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Show HN: Daily price tracking for Trader Joe's

traderjoesprices.com

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Re: Show HN: Daily price tracking for Trader Joe's

#41

Post by dheera »

orev wrote: post #8
spondylosaurus wrote: post #6

Pleasantly surprised to see about as many price reductions as price increases. Also funny that they marked up the price of roses ahead of Valentine's Day!

> they marked up the price of roses ahead of Valentine's Day! Simple supply/demand.

Has nothing to do with supply curve, it's just that roses on Valentine's Day change from elastic demand to inelastic demand.

In simple terms on Valentine's Day they can charge whatever the hell they want and people still want to buy it.

At other times of the year people have lots of alternatives to roses and are more price sensitive.

Re: Show HN: Daily price tracking for Trader Joe's

#42

Post by sharkweek »

cebu wrote: post #29

Do individual stores have any autonomy over their pricing?

Didn't work at Trader Joes, but at another grocery chain for a while as a store buyer. I had essentially no control over pricing unless we had a bunch of backstock we had to move quick to avoid expiration. In those cases we had some level of store-level autonomy to "price to move." That being said, it was heavily tracked and if anyone was doing it too much I'm sure there would be consequences of some sort.

Besides that, we'd get updates from corporate with a list of new price tags we'd print out any time they changed something (100% with regional fluctuation baked in, but not at a store level).

Re: Show HN: Daily price tracking for Trader Joe's

#43

Post by dgacmu »

brianwawok wrote: post #9
spondylosaurus wrote: post #6

Pleasantly surprised to see about as many price reductions as price increases. Also funny that they marked up the price of roses ahead of Valentine's Day!

Why is it funny prices rose as demand increases? That’s Econ 101 expected behavior

Depends. Sometimes turkey prices drop before thanksgiving, as the producers plan their growth cycles around expected thanksgiving demand, and use freezers to meet demand. For example, see the 2022 august peak in poult placement in: https://downloads.usda.library.cornell.edu/usda-esmis/files/...

and https://theconversation.com/why-does-the-price-of-turkeys-fa...

The products often become loss-leaders (or close to it) to draw people into stores, so perhaps the interesting thing here is that valentines roses have a different pricing pattern -- probably because, unlike turkey, they don't freeze well, so supply is much less elastic.

Re: Show HN: Daily price tracking for Trader Joe's

#44

Post by Etheryte »

_ea1k wrote: post #35
graphe wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iPhones dropped in price as demand increased. Demand isn't as important as marketing, and this is probably supply limited rather than demand.

iphones dropped in price?

In practical terms, yes. Adjusted for inflation, a modern iPhone costs roughly the same as the ones in prior generations, except now you get a lot more bang for your buck with better battery life, improved camera, etc.

Re: Show HN: Daily price tracking for Trader Joe's

#46

Post by mfarris »

crazygringo wrote: post #14
rnadomvirlabe wrote: post #7

Is this for one store or all stores? It's commendable that you posted your code, but a minimal README would be appreciated. Looking through your code, I see that the default store is Chicago South Loop (701). This would be helpful information to include on the website displaying the results.

Trader Joe's prices are famously the same across all stores. So that shouldn't be an issue.

That's a misconception. Prices are not the same across stores.

I live in Los Angeles. Many times I've shopped at the TJ's in Silver Lake and one of the TJ's in Pasadena on the same day. Most prices are the same, but on many items the Silver Lake store is consistently 5-10% higher.

I've also shopped in midwestern TJ's and noted that the prices were generally lower than LA.

Products differ significantly, too. Items with the exact same name and packaging can be totally different regionally. For example, "Sonoma Chicken Salad" used to be a favorite of mine here in California. The Iowa version was disgusting, with roughly twice the mayonnaise, fewer nuts and grapes, and 3x the sugar.

Re: Show HN: Daily price tracking for Trader Joe's

#48

Post by Omni5cience »

cmoog wrote: post #11
rconti wrote: post #3

This implies the prices are the same across all TJs stores - is that the case?

Good catch. These prices are hard coded to my local store in Chicago. Soon I will add support for selecting your local store.

I think most non-perishable goods are the same across stores. There are regional differences between some perishable goods based on where they come from.

Re: Show HN: Daily price tracking for Trader Joe's

#49

Post by jxramos »

crazygringo wrote: post #14
rnadomvirlabe wrote: post #7

Is this for one store or all stores? It's commendable that you posted your code, but a minimal README would be appreciated. Looking through your code, I see that the default store is Chicago South Loop (701). This would be helpful information to include on the website displaying the results.

Trader Joe's prices are famously the same across all stores. So that shouldn't be an issue.

wow I never knew that. Is there an official source stating that somewhere or it's common knowledge somehow or something people at the stores repeat to customers? I never noticed this before since I don't think I've ever gone to two different locations on the same day.
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