Joe isn't a Fair Trader?

What? No. It couldn't possibly be.

But, they are strangely deficient of Fair Trade coffees. Strange isn't it?

While trying to escape the U-District Trader Joes in Seattle without spending $100's, I went to grab some coffee beans and it took me literally 1.5 minutes to find the fair trade coffee down on the bottom shelf. There were about 3 or 4 varieties out of the 30+ they have. I looked closely at all the other kinds thinking that maybe ol' Joe has his own Fair Trade system. He doesn't. He simply doesn't stock many fair trade coffees at all and doesn't prioritize them in displays.

This should change.

I spoke with the manager and asked if Trader Joes does in fact care about Fair Trade (since I was pretty sure they did) and she gave the classic & seemingly sincere "oh we are trying to find more fairly traded coffees, yada yada". Granted, she did say they would move them up higher on the shelves, but still. If Trader Joes can't even do a good job of selling a good % of Fair Trade coffees... then what can we expect of Starbucks or other stores!

The good news is that the fair trade coffee was almost sold out tonight. And the other good news is - YOU CAN HELP CHANGE THIS. I think it would be a great statement to show how our voices can change corporate policies.

SEND AN EMAIL TO JOE