REI reviews

All the negative aspects of retail like dealing with messy racks and dressing rooms. REI has a chronic problem with things out of order because they employ the same number of employees as Target, but expect them to help the customer and pay attention to them instead of stocking and arranging the floor. That's why when you walk into REI, it always look like there's been a hurricane on the racks. Technical knowledge is a plus, but there seemed to be a more emphasis on salesmanship. Your performance wasn't based on how hard you worked or how much you helped a customer, it was based on member sales. Though I got to admit, the very knowledgeable people also sold a lot more memberships. During my last days in REI, hours were cut to the bone with people working from 14 hours a week to 3-2 hours a week. Inventory was getting piled up in the warehouse, and it was a mad rush to stock everyday. On the whole, the very business model seemed very inefficient and aimless. A big concern was payroll. It was over budget because we had sales specialists and people solely working on inventory. I guess that's one of the problems of having a camping store in a city.

The pay is about medium rage... not low, but not exceptional. Some might find this a turnoff. The environment is so nice that people forget to be honest sometimes.