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REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

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Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#101

Post by astr0n0m3r »

justinator wrote: post #44
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.

5lbs of gear is 5lbs of gear. And this seems like an extreme example - have you done 3k mile thru hikes on 5lbs of gear? What does that look like?

When I hiked the AT, my backpack was a previous year's model (2006 Camelbak Cloudwalker, I think) that I bought for $35. It's smaller than most daypacks. In fact, it's still the daypack I usually use but sometimes it is too small for day hikes, like in winter.

I used a summer sleeping bag that was 14 oz after I cut the zipper off (Marmot Pounder, which I wish they still made).

I had a "blue foam" sleeping pad that was cut down to size, which is extremely cheap and light. I now opt for much heavier sleeping pads. When cowboy camping along the AT you do not need much of a sleeping pad because you'll likely be on top of leaves, but on a shelter floor it's not enough.

For shelter, I just had a 6 oz sil tarp for when an AT shelter was full and I expected rain. I set up the tarp exactly once, and it didn't rain anyways.

My spare clothes were a spare pair of socks, a fleece shirt, fleece gloves, and a fleece beanie. None of those were expensive. I had a $0.99 plastic poncho for rain gear.

I did not cook, so no cooking gear. I had a digital camera which I barely used. And then just small stuff like toothbrush, water treatment drops, etc.

My base pack weight was like 6 lbs and change, and I had a tarp and camera I wasn't really using.

So, yeah, you can hike extremely light and not spend a lot of money. It depends on what trip you are doing. I started very late in the season, so the weather was warmer and shelters were not full.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#102

Post by somehnguy »

xattt wrote: post #83
nerdbert wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Europe and haven't received a bag from a store in years. Recently visited the USA and they were being foisted on me left and right. I submit that people will adjust to this, I sure have, and that the real solution is for more stores to do it so that it seems normal.

This became policy in my province for the last few years. The downside has been the dwindling supply of free bags into which I can scoop cat poop.

I use cheap diaper bags from Amazon for that. They come in packs of like 100 and are very thin plastic, which I like because it ‘feels’ less wasteful even though it probably makes 0 difference.

After an initial adjustment period overall I’ve been happy with NY’s law change on plastic bags at the grocery store. It always bugged me a little bit that we feel the need to put something like a single bag of chips into another bag when you buy it (real thing I witnessed plenty).

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#104

Post by stock_toaster »

xattt wrote: post #83
nerdbert wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Europe and haven't received a bag from a store in years. Recently visited the USA and they were being foisted on me left and right. I submit that people will adjust to this, I sure have, and that the real solution is for more stores to do it so that it seems normal.

This became policy in my province for the last few years. The downside has been the dwindling supply of free bags into which I can scoop cat poop.

Try some of those dog poop bags used while dog walking?

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#105

Post by bombcar »

pcthrowaway wrote: post #99
nerdbert wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Europe and haven't received a bag from a store in years. Recently visited the USA and they were being foisted on me left and right. I submit that people will adjust to this, I sure have, and that the real solution is for more stores to do it so that it seems normal.

When I was in Greece a few years ago, I noticed every store had plastic bags (and no paper bags). There's no charge for them also, and they're much sturdier than the plastic bags you sometimes still find in Canada/U.S.

Some places in the USA banned single use plastic bags, so the end result is you get these hardware-store thickness plastic bags now.

At least you can use them to store nails, I guess.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#106

Post by bombcar »

schemescape wrote: post #86
refurb wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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"

Wow, that link indicates that members likely won’t get anything, even their $5 share, back. So who is benefitting from the sale?

Obviously the board of directors.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#107

Post by alex_young »

Serious question - what is REI?

I know there are all of these sporting goods stores, but it’s supposedly a co-op owned by the members, of which a sizable population of this country are, yet the board is not in any meaningful way elected or nominated by the membership.

REI is a really interesting company. Kinda seems like someone stole a co-op a while back.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#108

Post by sokoloff »

schemescape wrote: post #86
refurb wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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"

Wow, that link indicates that members likely won’t get anything, even their $5 share, back. So who is benefitting from the sale?

> The struggling Canadian retailer…

> the elimination of the co-op structure is “needed to ensure a stable future for MEC’s retail business.” In 2019, the retailer lost a reported $11.487 million on annual sales of $462 million, a slide that capped years of disappointing performance for the company

> In the end, however, the board concluded that the only realistic path forward was a sale to Kingswood.

Doesn’t sound like there were a lot of bidders clamoring to take it over. Holders of $5 shares may have had a realistic option to get $0 by not selling or $0 by selling.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#109

Post by elijaht »

astr0n0m3r wrote: post #101
justinator wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

5lbs of gear is 5lbs of gear. And this seems like an extreme example - have you done 3k mile thru hikes on 5lbs of gear? What does that look like?

When I hiked the AT, my backpack was a previous year's model (2006 Camelbak Cloudwalker, I think) that I bought for $35. It's smaller than most daypacks. In fact, it's still the daypack I usually use but sometimes it is too small for day hikes, like in winter. I used a summer sleeping bag that was 14 oz after I cut the zipper off (Marmot Pounder, which I wish they still made). I had a "blue foam" sleeping pad that wa…

How did you eat

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#110

Post by granzymes »

alex_young wrote: post #107

Serious question - what is REI? I know there are all of these sporting goods stores, but it’s supposedly a co-op owned by the members, of which a sizable population of this country are, yet the board is not in any meaningful way elected or nominated by the membership. REI is a really interesting company. Kinda seems like someone stole a co-op a while back.

The REI legal entity is indeed still a member owned cooperative. But there are so many members today that there isn’t any practical control that any individual can exercise. That said, if you are a member then you have a vote for the board members.

You can read about the election process here: https://www.rei.com/about-rei/board-election-process

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