a pound. "Cats can do just as well on supermarket kibble". No. They. Don't. Not. Really.

I have never shopped at Walmart except for one time that we were visiting a friend in a very small Texas town that had Walmart as its only grocery store (we needed an item and could not wait out the two days). I won't shop there as a matter of principle because they do not pay their workers living wages, and refused to allow unions in there even though they are effectively expanding in the grocery business. What that means is that they effectively screw over mom and pop shops that follow UFCW rules, thus weakening that union.

I will make an exception for CostCo, they also are a non-union shop, but at least they pay their workers fairly and treat them equitably compared to Walmart.

[turandot.livejournal.com]

Some would think spending more than a dollar a pound on dog kibble is ridiculous.

*laughs* I've been called insane by people for buying food for my cat that costs on average $5 a pound. "Cats can do just as well on supermarket kibble". No. They. Don't. Not. Really.

I have never shopped at Walmart except for one time that we were visiting a friend in a very small Texas town that had Walmart as its only grocery store (we needed an item and could not wait out the two days). I won't shop there as a matter of principle because they do not pay their workers living wages, and refused to allow unions in there even though they are effectively expanding in the grocery business. What that means is that they effectively screw over mom and pop shops that follow UFCW rules, thus weakening that union.

I will make an exception for CostCo, they also are a non-union shop, but at least they pay their workers fairly and treat them equitably compared to Walmart.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

Costco's also famous for not having the glass ceiling for women that Walmart has.

TJ's isn't union, but treats employees reasonably, too.

We buy Solid Gold kibble because it's of good quality, but also, is almost entirely US-sourced, and the non-US elements are few and well-indicated. (They used an ingredient from France for awhile, for instance.) But we also give our dogs a lot of our own food, their health is actually quite important to us. Not everyone prioritizes pets very highly.

[turandot.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but frankly, if I can I try and shop at union places. Part of it is that I'm used to it from most grocery stores in Illinois (where I used to live) being union shops, and because I've had relatives work at grocery stores, and appreciate the fact that union grocery stores might have higher prices, but that's because they have to guarantee cost of living increases. Some non-union places don't and won't.

In my experience, upscale grocers like WF or TJ and the like pay something more reasonable because they have higher expectations for their employees. Nothing wrong with that per se, mind you, but if I knew that much about food I'd refuse working for minimum wage too.

[turandot.livejournal.com]

I buy Wellness. It's basically the premium food that I can best afford that my cat will eat (he's all about grain free food, the food snob =P). There's a couple of better brands out there, but they have a lot less local distributors than Wellness.

Even so, I have to go out of my way and buy it at a local pet shop, not Petco or Pet-Smart. I know people who are like "if I can't find it at Petco or on grocery shelves, then I'm not bothering". They're also the kind of people who think I do this so I can pat myself in the back for being a better person than they are, when it's more the case that I believe that the better the food now, the less I'll have to spend thousands of dollars at the vet for various food related ailments down the line.

Cats do not do well on most human food, aside for the occasional high quality protein (without condiments - the list of human spices and veggies that are toxic to a cat is insane, and salt is bad for cats period), so feeding them what we eat is not an option. My cat is pretty curious about what we eat, but rarely does he do more than sniff (he's mostly into the smell, basically). There are people who feed cats on a nutritionally appropriate raw diet, but doing that and ensuring that all their nutritional needs are met is a part time job in and of itself. =P

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

During the big grocery strike down here a few years ago (and Albertsons is STILL closing stores as a result, hurrah!) - the unions directed us all to Trader Joes down here. And we went. In droves, and most of us never went back.

[dracowayfarer.livejournal.com]

<3 Trader Joe's. My mom worked there years ago and I've been a frequent customer ever since. I prefer their tuna over any supermarket brand. Also, the Chevalier Noir cookies are so tasty.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

Sadly, very few unionized grocery stores around here aren't on many levels crap -- huge stinky soap aisles, little selection in the kinds of food I eat (or very expensive for what it is), etc. There's a collection of criteria I use, and TJ's meets enough of them. (Though neither TJ's or WF pays as much as the local unionized places. There's more to treating employees well. I'm mostly pro-union, but not 100%.)

Another one for the adoption gone wrong file...

[djdig.livejournal.com]

Twins unwittingly got married in Britain: http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2008/01/11/twins_unwittingly_got_married_in_britain/

Re: Another one for the adoption gone wrong file...

[jrittenhouse.livejournal.com]

I honestly don't believe that one...