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REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

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Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#31

Post by maxerickson »

EGreg wrote: post #7

How socialist is REI really? Are they like Mondragon? Seems not — workers do not own the company: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REI_worker_organization I like experiments in having employees actually own companies, or make their own decisions, but the closest I see in the consumer facing sector is stuff like REI or Valve software maybe — and that is only at the pleasure of its actual owners. By contrast, HOAs and hou…

It's a $30 fee for lifetime discounts. A co-op by way of self description rather than by cooperation.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#32

Post by LapsangGuzzler »

hotnfresh wrote: post #19
vore wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They might call themselves REI "co-op", but a consumers' cooperative is really the polar opposite of representing the interests of workers. It's really just a shareholder owned company with a few steps removed in the middle.

In practice, the “co-op” stuff really just amounts to a run of the mill rewards program. I can’t tell any actual difference between it and various other “loyalty program” thingies, aside from that they force you to join it to buy anything from them.

This is how I’ve felt about it. I’m a member and I had no idea you can vote for board members, that never came up during the pitch to sign up. It was all about the member-only sales events and cash back rewards.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#33

Post by trescenzi »

vore wrote: post #14
trescenzi wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole co-op part of REI has always felt weird and forced and then when they started union busting it became clear they didn’t actually give a fuck about that part of themselves.

Unfortunately there's nothing amiss here: it's inherently in the interests of the consumers who own the co-op to exploit the workers who work there.

I guess that’s true :/

Of course I know it is a consumer co-op as a member but for some reason I’d always thought about it as pro worker because I associate “co-op” generally with the labor movement. Worker co-ops would be of course but that’s not the case here.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#37

Post by justinator »

zeroCalories wrote: post #26
fwungy wrote: post #2

Consumer spending is getting hit hard and luxury campgear is easy to forego.

You don't even really need gear to camp either.

I'm curious about this opinion, and I don't want to make a snarky joke. Can you elaborate how you camp without needing any gear?

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#38

Post by andrewflnr »

astrodust wrote: post #5

A Canadian company in the same space, Mountain Equipment Co-Op, was recently acquired by a hedge fund and is in the process of mutating into a for-profit company, to the dismay of many. https://www.outsideonline.com/business-journal/retailers/mec... Is REI being zombified the same way?

A co-op being acquired by a hedge fund should not be possible. What the hell?

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#39

Post by valleyjo »

justinator wrote: post #37
zeroCalories wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't even really need gear to camp either.

I'm curious about this opinion, and I don't want to make a snarky joke. Can you elaborate how you camp without needing any gear?

“Ultralight” backpacking favors skills rather than gear. Folks have done entire 3k mile thru hikes with 5lbs of gear. The main way you get that low is simply by not taking much with you. You carry only the essentials. I don’t know if this is what the parent poster was referring to but it’s what my mind went to.
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