Mary Anderson, a Founder of the Outdoor Cooperative REI, Dies at 107
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
http://gizmodo.com/rei-ceo-goes-on-reddit-employees-reveal-h... (first Google link)
I still like MEC, but I like how committed REI has been toward hiking, camping and more backcountry activities.
I bought a great bag at REI a few years ago that was praised by the ultralight hiking community for being a great, cheap ultralight pack, but now I've heard that REI discontinued it and everything available is a lot heavier.
I wish they would just wrap a state park pass up with the conservation plates...
But... then an equity firm bought them out. The discounts shrunk, the warranty vanished, and even for material defects within a year there's enormous flak when you try to get support.
REI has been my go-to ever since. They're the only big outdoor supplier left that seems to actually give a damn about what they're selling.
It's apparently really hard for this type of store to scale and stay at least somewhat aligned with their initial vision. They almost all become clothing and gear stores oriented to well-off urbanites who want to project an outdoorsy vibe. I agree that, among relatively large chains, REI has stayed closer to its roots than most.
IIRC, that was due to blatant abuse (e.g. people scrounging up worn-out stuff from garage sales to trade in for new).
http://www.dailyemerald.com/2013/06/04/rei-changes-infamous-...
So, yes, I understand why they cut the guarantee but, as a longtime customer, I don't like it. (I assume they're still reasonable on a case-by-case basis.)
I suspect it's mostly a matter of REI employees having more discretion than most retail workers - they're usually quite outdoorsy and have a decent eye for what's an unreasonable failure.
I agree that REI staff are much better than average.
I assume there are smaller co-ops that are truer to their intentions, but I suspect economies of scale might leave them with very high prices.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-ll-bean-shipping-r...
One year I got an entire ski setup (boots, skis, bindings, and installation) for under $300. Ended up reselling them for like $500 3 years later when I moved away from Boston.
Got great boots at a garage sale for like $30, too. You just have to be prepared to get there early and scavenge.
It's mine too. Do they advertise garage sales or you have to be friends with the store manager to get the scoop?
And anyway, I like supporting such a consumer (member?)-friendly company, and their return policy is top notch. I don't think twice about returning crap gear, and they don't think twice about accepting it -- and it feels like it benefits all of the members, because it feels like they care about my complaints and they likely won't sell the same junk for much longer. Whereas it feels like other stores will just sell whatever makes money.
I'd saved up some cash and bought a few things from REI over the years but now it was a week before freshman year of high school and I needed a new backpack. I also had my eye on an REI house brand beauty for hiking that was a whopping $99 (this was 1997 and we weren't exactly the kind of family spending $99 on frivolous things).
Shocked at the outrageous price (being used to $15 Jansport) my mom proclaimed that it would never happen. I brought up the fact that I had never made it through an entire school year with one single cheap bag and that one REI bag would last me all of high school, so we'd be saving money.
Smash cut to 18 years later the water proof interior lining had all but completely flaked off and the drawstring channel tore in such a way that it was time to just call it quits.
That bag survived through 4 years of high school, 4 more of university, 200+ (maybe twice more) days of real backwoods camping, at least 500 fishing and hunting trips, 4 continents, and two kids of my own.
It was a very sad day when I finally had to admit it was time to put that old bag down to rest, but I didn't even think twice about where I was going to replace it from.
When shopping for gear, I look around and check Backcountry.com, Moosejaw, and other retailers, and on average, REI's prices are not out of line with those other shops. And, of course, if you pay full price for something at REI, you get 10% back as a dividend at the end of the year, and REI's return policy is very generous.
There's no shortage of people who bought an $800 backpack along with $2000 of other gear, who thought they'd be using them regularly, who later find out that they made a significant investment in a hobby they don't care much about.
Unless you're swimming in money buying gear from those people should be your first choice.
Knowing what to buy is also a huge factor. E.g. the market for backpacks is a bit like the market for racing bikes. You can easily end up spending 3-4x what you actually need because you're convinced that you need the latest & greatest. A bit like the weekend warriors who buy $4000 carbon fiber racing bikes to shave of a couple of kilos, which, unless you're competing, is a complete waste of money.
Heh, As a cyclist I see that a lot, I ride a Carbon Felt Z6 2012 which cost me £768 new (about half what it cost originally here) when the 2013's came out.
I regulary ride with people who spent 5-8 times that on their bikes and go on about the weight savings (for reference my bike is often the same weight or at most 1/2lbs heavier), when I got the bike I was 245lbs, these days I'm 185lbs, the people with the 5 grand bikes are often a stone or two overweight...in terms of RoI skipping the cake would have been the way for them to go ;).
Precisely. REI has some stuff which is wildly overpriced - I wouldn't buy hiking shorts there. But if I'm buying climbing gear, no one will sell it cheap anywhere. REI dividends and a good warranty make the competitive, because I'm expecting to keep the gear for a decade or more.
Edit not lifetime anymore. Both places are one year.
Certainly no load-bearing climbing gear is ever returnable. Harnesses, ropes, draws, and pro aren't (and shouldn't be) returnable or resalable ever. I assume helmets can't be either.
But non-safety gear like chalk bags can be returned, and I'm surprised they won't take back approach shoes since they aren't even used on a wall.
Unless you are talking about mountaineering gear like anything climbing related: ropes, cams etc.
How in the heck can you trust that used gear will work 100%? I would rather spend more $$ to reduce risk.
You know there are climbing gyms where you're using both dynamic ropes & carabiners used by thousands of people before you? Those places aren't death traps.
Ditto mountaineering tours etc. for newbies that usually have every incentive not to report if they damage some of the equipment.
Carabiners, ropes & the like are tested when they're manufactured. Any damage likely to damage their structural integrity is usually going to be quite obvious. E.g. the carabiner won't close, or the rope will look like shit (although puncturing the core of a rope with crampons can be a subtle exception).
All other things being equal you're likely to be better off with brand new equipment, but you're also probably way better with used equipment where you spent that extra $500 you saved on some safety course & expert instruction, than skipping that and buying a brand new rope & carabiners.
Failing to properly secure a knot to a used carabiner is a way more likely cause of death than the carabiner itself failing.
It's hard to evaluate a climbing rope by visually inspecting it, though. The strength depends primarily on the core strands, which are hidden away behind the sheath. Chemical damage is not as visible as people assume it is.
It's especially hard for lead ropes, because every significant fall takes some the elasticity out of the core. A rope can look perfectly fine even if it is no longer capable of absorbing a lead fall. The danger here isn't so much that the rope will break, but that the lack of stretch will overload your pro, your body, or potentially even the anchor.
So I would be very hesitant to buy a lead rope used, unless you really know and trust the person. Top-roping should be fine because the fall factor is so low. You can top rope with static cord if you're attentive to the belay.
I usually end up comparing REI with Moosejaw + Activejunky, and it's a tossup which one will be cheaper.
(If you haven't tried Activejunky, do. It's usually another 5-15% off while shopping through other sites.)
Especially if you EVER have to return anything or rely on customer service. Unless your time is worth nothing...
I absolutely don't buy everything there, but your time is often better spent doing that than bargain hunting.
If you do a lot of backpacking, you find you don't really need much specialized gear anyway -- in fact you probably have a lot of what you need lying around the house already. So the overall cost isn't that high. So it was worth buying a very expensive winter sleeping bag for sub-zero conditions, but for the summer I don't even need a bag at all. I wear the same hiking boots for any long walk.
When I say REI is "midrange": they are a great place to get basic stuff (I found the outdoors stuff at Dick's or Bass Pro to me cheap but mostly worthless crap). After the rebate, prices aren't bad and stuff tends to last a long time. They don't sell the super high end stuff (custom boots or sleeping bags) but the market for that is vanishingly small anyway, and like I said, typically you only need one or two pieces of expensive gear.
My locally-owned discount camping place (Redwood Trading Post in Redwood City) is my go-to just because it's locally owned, but they have some clunkers (e.g. their ropes).
One thing I've noticed is that REI do stock a lot of gimmicks (outdoor themed playing cards, heavy stoves for car camping, cheap knives) which I assume are the bulk of their profits. I haven't seen that stuff crowd out the "real" gear. Cabellas used to have really good gear too, but they couldn't make a go of it and the crud-laden Bass Pro bought them so we'll see what happens.
Oh, and another note on "midrange": I am referring specifically to backpacking, cycling and skiing (though I don't buy ski/snowshoe gear there). I am intimidated by the rock climbing gear and have no way of knowing if it is crap or ultra-high end.
Also, I generally use my 20% member's coupon for things that never go on sale such as bear canisters and climbing shoes.
For budget outdoor enthusiasts, I would recommend Walmart's Ozark Trail brand. You can find a sub-4lb backpacking tent for $30 on sale (which is still twice as heavy as a high end backpacking tent but costs $30 vs. $300). They put out a lot of decent gear but never the lightest or the most durable.
If you want better quality gear but only clearance/outlet, try sierratradingpost - basically the TJMaxx of outdoor gear.
If there was a way coops could raise significant funds to start say a big box chain store, we might see more of them. I don't think small business loans quite cut it here.
On the one hand, the market remains this way where people with money are more easily able to make large sums of money through investment, by making their money do the work. The system in this sense is self-perpetuating, but strictly speaking, doesn't have to be this way.
On the other hand, as a thought experiment, imagine a magic wand was waved and all capital and resources were evenly distributed across the national or even global population. The world would still be left with an inequality of people's ability to earn each others money. Those with good health, savvy business sense, in-demand skills, and knowledge of production would quickly start down the path of quickly earning, while others are left only spending. I don't think it would take very long to end up right back where we are today.
I think coops are more suitable for that "change the world" while being "revolutionary" story. In fact many anarchists (and market socialists, and mutualists) envision a big coop sector to democratize work life. I think it's pretty revolutionary in that way. Noam Chomsky and Murray Bookchin promote these ideas.
I don't think there's anything wrong with caring about money, in fact I think it's a mistake not to care about money in a system that revolves around money. However, listening to people tell me how "passionate they are about 'X'" when in reality they are only passionate about making money is one my biggest pet peeves.
You have to work 2:45 hour per month (I do childcare), and we have monthly GA meetings to vote on things.
We also have a fund / capital, training, and even labor available for others who want to start cooperative grocery stores in their area.
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaEv9wm6gy0 [1] https://www.rei.com/product/113898/black-diamond-12mm-dynex-...
[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/dude-tr...
Then there is the use of "dude" to refer to a specific person (singular). This is a very rare use of "dude" in reference a woman, and usually is used as commentary rather than a literal descriptor, or ironically. "She's such a dude." It is definitely making a comment on gender or stereotypes.
I would be very confused if you referred to me as a dude in everyday conversation, wondering what you were trying to say. On the other hand, I did recently say about myself, "I'm such a dude" when making a comment about my approach to an unfortunately often-gender-stereotyped activity, housekeeping.
That was my first thought too. Just think about living to 107. That would mean she was born in (or around) 1910. A child during WW1, before cars were commonplace; a young adult during the great depression; an adult during WW2; the expansion of suburbs; through Vietnam, the computer revolution of the 80s, the Internet in the 90s... it must be amazing to observe that kind of time span first hand. A lot happens in a century.