Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

old.reddit.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 132 posts

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#121

Post by jancsika »

jfim wrote: post #81
lazypenguin wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it virtue signaling? They can either ship their products from one warehouse to their stores, then you drive and pick up your item. Or they can just ship it directly to you which presumably means the item travelled the same distance? Unless you live walking distance from REI?

I think the idea is that you can't buy a bag to take your purchases home, but the store will gladly use a box to ship them if you shop online.

Wasteful reference: x bags for customers, y boxes online, x + y = z

Virtue signaling example: x bags received and delivered directly to landfill instead of to customer at checkout, y boxes online, x + y = z

Apparent reality: 0 bags received, y boxes online, 0 + y = y

If y is significantly less than z, we are forced to discard the claim of virtue signaling given that a measurable reduction in overall waste is a measurable reduction in overall waste.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#122

Post by marricks »

dragonwriter wrote: post #111
marricks wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Board candidates are selected by the REI Board Nomination and Governance Committee. In earlier years, board elections were competitive elections, with both board-nominated and self-nominated petition candidates. In recent years, REI eliminated the opportunity for petition candidates and has nominated only as many candidates as open positions . Emphasis mine. Sounds like OfSanguineFire's comment is right. The Govern…

> The Governance committee decides how the company is run and members don't have a choice of candidates besides rejecting them. And if they are rejected, then the board appoints a temporary board member to fill the opening, with no membership input.

(:

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#123

Post by astr0n0m3r »

maxerickson wrote: post #31
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.

Until very recently it was $20. Now, every new member has $5 donated from REI to their "action fund" which the member cannot choose what cause that supports. This effectively means that $5 of every membership goes to the action fund. And the majority of that money does not go to nature conservation like you might assume.

I think a membership co-op that is run to benefit its members should lower the fee by $5 or at least let them choose where the $5 goes.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#124

Post by justinator »

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?

I thought it interesting that the story broke on Reddit and was worthy to get the signal boosted by yc.

The employees being laid off are self-reporting as long-time employees that have worked their way up whatever ladder there was and have shown loyalty to the company.

Who will replace them? Chatter on the post say it may be PT workers with less experience in the company as well as in their niche.

That's unfortunate, but is a pattern we're seeing in many different companies as large and larger than REI. The outcome is not always great.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#125

Post by zeroCalories »

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?

What special gear do you need? For clothing gym clothes work fine, I already have a backpack, a cheap water bottle, etc. For shelter you can car camp, or if it's viable in your area you can cowboy camp with a cheap tarp and quilt. You don't need to over think things, it's not like you're trying to climb Everest.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#126

Post by derekp7 »

stock_toaster wrote: post #104
xattt wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Those are actually long narrow tubes -- designed so that you can stick your hand in it like sort of like a glove to use to pick up the pieces, and then turn inside out. That makes the opening too narrow for the cat scoop and not enough room to put the wet chunks of cat litter (unless you scoop everything in a separate container, break it up, then poor it into the bag).

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#127

Post by fwungy »

pwarner wrote: post #40
fwungy wrote: post #2

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

Consumer spending is up, rising faster than inflation. Although it is growing more slowly than before. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/...

It's a small upward movement in a larger downward trend.

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/...

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#128

Post by ApolloFortyNine »

jancsika wrote: post #121
jfim wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the idea is that you can't buy a bag to take your purchases home, but the store will gladly use a box to ship them if you shop online.

Wasteful reference: x bags for customers, y boxes online, x + y = z Virtue signaling example: x bags received and delivered directly to landfill instead of to customer at checkout, y boxes online, x + y = z Apparent reality: 0 bags received, y boxes online, 0 + y = y If y is significantly less than z, we are forced to discard the claim of virtue signaling given that a measurable reduction in overall waste is a measur…

Instead of picking it up at the store, especially if it's more than 2 items, it'd literally be more convenient to pull out my phone and buy the items. If there's a line of even a few people, it's likely even faster.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#129

Post by triciahs »

ApolloFortyNine wrote: post #69

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…

The no bag policy is a step toward REI’s 0 carbon footprint/good environmental citizen goal. It's not meant to have a direct impact the on bottom bottom line. You can always buy a cheap reusable bag at checkout. It won’t be plastic or paper.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#130

Post by xattt »

derekp7 wrote: post #126
stock_toaster wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Those are actually long narrow tubes -- designed so that you can stick your hand in it like sort of like a glove to use to pick up the pieces, and then turn inside out. That makes the opening too narrow for the cat scoop and not enough room to put the wet chunks of cat litter (unless you scoop everything in a separate container, break it up, then poor it into the bag).

My compromise has been using produce bags that you put individual fruits and veggies into.
Post reply on HN