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REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

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Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#61

Post by nonameiguess »

valleyjo wrote: post #39
justinator wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This seems quite misleading. Generally, lighter gear costs more, for one thing. Second, going by the shopping list posted below about someone making it at just over 5 lbs, that works fine if you never go into high altitude or anywhere with very bad weather, but you're going to need more if you do. Also, it's listing "0.14 lbs" of food and water, which is obvious bullshit. That's only showing the weight of the containers. You can't actually live very long off of 10 grams of water and 20 calories of food and you're not going to get by not carrying any unless you're both following a river the entire way and you're a hell of a hunter, but also apparently not carrying any hunting equipment.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#62

Post by OfSanguineFire »

prepend wrote: post #59
NegativeK wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Large outdoor goods retail chain in the form of a co-op. They're known for having a very open return policy as well as cash back to anyone who joins their cheap membership things. (Naturally, they're not perfect -- so they're known for putting small shops out of business when they arrive and for becoming more faceless to some of their employees as they grow.)

> They're known for having a very open return policy Sadly not so much. Now it’s a one year limited warranty and I’ve been hassled about returning things because they ended up not fitting right. They used to be great and would take anything back for any reason. And this always led to me buying tons more stuff. With the new policy, I buy much less. Especially since the REI brand is pretty low quality now and no one su…

With the old returns policy, people were buying boots, wearing them out on the Appalachian Trail, and then returning them. Or buying a whole touring bike (REI sold their own fairly respectable model called the Novara), riding coast-to-coast, and then returning it. Once the internet era arrived and customers learned just what behavior they could get away with, the community was saying it was only a matter of time before REI would tighten their returns policy.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#63

Post by latchkey »

yieldcrv wrote: post #58
AlchemistCamp wrote: post #53

Is this really important news or at all related to hackers? Much larger layoffs happen all the time. What's the interesting angle of this story?

very generous return policy really useful if you have a predilection for camping on the sidewalk

"Return Every Item"

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#64

Post by justinator »

OfSanguineFire wrote: post #54
justinator wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>nowadays those same brands can be bought, often for much cheaper, from other online retailers. Usually MSRP is constant across retailers. Is there an example you can easily bring up? If there's a price for an item that's too good to be true, it's usually a scam website.

Different online retailers do sales at different times and with different degrees of discount, so if REI is selling an item at MSRP, it could be that a customer can save a great deal by judiciously searching the competition and getting the item from somewhere else. Moreover, when I last shopped heavily from REI a decade ago, it was often claimed in the outdoor community that its prices were inevitably higher than oth…

That is interesting anecdote and hearsay, but I was looking for an example. I'm not saying you're wrong, but is there somewhere else I should shop?

Do remember Amazon is getting in deep water for all sorts of things that basically boil down to price fixing, so there are many factors at play for MSRP being solid across the board.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#65

Post by OfSanguineFire »

swell36 wrote: post #56
valleyjo wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“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.

You should be carrying more than 5 lbs of emergency water on anything more than day camping... yes finding water is a skill, but one that is dependent on there being water nearby.

>You should be carrying more than 5 lbs of emergency water on anything more than day camping

Sure, if you really are in the wilderness. But if, like so many of the weight weenies interested in UL gear, you are hiking a well-trodden trail where water stops are frequent and well-mapped, no one is going to lug that weight until the end of the day when they might fill up for cooking with.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#66

Post by notatoad »

JALTU wrote: post #6
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?

Darn. I have always appreciated MEC...

From what i can tell, MEC is generally doing better after being acquired (and IIRC shutting down some stores). before bankruptcy, their own-brand products were seriously dipping in quality and the stores seemed to be shifting more towards premium athlesiure rather than proper outdoor gear.

post bankruptcy they're rebuilding their own-label stuff, and at least in calgary there seems to be more staff in the store and the product mix is shifting back towards stuff i can't find in other local stores.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#67

Post by justinator »

hotnfresh wrote: post #29
ethanbond wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is that the company is actually owned by the co-op members, so it’s a co-op and not a rewards program.

I don’t get any money out of it unless I buy stuff. And it’s never anywhere near how much I spent. And I’m pretty sure it’s store credit (I can’t recall for sure, been a while). So.

I thought you were wrong about cash back being not an option, but that changed this year:

https://www.rei.com/help?a=Can-I-receive-my-Total-REI-Reward...

That's pretty lame.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#68

Post by [deleted] »

refurb wrote: post #52
andrewflnr wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Why not? A co-op is just a business owned by it's members. If the members decide to sell (through the board of directors), they it gets sold. "yesterday a unanimous decision by its board of directors to sell substantially all of its assets to Kingswood Capital Management"

[deleted]

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#69

Post by ApolloFortyNine »

I'm not saying this is the cause of the layoffs, but recently REI instigated a no bags policy (or at least mine did). This isn't the standard buy bags for 10 cents at the register, there quite literally are no bags for sale, unless you decide to buy a backpack.

However, their website gives free shipping for $50 and is the same price as in store. One of the most insane and obviously virtue signaling policies I've ever seen.

I haven't bothered going in person since, and often these stores live off getting you to buy things you don't need when you go in person.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#70

Post by Mistletoe »

I don’t understand a lot of the comments there in that thread. People with 4 years there acting like they are old time employees that are immune to layoffs? I feel bad for anyone laid off, but is this how we think about long tenure at a company now?
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