REI reviews

You will be broke. You will be paid peanuts, even as a manager. Until you are promoted to Store Manager, you will not be earning a living wage in most of California. You will be outfitting people who do have money. Every day. Yes, you get psyched for their adventures (I’m not a hater), and that makes you want to outfit yourself. Yes, you get sweet deals, but 50% off of a $3000 bike or kayak is still way more than you can afford to spend if you are making $13 an hour and working 30 hours per week. Also, you are in an environment designed to stimulate buying (as with all retail environments), and this will effect you as well. I have way more Nalgene bottles and t shirts than I will ever need. If you want to make the co-op a career, that will require getting promoted past Retail Sales Manager, unless you like eviction and malnourishment. Unfortunately, REI is rather opaque in terms of how you can actually do this, and 3 to 5 percent annual raises are not super awesome. There is a lot of carrot dangling and not a lot of bona fide growth.

Really poor pay, and the compensation package does not make up for it. Average benefits, unless your first interest in getting gear. People have to make sacrifices to work here. The CEO committed to "stay ahead" of the market pay scale, but REI has failed to do so in many areas of the country. Employees start at minimum wage, or just above, and are held to a very high standard for performance. Merit increases are a joke, between 1% and 5%, once a year, with no adjustment for inflation. Cost of medical benefit premium increases are greater than the merit increase. It is impossible to stay in the job without advancing to management. Highly biased and competitive to advance in their retail management. A boss who chooses not to support you can destroy your chances to advance, transfer or grow in any way. Absolutely no employment reward for tenure. If you don't advance, you are managed out of your job, and they want young, hungry people in their leadership roles, willing to relocate. Minimal relocation financial support.