REI reviews

I really struggled with feeling like I actually belonged/felt comfortable there. The managers were all about sales and making sure we meet goals (sales, membership sales, labor) and not much about making sure we we had all the tools we needed to be successful in helping our customers. When I started they promised lots of training but no you get a little heads up about how to sell stuff then they throw you to the wolves. Very low starting pay with very low raises. Mandatory weekends. They make sure to keep as many of their employees under 20 hours to make sure they don't qualify for any benefits (they actually got called out on this and only made minor changes because of the threat of a union). They advertise paid time off as a perk of part time employment but it cannot be used as traditional pto, it is considered a "yay day" where they pay you a couple hours to go do stuff outside twice a year, hardly something I would consider paid time off. My final con is they certainly toot being a coop, while it is technically true they are run just like any other giant corporation (profit driven, very high pay for higher ups, and very low pay for the workers).

Management pushed the system of signing people up to became members so much that the customers would already be prepared to tell you know thanks as you approached them. Customers starting to complain about it and stop coming into the store. if a customer made a complaint about an employee whether it was warranted or not that employee would almost always get fired.