I have spent a few thousand bucks at rei over the past 10 years. I rarely if ever ask for assistance. The value add for me is the return and warranty policy, and knowing if REI sells it it's probably high quality.
The more experienced people are also the most natural and kind, where others seem less committed and less "of the hobby".
Once one is familiar enough with the brands that REI stocks and that are regarded as quality, nowadays those same brands can be bought, often for much cheaper, from other online retailers. Not with the same generous return policy, but still, it is harder for REI to compete compared to two decades ago when they were the only chain around for quality camping gear.
>nowadays those same brands can be bought, often for much cheaper, from other online retailers.
Usually MSRP is constant across retailers. Is there an example you can easily bring up? If there's a price for an item that's too good to be true, it's usually a scam website.
Different online retailers do sales at different times and with different degrees of discount, so if REI is selling an item at MSRP, it could be that a customer can save a great deal by judiciously searching the competition and getting the item from somewhere else. Moreover, when I last shopped heavily from REI a decade ago, it was often claimed in the outdoor community that its prices were inevitably higher than other retailers, but one would enjoy the better return policy, and there was hope of getting money back through the co-op program.
That is interesting anecdote and hearsay, but I was looking for an example. I'm not saying you're wrong, but is there somewhere else I should shop?
Do remember Amazon is getting in deep water for all sorts of things that basically boil down to price fixing, so there are many factors at play for MSRP being solid across the board.
So from the EU I cannot access at present the website of Moosejaw, one of REI’s major competitors, but I am sure that if you compare prices of gear between the two over time, one will be cheaper than the other when it has a sale at less than MSRP. Comparing prices across retailers and buying during limited-time sales is online shopping 101.
A gallon canister of Coleman fuel is $19 at REI, and $14.98 at Wal-Mart.
I have spent a few thousand bucks at rei over the past 10 years. I rarely if ever ask for assistance. The value add for me is the return and warranty policy, and knowing if REI sells it it's probably high quality.
The more experienced people are also the most natural and kind, where others seem less committed and less "of the hobby".
Layoffs suck. Good luck to all of them.