TJ Mascots

There are exactly two ways data leaves your device and reaches us:

• The submit form. When you submit a mascot, we save the store you picked, the animal type, the mascot name (if you give one), any notes, and the photo you upload.
• The report form. When you report a correction, we save what you flagged as wrong, what you said the right answer is, and (if you typed it) the corrected store.

Both forms have an optional email field. You only need to fill it in if you want photo credit on the live site, or want us to follow up with a question. Leave it blank and your submission stays anonymous.

• Review it. The site's human admin reads every submission to make sure it's a real mascot at a real store before adding it to the map.
• Display approved photos and notes on the public map.
• Credit you if you provided an email and gave permission — usually as “First Name + Last Initial” (e.g. “Jason D.”).

• We don't sell your email or any other data.
• We don't share data with advertisers.
• We don't put trackers on you across other websites.
• We don't require an account, password, or any login.
• We don't collect your location unless you tap the “📍 Use nearest store” button — and even then your coordinates stay in your browser to find the closest TJ's. We never see them.
• We do read the GPS coordinates embedded in any photo you upload (if your camera saved them) and compare them to the store you picked, just to give the moderator a “does this photo look like it was actually taken at the store” signal. Most photos sent through chat apps don't have GPS data, so this often does nothing. See the “Photo location data” section below for details.

The site does not use any tracking cookies. If we add basic analytics in the future, we'll use a privacy-friendly tool like Plausible or GoatCounter that doesn't use cookies and doesn't collect personal information. We'll update this page if that changes.

Submitted photos and form rows are stored in a managed Postgres database hosted in the U.S. The site itself is served as static files from a U.S.-based cloud hosting provider. Public mascot photos are served from a CDN. We don't use any infrastructure that processes data outside the U.S.

When you upload a mascot photo, we read the GPS coordinates that your camera embeds inside the image file (the “EXIF” metadata) and compare them to the store you picked from the dropdown. The result is one of: “photo location matches the store,” “photo location doesn't match,” or “no location data found.” This badge is shown to the moderator only — never on the public map — and helps them spot accidental misattributions faster.

A few important notes:

• Most photos won't have GPS data. When you send a photo through iMessage, WhatsApp, Slack, Instagram, or similar apps, those services strip the location data for your privacy. So in most submissions this check just reports “no location data” and changes nothing.
• We never auto-approve based on this. A human moderator still reviews every submission. The badge is purely an aid.
• The coordinates are stored in the moderation queue alongside your submission. They are never shown publicly, never sold, and you can request removal using the contact form below.
• If you don't want to share location info,the easiest way is to take a screenshot of your photo before submitting (screenshots have no GPS data) or re-save the photo through any chat app first.

Approved submissions become part of the public map and stay until we (or you) ask for them to be removed. Rejected or pending submissions are kept in the moderation queue indefinitely so we have a paper trail, but they aren't public.

If you want a photo, email credit, note, or any other piece of your data taken down, send us a message via the Contact us section at the bottom of this page. Tell us what you'd like removed (a description or a link to the mascot card is enough) and the human admin will take it down — usually the same day.

The site isn't aimed at children under 13 and we don't knowingly collect anything from them. If a kid submitted by accident, send us a note via the Contact section below and we'll wipe the entry.

TJ Mascots is a fan project, not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Trader Joe's Company in any way. “Trader Joe's” is a trademark of Trader Joe's Company. If you're from Trader Joe's and you'd like us to take something down, please use the Contact section at the bottom of this page and we'll respond promptly.

If we update what we collect or how we use it, we'll bump the “last updated” date at the top of this page and describe what changed.

Anything unclear? Drop us a line via the Contact section just below.