The Best Trader Joe’s Perk You’ve Somehow Never Heard Of
If you aren’t already bringing your own reusable shopping bags with you on your Trader Joe’s visits, you really should start. Not only because it’ll help reduce unnecessary waste, but also because it could help you save money!
While some Trader Joe’s locations (like many other mainstream grocery stores) knock off five cents for every bag you bring, other locations have turned the whole going green thing into a game: At many stores, if you spend $25 or more and bring your own bags, you can enter to win a weekly raffle for a $25 Trader Joe’s gift card.
It’s not a super well-advertised perk, so you will most likely have to ask your cashier. If your store does the raffle and you qualify, you’ll either fill out the raffle ticket with your cashier or at the customer service desk. (You simply put your name and phone number on a ticket.) Each participating store pulls out a winner every week, so then you just wait with baited breath to see if you’ve been picked.
Kitchn’s Audience Development Associate, Emma Glubiak, is an enthusiastic raffle competitor: “I had no idea it was a thing until I saw someone doing it at the register next to me,” she says. “I have never won, but they have a big blackboard with the names of all the winners on it, which is great motivation.”
The biggest complaint we hear from people who do know about the raffle is just that they haven’t won — nor do they know anyone who has won. Clearly, there are lots and lots of people who qualify and enter each week, so your odds are not great. Unless you’re very, very lucky.
Have you heard of this raffle? Does your store do it? Have you ever won? Tell us in the comments below!