Customer Service Representative | Denver, CO | May 31, 2019
Ok. Here’s what you need to know…
Pros:
Looking for a job that’s connected to a community of ‘Outdoor’ enthusiasts, buy cool gear at discount and learn about equipment? Look no further than REI. This retailer has a well established ‘outdoor’ culture, great store activities and great workers. REI features a dividend paying ‘co-op membership’ program - sourced by the original founders - that’s unique on the national retail landscape. The Co-op has been great for ‘brand’ identity and customer retention in an increasingly crowded marketplace dominated by competition from online retail juggernauts. Plus, let’s be honest here, it also provides an additional revenue stream for REI and a huge data dump capturing customer information so they can sell the very same folks more stuff. Brilliant business model! Sadly, many customers come into the store, view or try on stuff, then buy it online. So it will come as no surprise that you the employee will be pressed incessantly to sell more $20 co-op memberships and held accountable. Finally expect to be drinking lots of “Co-Op Way” company kool-aid.
Cons
Despite all the fawning ‘five star’ reviews here, employment at REI does have limitations. Primarily, the hourly pay rate (no sales commission) is several dollars lower than most other chains and the big box stores. REI tries to sweeten this imbalance by offering the aforementioned employee discounts on store merchandise which is actually routed through the manufacturer. Don’t tell anyone, but you can get the very
Amazing mission with difficult advancement opportunity
Great company culture and mission. Really becoming a force and an outspoken voice in the outdoor industry and for protection of public lands. Relaxed work environment with high expectations to make a difference and provide great customer service. Staff is always engaged with each other and collaboration on all levels of the business is key to accomplishing their vision for the future. They have done an amazing job to add value to employment and do the right thing for their retail staff, but being retail, employees at the brick and mortar level have extremely high expectations for work load that are not always reflected in their paychecks.
Management is difficult to reach from the part time level and once hired the demands of these teams is predictably unpredictable. Predictability came from daily duties which carry all the management standards like scheduling, employee reviews, hiring, merchandising, coaching, documentation, event planning, community outreach, engaging staff, engaging with customer service issues, managing shipping systems, metric analysis, and communicating with HQ to maintain an operationally sound store. Unpredictability often reared its face in the form of last minute sales initiatives or conflicting messaging about processes that unintentionally could double work loads for already distressed teams. Competition for senior management is even more cutthroat and can affect management team morale. The hardest part of the job was feeling so connected wi
ProsGreat health care, relaxed environment, great culture, feel part of something bigger, paid days off, bonus, balance
Consmissed breaks, internal competition, difficult to be promoted, retail hours
Store Management lacks leadership, better places to work
I was excited to work as a seasonal part-time REI employee because I liked the products and believed in their mission. After 4 months I've left REI very disappointed. Prospective employees should know the wage is really low. Management plays favorites and is unresponsive. I signed up to help with inventory at another REI 30 miles away. I got to the store and my manager never submitted my name (I was the only one) and was turned away. I came back from vacation and my vest was missing. After almost 4 months my hours were drastically cut. I asked my manager several times if I had done something wrong and he said no, I was fine, business was down. I called my manager twice over a month to let him know I was availalbe. He said he would email me the schedule, I had to leave my email twice before I finally got the schedule. After 5 weeks of no hours I was scheduled only to be told my seasonal employment was terminated and goodbye. Really? He couldn't have said something over the 5 weeks I had called and left him notes? My last work shift I had sold 3 memberships on my own which is good, I wasn't extended because evidently "I am not a good fit." No further explanation. I was escorted out--very humiliating.
A co-worker (who is efficient) is still working despite the fact he had told me and others he hates REI clothing. I even heard him tell a customer who was returning an item he hates REI clothing. This is who they keep to work.
Fortunately, I have a good day job which p
Prosgood Prodeals, interesting customers
Conslow wage, mgmt not trained to be leaders, employee cliques
THE GOOD:
REI may be the best place to work retail, especially if you love the outdoors. Sharing gear knowledge with customers and working alongside like-minded peers makes for a great work experience. Employees are given independence and empowered to make decisions without management intervention. Benefits include healthcare, 401K, annual bonus, paid holidays, vacation & sick time, employee discount/prodeals, and extremely flexible scheduling. REI will commit a minimum number of weekly hours per fiscal quarter, so you know what to expect. Depending on the store/market, advancement is generally available and managers will help you reach your career goals. Many of my coworkers have become great friends. The general atmosphere is positive and supportive.
THE BAD:
The low pay, barely above minimum wage, is the primary downside. A store that requires extensive product knowledge, while selling $800 jackets and $5000 mountain bikes, could probably pay their employees (most of whom hold four year degrees or higher) a living wage. Due to low wages, many employees find they aren't able to afford discounted product, or they struggle to find the work/life balance that is promised because they need a second job to pay the bills. When the budget that corporate creates is not met by the store, hours get cut to your minimum. Scheduling is often disorganized, whether that mean getting scheduled outside your availability or in a department that you are not trained to work. Management
I won't speak to working in the stores. I'm sure that's dependent on the particular store manager, but I doubt it's a good job. Considering what the corporate employees make and the cost-cutting measures going on there, kiddies, seriously, don't look to REI as a place where you will rise up from the store floor. It just ain't gonna happen.
I don't know if this company ever promoted on merits, but it suffered from an old boys network of the original co-op founders for a long time. At least in that context, work/life balance and getting outside to actually use the gear was a consideration. Now, its just lip service.
This company doesnt sell stock because it's a co-op. Well, their burn rate of wasted money is pretty severe, so it's a miracle that what's coming in can even begin to cover it. However, do they look to the inefficiency of bad managers? No, of course, they look to chopping off employees who have any time and vacation accrued.
Corporate REI suffers from a rotting internal culture where the directors aren't interested in creativity, but just beating their corporate employees until good ideas come out, and then they cherry-pick those ideas, repackage them as their own, as well as ones they get from external creative houses, which they overspend on to an insane degree. They overspend on lavish parties and travel with these big-name design and architectural firms while they bleed their own employees dry. Serious ageism is going on, even though many of the corporate
the best place for retail, if thats what you want to do.
As far as retail goes, REI is pretty good. You get to talk about pretty cool things with good customers. And you get prodeal. Most costumers are nice and chill, some get up in your face about returns or not enough of a deal.
Pay absolutely sucks. The company will pride itself on being a co-op and caring about its employees and customers, yet they will not provide livable wages. I know "every store is different", but this is a pretty prevalent and discussed problem among REI employees. Management tends be too lax with their employees and do not discipline nearly enough. You will absolutely make more money if you commit to being there for 8+ years, regardless of your work performance. This can be frustrating if you feel someone is undeserving of a raise or is a horrible coworker, tenure holds more status.
With all this being said, I met some of my best friends at this job, it is a great place to meet like minded people. If you shift your mindset to not caring too much about details, you'll thrive. As soon as you start caring about your department or pay, you'll realize it kind of sucks. This is a great place if you need a little money on the side, want to meet cool people, and get prodeal.
They are generally good with work life balance, as most of their employees are part time students or dirtbags looking for prodeal. With that being said, it's unlikely you'll get time off during sales, holidays, or weekend days consistently in a row. My store was understaffed and I w
the job itself was straight forward and what youd expect from a warehouse. however the managers are all on different pages, i was hired as seasonal, when i was being hired i mentioned that i expected the position to be a full hire, i was told "we are not hiring full hires at this time" and a week after i was on job- a new hiree in my same department came in hired as a full hire. as well as all the future hires brought on after me. talking with management, it was a managers mistake, at my expense. go figure. the new hires were making more money than me and had full benefits. i was cheated i felt. training is terrible. one person trains you one way, then you get told youre doing it wrong by others. training was a mess, with a lot of guess work due to the general being told to do the task multiple ways by multiple people. the reason why i left- the managers are condescending, manipulative and appear to have a popularity contest between themselves and it feels like the team dynamic struggles due to managers having "favorites" the kicker for me to get out was that my senior dog passed away and i emailed my manager, asking for "the rest of the week off" (3 days) off in to the weekend and was met with the response "due to company needs, REI cant afford to not have you come in to work" and i was not about to go in and drive forklifts all distressed and emotional. i had vacation time and sick time i could have used. i told my manager that due to my needs, i would not be coming back i
Great Job; Too Relaxed; Double Standards; Contradictions in Culture
The culture at REI is relaxed; a little too relaxed. The corporate initiatives appear to be mitigated by an overwhelming employee pool of what appear to be mostly young, spoiled people with mostly zero accountability for their actions. Many of these employees do not take direction, or constructive criticism, instead, they will manipulate, and succumb to emotional hysteria to get people to back off. Sadly, it is many of these types of people who get promoted to management roles, and it is these managers who create a haven for this behavior.
So, while REI's intent is to create a relaxed culture that foster diversity, and safe work spaces, it must also provide enough structure and support for management to direct employees with out fear of negative character judgement due to a hypersensitive prevailing culture. REI is still a business that must yield revenue, and while its intent for culture is admirable, it must still be structured enough so that managers can do their job to drive sales, direct staff, perform membership conversions, and service customers and members.
Lastly, while REI claims to foster diversity to express ideas and thoughts in a safe space, which it does, as long as it falls within their spectrum of social ideals, but step outside of that, and they will passive aggressively force you out.
Note: My views are relative to my subjective experience; they are my opinions, and relate to my understanding of the Company and my direct experiences in the New Yo
ProsPro-deals, health and dental, mostly positive atmosphere
ConsWork life balance (when full-time and in a management capacity, there is no such thing. Its retail. How can there be? Nice try REI), too relaxed culture, upward mobility contingent on being a "cuck"
While working at REI, our store endured racist slurs from our SM, spying, discrimination, cursing, screaming and insults. There was massive turnover, at our store, and little to no response from HR. The ASM at the time, another supervisor, and several employees and myself presented our case to HR. There was no action and no response. I would sometimes catch our SM spying on employees outside through security camera, or creating fake reasons to terminate employees she didn't like. Every single day I feared for my employees jobs and my own. Even our ASM, who had worked for REI for 5+ years, felt so threatened he was speaking to HR every single day. There was no action taken. I went on a medical leave, as was fired WHILE on my my medical leave. If I had the resources to sue, I would. In fact, the employee who was promoted to my role after I was terminated, has also faced the same issues. She and several other employees have recording, records, and written documents demonstrating what I wrote above... and STILL HR has taken no response. Nothing has been done. I can say without question, that 90% of the employees at that store are miserable, hate their job, and only stay to keep a steady paycheck. This is the worst, most ineffectual company I have ever worked for, and I would be surprised if they have a massive lawsuit on their hands shortly. To add on to that, they just without warning laid off the ENTIRE COMPANY'S assistant managers and outreach specialists. They offered anyone
Consillegally fired, unhappy employees, almost 90% management turnover
The job is great for people with less experience and as an outdoor recreation related job. However, the bottom line will always be profits. They will say that they're a co-op and that "a life outdoor is a live well lived."
But they will not hesitate to lay you off regardless of company loyalty or job performance. They did their initial "covid" lay offs in July 2020 and now (March 2021) just laid off an entire branch of outdoor school employees. Both lay offs included employees that had worked for REI for 15 - 25+ years that definitely were under the impression they were valuable members of the REI team and had job security. If you work for REI, always be aware that you could be cut for profits or a "business decision." Luckily, I was part of the July 2020 lay off and was not blind sided by this most recent lay off.
That "business decision" to lay off loyal outdoor staff was pretty awful, considering the classes were being waitlisting and doing really well despite covid.
I knew before the pandemic that I would not likely shop at REI much post-employment but their treatment of my coworkers has cemented that they will absolutely put profits over loyal employees and customers.
I suggest that if you get hired at REI to use it as a springboard into other better outdoor recreation industry opportunities and never count on job security.
As for the actual work, pretty standard retail with pretty standard customers. Pretty decent support from management and overall an okay retail
ProsDiscounts
ConsNo Job Security
Questions And Answers about REI
What questions did they ask during your interview at REI?
Asked Aug 3, 2019
The interview was basic. I don'tnt think that they hire many or any people of color into their manager programs. No matter how experience you are.
Answered Aug 22, 2021
There is a training program prior to working there which is fun and helpful. It helps to be an outdoor person. Experience with camping, hiking, canoe / river rafting, SUP, skiing, bicycling, running, etc. would be helpful but not essential.
Answered Jan 3, 2021
How did you get your first interview at REI?
Asked Jun 19, 2016
Added my resume to the online job took, and got a call from the recruiter.
Answered Sep 3, 2018
My wife's friends husband worked their and introduced me to management.
Answered Apr 25, 2018
What is the vacation policy like at REI? How many vacation days do you get per year?
Asked Oct 21, 2016
It depended on your time you accumulated while working there.
Answered Sep 15, 2018
As long as you request the time of in advance and they can approve it you can take multiple vacations.
Answered Aug 29, 2018
What is the dress code like?
Asked Mar 22, 2018
The dress code was very casual. You can essentially wear whatever you want, within reason. As long as it’s appropriate and you look presentable.
Answered Oct 24, 2019
Very casual but some things like hats or flip flops change depending on the store manager.
Answered Sep 5, 2019
If you were in charge, what would you do to make REI a better place to work?
Asked May 30, 2017
I would make employee retention more of a priority.
Answered Nov 11, 2020
Get rid of Kronos, the scheduling system/app. It was awful. the app wanst very good and the whole system was really irritating. I would have chosen Hotscheduels. EVERYTHING about HS works 100 times better.
