The Trader Joe's Receipt That Had Reddit Cracking Up
We don't know everything and don't claim to. However, if there's one thing that we're pretty darn sure about, it's that many people love Trader Joe's. Established in Pasadena, California in 1967, the nautical-themed grocer has earned a cult-like following over the years that, by our calculations, is made up of at least 13 different types of TJ's shoppers. And while no two shoppers are alike, in 2015, Business Insider found that they all largely turn to TJ's for the same seven reasons, one of which was the store's low prices. The grocer lowers costs, in large part, by stocking its shelves with products from its own label as opposed to outside brands. As a result, Consumer Reports said in 2019 that Trader Joe's prices were lower than those of at least 83 of the nation's top 96 grocery chains.
With inflation rates on the rise, Trader Joe's shoppers are shelling out more money these days than they did three years ago. However, even with the expected price hikes, the amount that one item rang up for during Reddit user u/callandiajelly's recent visit to the grocer was still enough to make anybody gasp. "I realllly love Trader Joe's I guess," the Redditor captioned a photo of their checkout screen, where the price for a bag of chia seeds was listed at over $22,000.
Would you pay this much for a single grocery item?
Normally, $200 goes pretty far at Trader Joe's – unless, apparently, you're purchasing a 12-ounce bag of organic black chia seeds. Priced at $5.49 on the Trader Joe's website as of May, the smoothie additive rang up for $22,020.39 during Reddit user u/callandiajelly's recent TJ's run. Even taking into consideration the benefits of including chia seeds in your diet, you have to admit that the price is pretty high.
As you probably guessed, this wasn't a price gouge but a simple mistake. Yet that didn't stop Redditors from poking fun at the situation. "Clearly you didn't read that the sticker price was PER CHIA SEED not per bag, duhhh," u/Spuba commented, while another found humor in the 23-cent tax added to the Redditor's final total. A third user chimed in with a potential explanation for how the misprice came about. "Were you buying bananas? Here's what I think happened: they meant to hit the 'produce' button and then hit 4-0-1-1- to type in a banana, but instead hit: 'quantity' by mistake, hit 4-0-1-1, and then hit enter thinking it punched in bananas. In truth, with the mistake they made, scanning the next item would make its quantity 4011," u/kaBoMBersNotebook explained.
In response, u/callandiajelly confirmed their theory, noting that they "died laughing at the sticker shock. If we saw any item on our Trader Joe's receipt listed at $22,000, we'd probably react the same.