Trader Joe's Monroe Street
When an employee tested positive for the coronavirus, Trader Joe's on Monroe Street shut down for about a week to clean and implement stricter protocols.
Here’s the way a responsible business deals with COVID-19.
Early on in the pandemic Trader Joe’s on Monroe Street had an employee test positive. They announced it publicly, shut down the store for about a week while they cleaned thoroughly, and when they reopened they did so under new stringent protocols. The number of customers in the store is limited, employees and customers wear masks, and all the shopping carts are disinfected after every use, among other things.
It does not seem to have hurt business in the least; in fact, it seems stronger than ever. As a customer myself, my loyalty to the business doubled as a result of their responsible actions. It told me that they care about me and their employees. And where else can you get a really fine $3 bottle of cabernet?
Of course, TJ’s is owned by a big, international company. There are plenty of local grocers and other businesses who are also acting responsibly. In particular, I think Metcalfe’s has been going above and beyond to keep their employees and customers safe (starting July 13 all shoppers, with some exceptions, will be required to wear a face covering that covers their mouth and nose) and I’m sure readers can think of other businesses that are doing the right thing.
So, it’s ironic that the Wisconsin Grocers Association would do the opposite of what a successful grocery chain has done in response to the crisis. The association has joined with the most regressive, anti-economic development force in the state (I speak here, of course, of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce) to fight the Evers administration’s tentative steps toward listing businesses where at least two employees have tested positive.
The big business interests are arguing that giving the public information about the most serious public health threat in at least a half century (maybe the mid-century polio threat was as bad or worse) could result in hysteria that would damage already weakened businesses. That would be wrong even if it were correct. If customers want to stay away from a business where employees have been infected, that should be their decision. It’s just wrong to keep them in the dark.
But it’s also wrong from a business perspective. Trader Joe’s has shown how to do it right. Openness and swift and strong action not only reassures customers, it reinforces customer loyalty. The grocers association and WMC are revealing their jaundiced view of consumers. They see us as the enemy, people who might dare to use information in a way that would protect their own health and that of their families even at the expense of a business’ bottom line. My gosh, we can’t have that, can we?
WMC and the grocers association should take a cue from the public health department in the most rock-ribbed Republican part of the state, which already lists businesses with positive tests on its website. "The Washington Ozaukee Public Health Department believes people have a right to know where outbreaks are concentrated in order to protect themselves and their loved ones from exposure to the virus," the department wrote in a news release.
As usual, the intrepid Bill Lueders, who leads the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, is fighting to have the information released. "This is information that people can use to get a better sense of how the virus is spreading and make better decisions,” Lueders told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
While the Evers administration was cowed by the pushback from big business and some Republican lawmakers, and has now backed off on the listing, it’s possible that a barrage of open records requests from Lueders and his colleagues in the media will force them to do what they should do anyway as a matter of good public policy.
And when that information finally is released, the businesses that tried to sweep positive tests under the rug may pay the price for not being upfront with their customers. That might be unfortunate, but that’s what they get for following the lead of organizations as backward and narrow-minded as WMC and the Wisconsin Grocers Association.
