Pros
Amazing Pro Deals In Store Discount Cool Co-Workers Like minded community
Cons
A lot! I really wanted to love REI. As a lifelong outdoor person, I was initially stoked to work here. However over the course of two years the luster wore off, and the true image of what this “co-op” is appeared. When you are hired at REI you are led to believe that you will make good money, and step into a career. What they actually do is effectively brainwash you into thinking what they offer is unequivocally amazing. Once You’ve been working here a little while the veil is stripped off and you’re left quivering in a corner wondering what happened. First, the hours and pay are terrible. If you like working low inconsistent hours, with low pay, only to be called in repeatedly during the holidays to sell your soul to capitalism, you will love it here. You are constantly pushed to sell memberships. Regardless of how knowledgeable you are on the product, if you don’t sell enough memberships, you can kiss your hours goodbye! Learn how to sling memberships and fast If you need this job to actually live off of. REI hires a lot of people who work very occasionally cause they want the discounts. It is really difficult to move up into the company, you have to be prolific at selling memberships, luck into being a favorite of management and generally sell your souls to the devil. Yes multiple souls. You are constantly evaluated and must always appear busy even if there is nothing to do. It seems that management decides who you are and treats you accordingly over the course of your time there. For example my direct manager took a liking to me and while we were buddy buddy, my hours took a big hit. I mentioned this multiple times and he’d kinda laugh it off and make jokes. Last but not least, this is retail. Look up retail memes on google, then multiply this by a cult and you get REI.