Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants)

Update: Trader Joe’s just implemented a “1 per customer” limit policy

The pictures of bare shelves where the eggs are supposed to be, were taken at two different Trader Joe’s early February 2025 (in NYC (Upper West Side).

Trader Joe’s prices seem a bit better than elsewhere which is probably one reason why people are scrambling to get eggs from Trader Joe’s. I see $4.99/dozen listed. These days five bucks for a dozen eggs is “a deal”! Hah!! Well that is better than a supermarket near me I checked a few days ago. I got sticker shock to see yes they had eggs in stock however they were selling regular white large eggs for $10.79/dozen. Yikes!

When I spoke to an employee near the egg shelves at Trader Joe’s about when they come in he told met they come in in the morning and the eggs at present are usually all sold out of eggs by 10 a.m. Just a week later another employee updated this to tell me if you want eggs you better come before 9 a.m! They open at 8. So the moral of the story, is if you want to find eggs at Trader Joe’s you may have to go there early in the morning, 8-9 a.m. Unfortunately that leaves me out. I’m not really an early riser.

After 4 or 5 strike outs trying to find eggs at Trader Joe’s recently (I got there early afternoon) I ended up buying eggs elsewhere: Fairway Market (NYC). White Extra Large eggs there were just under $6. More for brown, cage free, etc.

As long as the Avian Flu problem exists – and it only seems to be getting worse and worse – expect to see high prices on eggs as well as limited supplies, especially at Trader Joe’s perhaps? Each Trader Joe’s store only gets so many daily, and it looks like demand is exceeding supply. This is a pretty major problem and just getting worse unfortunately.

Update: Feb 7 2025: Trader Joe’s added a sign saying “eggs are limited to one dozen per customer per day”

UPDATE: Mar 31 2025: I am seeing eggs on Trader Joe’s shelves, on and off, depending on what time of day you get there. They might be sold out around noon. However a TJ employee told me they put eggs out now about twice a day; mornings and afternoons. First at 8 am when they open, and then again around 4 in the afternoon (this was NYC, Trader Joe’s UWS). Limits are “one carton per household”. Prices at Trader Joe’s are FAR MORE REASONABLE than I see at other standard supermarkets in my area where eggs can cost anywhere from 8-9 up to 11-12 dollars. Contrast this with TJ’s prices: $3.49 for jumbo white, $3.99 for brown large, $4.99 for brown large cage free, up to about $6 or 7 for pasture raised brown large or extra large.

“Per household” – they are not people coming together and buying a carton each when they are clearly “together” and pretending not to know each other!? Though how exactly they figure that out is beyond me.