This Instagram Account of People Treating Trader Joe’s Like a Trash Can Will Infuriate You

Lauren Masur
Lauren Masur
Lauren was the Groceries Editor for Kitchn.
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published Feb 13, 2020
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Bear with me for a second while we play a brief round of I Spy with the following Instagram. I Spy with my little eye something that is definitely … not an onion.

Hint: The caption, “Doesn’t this just make you want to cry?” is definitely not referring to onion-induced tears.

Those of you with expert-level Where’s Waldo skills probably swiftly laid eyes on the unwelcome and out-of-place red-and-white paper cup, nestled among a sea of red and white onions. It’s the result of a careless litterbug who discarded the remains of their free coffee sample into the well-meaning produce display shelves (either accidentally or intentionally). The trashed cup has been left for dead, succumbing to its fate of waiting for a TJ’s employee or innocent bystander to actually trash it.

To be quite honest, YES, this photo does make me want to cry! Who would do such a thing?

I first learned of this photo and its parent feed, the very sad @TJ_Used_Cups, with the help of one of my favorite grocery influencers, @TraderJoesList, who is out there doing hard work on the daily, alerting us to the latest and greatest things to grace TJ’s shelves. Well this, my friends, is the latest and WORST thing to grace TJ’s shelves. We are deeply saddened by the fact that an entire Instagram account exists to point out all the #empytjcups, but it proves that this isn’t an isolated incident by any means.

The @TJ_Used_Cups account describes itself as “kind of like elf on the shelf,” but not in a fun, festive way. The feed’s curators (who remain anonymous) encourage TJ’s shoppers to “send us your finds and we will post them.” As of now, they have 99 examples of this epidemic.

There are cups stashed in the supplement aisle, the chip aisle, the wine aisle, the egg aisle, the freezer aisle … I could go on. Promise me you will never willingly take a free coffee sample and then thoughtlessly litter your cup. Or at least know that you might be shamed by means of this Instagram account.

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