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REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

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Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#91

Post by constantly »

msikora wrote: post #76
prepend wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

Also there were those amazing garage sales, I have always stocked up on high quality hiking boots, almost new, with like 80%-90% discount. Thi was like 10 years ago, now I think they have a section and it's not anywhere as good in both selection and prices.

They discontinued Garage Sales during Covid. I enjoyed those as well, usually meant waiting in line early in the morning with a bunch of other die hards to rush in and hope they had the item we wanted! The new sections aren’t as good, but I think that’s because things trickle in and so you have to get lucky to happen to be there when something particularly good for you gets put out, which is less reliable than hanging out for a few hours on a particular day before the store opened.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#92

Post by iwonthecase »

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 would guess that it would be interesting if:

1. It's a sign that the tech layoffs are part of a more general wave of layoffs

2. Most of the layoffs were on their eCommerce platform

3. If there was a blame towards Amazon. Just as an anecdote, I recently bought a whole set of camping gear on Amazon for about a third of the price as REI (and actually for cheaper than their rental rates.) Quality might not be the same, but I don't really need anything heavy duty.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#93

Post by prepend »

OfSanguineFire wrote: post #62
prepend wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 befo…

I don’t know how frequently those things happened.

But I had the zipper break on my duffel bag after about 5 years and they told me they wouldn’t help. This wasn’t a crazy drop or mishandled, it was just some defect that caused the zipper to pop off one side when it shouldn’t.

I’m never buying anything from their line again. Had I gotten a Patagonia duffel, they would fix a zipper decades later.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#94

Post by csharpminor »

Obviously this sucks for those impacted, but it’s a relatively small cut (2% of employees). I wouldn’t necessarily read a major culture change at REI from this alone. It seems to be business-as-usual for a company operating at a modest loss in a high interest rate environment.

I have mixed feelings here. I’m a longtime REI shopper and I personally haven’t ever interacted with a “team lead” (role laid off). I mostly order online and sometimes browse their used gear section while in store. I rarely talk to the employees, and to be honest the ones at my store seem kind of annoyed most of the time.

On the other hand laying off senior team members is a speedrun nuke of employee morale. You’re taking a place where people thought they could work for years and basically showing them there’ll be no career progression.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#95

Post by stonogo »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #47
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…

Not even close, labor isn't protected here at all so it's a total misnomer It's a CONSUMERS CO-OP, has nothing to do with real labor organizing It's capitalism's attempt at providing security to consumers (rather than simply landlords) against producers and laborers.

There are unionized REI stores, it's just not universal across the chain.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#96

Post by black_13 »

csharpminor wrote: post #94

Obviously this sucks for those impacted, but it’s a relatively small cut (2% of employees). I wouldn’t necessarily read a major culture change at REI from this alone. It seems to be business-as-usual for a company operating at a modest loss in a high interest rate environment. I have mixed feelings here. I’m a longtime REI shopper and I personally haven’t ever interacted with a “team lead” (role laid off). I mostly o…

[dead]

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#97

Post by Supermancho »

csharpminor wrote: post #94

Obviously this sucks for those impacted, but it’s a relatively small cut (2% of employees). I wouldn’t necessarily read a major culture change at REI from this alone. It seems to be business-as-usual for a company operating at a modest loss in a high interest rate environment. I have mixed feelings here. I’m a longtime REI shopper and I personally haven’t ever interacted with a “team lead” (role laid off). I mostly o…

REI had a number of layoffs during COVID as well. I recall this, because I failed to secure a position there, when interviewing for a number of companies...and then they there was a massive REI layoff. I landed in a much better place, imo.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#99

Post by pcthrowaway »

nerdbert wrote: post #72
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…

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.

Re: REI is Laying Off 275 Employees

#100

Post by Fezzik »

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.

If you’re thru hiking across the entire country with 5 lbs of gear you’re either fully van-supported or have done a massive number of food drops to prep. This is something only .001% of backpackers do. It is not remotely common.

Edit, to add: or you’re not counting all the gear your pack animal is carrying.

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