REI reviews

hard to transfer to other positions, tough to move up, not so great pay for my experience, discounts are getting more limited, hours are based off membership conversion

The only real issue I ever had with REI is the retail strategy used when it came to employment. Employment with REI is kind of perceived as a privilege. There's this attitude sometimes that because of the great employee discounts they offer that everything else can get overlooked. It's an amazing job if you don't really need to make a living. Perfect for students and the semi-retired who have loans or other forms of income to rely on. In 14 months of employment with REI I never once received any consistency in scheduling, I never "qualified" for access to health benefits or PTO, and I never once had any opportunity to work full-time. My hours would fluctuate, sometimes wildly, and I simply never felt very appreciated or adequately compensated. It surprised me when I realized early into my employment with REI that they use similar hiring and staffing techniques that any Target or Walmart would use. Rather than having a solid full-time work force, REI relies on leaning very hard on management while using a large part-time staff who may never qualify for benefits. If I were still in school this would not have been a problem but now that I have a degree and student loan debt I simply could not afford to remain employed at REI. I voluntarily left REI for full-time work at a higher wage.