Why the hard sell on REI memberships?
Coops typically have a non-member surcharge. REI does not. Not quite true. Members get about 10% back on most purchases, which can add up to real money if you buy enough stuff. They are smoother about it than they are down at my local hippy coop, where indeed they tack on extra money right there at the cash register for non-members. REI charges everyone the same price, but returns the surcharge to members once a year (your choice, cash or in-store credit). And so that’s the other reason, besides the quotas, that the people there push the membership so much — the $20 for membership (and it used to be a lot less) pays for itself with one pair of boots or a tent. It just makes sense to have, unless you really are only going to buy the one pair of socks and will never again shop there for the rest of your life.
While I’ve never gotten the membership hard-sell at REI, I do know a guy who worked there and he claimed that it was easy to offer to people because it’s such an obvious good deal. As someone said up-thread, you make your one-time membership cost back as soon as you buy a single decent piece of equipment, and from then on you’re just getting free money back from your purchases. Not pointing this out to people would be pretty crappy customer service, and everyone I’ve ever dealt with at an REI seemed genuinely out to help the customers. It’s like being pushy about free ice cream or something – you don’t feel sleazy offering it to people because there’s no catch. You just want them to be aware of the goodness that is available.
REI makes more money from non-members than members because they only pay rebates to members. The reason employees encourage you to join is because you immediately save money and they are true believers — they want you to save money. REI has been a co-op for almost 70 years, gives good employee benefits, and has consistently been ranked in the top 100 companies to work for in the U.S. I have never encountered anyone pushing memberships but if you have, it may be because they can’t believe that you don’t want free money. I know people who work there and none has ever mentioned quotas. Perhaps your cynicism is coloring your perception.
You know, I haven’t been here too long, but I get the idea that moderating your own threads is generally frowned upon. It also just seems plain rude. After all, the answers to the question aren’t just for you – if they were, this would be a website where you post the question and people reply to you privately through email. Moderating your own thread is more frowned upon on the blue, where it’s pretty much all about opinions and there’s no real downside to blind speculation. On AskMe, it’s perfectly acceptable to set standards for what type of answers you’re looking for, within certain limits. All grouse is asking for is that people that answer this question aren’t just saying what they *think* is the case – he’s looking for people who have actual experience with the matter. In this case, it actually makes the site more useful for future users. If you were someone coming along in the future with the same question, would you rather have a bunch of guesses or first-person accounts? AskMe
