REI is closing on Black Friday, paying staff to take day off and #OptOutside

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=108106&skip_to_post=908132#908132

REI's motives are not benevolent and pure. Fact is that Black Friday forces practically every retailer to lower their prices to levels they never would on any other day of the year. REI simply can't stand not reaping their usual big profit margins. They're trying to make it sound as if they're taking the moral high ground, making a protest against materialism and inviting everyone to experience the great outdoors…LOL! Don't believe it. It's all about the bottom line. It kills them to sell stuff Black Friday cheap.

Who cares what their motives are? I have no issue with PR stunts when the net result is them a) not feeding into the consumerist orgy that Black Friday is, and b) paying their employees to take a day off.

> Fact is that Black Friday forces practically every retailer to lower their prices to levels they never would on any other day of the year. Not entirely true. My wife and I have discovered that you can get just as good or better deals throughout the year. I believe that prices are inflated so that "discount deals" can be used to herd of shoppers around. Black Friday is simply mega-herd day. Instead everyone at REI gets paid but nothing gets sold. Maybe they break even for a day. One day in the year really isn't a big deal to a company—that's why they can do this. Of course it's a publicity stunt. Duh. They could choose any other day of the year. Instead they chose Black Friday when their media campaign will have the most impact.

Marketing in action. Let's see if they do it again next year.

Bad news for me as REI is the only store I ever enter on Black Friday. And the only reason for that is that it's about half way on my drive home from my dad's place… serves as a nice break from a long drive. billy

Richard, I'm sure there's a lot of truth to what you say about Black Friday being somewhat of a ploy, at least at the brick and mortar stores. Nevertheless, many quality UL items are only marked down 20% plus on Black Friday. For example, Hyperlitemountaingear, Katabatic, Gossamergear, ZPcaks and SMD (current models) don't back off of their retail prices until that very day. Some will extend the discounted prices for up to a week later, but they don't post their lowest prices until Black Friday. Backcountry and Campsaver get pretty cheap then too. And of course each year online purchases make up a bigger and bigger percentage of total sales. I've been trying to decide between the SMD Flight 30 and the Katabatic Eos 30. Now I'll just wait until the day after Thanksgiving to pull the trigger.

> Nevertheless, many quality UL items are only marked down 20% plus on Black Friday. Good point. Well taken. I guess I don't buy gear often enough to have paid attention. A tarps been my mind — I'll pay attention this year.

Monte, i don't remember Delmar D. being so cynical about corporations. In fact, i was a bit castigated for expressing some of my own cynicism towards non specific/general corporate culture, practices, etc.

http://indefinitelywild.gizmodo.com/rei-ceo-goes-on-reddit-employees-reveal-how-much-it-su-1741954571

I can't say if that is true for cottage gear type companies, but the best deals seem to be AFTER the holidays. Clothing, electronics..and yes, gear. Need a puffy? Wait until the middle of January. Being DINKs, the wife and I make a point of getting our holiday gifts for each other sometime in January. We spend the holidays camping or at the very least doing some day ski tours. On Black Friday, we again plan to be somewhere on the Colorado Plateau. Good Central European financial practicality meets my inclination to get a bargain when I can. ;)

I think it's more that you can't just be closed on Black Friday, so you need a reason/cause to justify it. Sad, really.

"Mother Theresa establishes hospital to help poor in India; Christopher Hitchens finds her motives horrible and appalling." No good deed goes unpunished, true. But the attitude de jour is that every good deed is cynical and self serving. Maybe it says more about the motives of those who find it impossible to believe that REI might actually be sincere in what they're doing–because the skeptics look inward and find that they would never act unselfishly themselves. Really, we live in a society of rampant cynicism.

Did you read REI’s CEO AMA on Reddit? The first question in particular is pretty interesting.

Mother Teresa and REI compared in the same discussion? Oy vey. It's just a corporation trying to make money off of us. And give us a cool sticker. The fact that you, I and others are talking about says something. Cynicism? Naaaah… Just reality. As for the looking inward…wowsers. :)

They'll be open and have more employees on hand on Saturday and Sunday. Wonder how much they'll save on overtime.

With all of the threads here about REI, I can't ever remember one employee chiming in. Makes sense though because when I'm at REI I always see sales people leading shoppers toward heavy gear. I just figure these guys can't be dwelling at backpackinglight.com. Cynical? I plead guilty. REI enjoyed big profits last year. Something that would really show appreciation to their employees would be to say to each of them: "here's a $300 holiday bonus check". One day's pay is a paltry $65. I don't know what REI pays though. My guess is not much. It seems as if they take people's love of the outdoors and exploit it. And I'm sure there's exceptions, but most of the employees I see at REI stores just don't look like they're out there covering the miles. I mainly hear them name drop about some National Park they just visited.

"I just figure these guys can't be dwelling at backpackinglight.com" One popped up once He offered to answer any of our questions After getting popcorn out, we quickly drove him off : )

Whether or not REI has much of what I want, I have always found the staff helpful, knowledgeable about the local area, and quite cheerful, which I like.

they're pretty knowledgeable about heavy weight gear lightweight gear is sort of a niche market

From what I know (from people who work there) REI pays minimum wage, the people that clean the bathrooms are getting payed more than the people working the floor.I was surprised at both the wage and lack of benefits, they do get extra money for anybody they recommend to work there that REI ends up hiring, for whatever that is worth.

This seems to be turning into a rag on REI session… with an added strain of ultra light elitism. Personally, I love REI. I have found the employees to be cheery, helpful, and some even knowledgeable about ultra light gear… They also seem to be very happy working there.. and they do get gear at discounts. Why you guys would expect them to be knowledgeable about ul gear is beyond me… they are mostly just knowledgeable about the gear that REI sells… and that is as it should be… why on earth would you expect them to know much about a tiny niche like UL? Almost no one does. We are the odd birds here, not the REI employees. As for what they get paid… that's really none of our business, but I would imagine they agreed to what ever their pay is and are not bound by a ball and chain or and indenture contract and are free to go seek employment at any other place of employment. If REI didn't at least pay industry/retailer standard they would not have any employees. And they do get the perk of gear at great employee discounts. While REI does not sell much in the way of UL gear, their heavier hear will last longer, is more dependable and is generally backed by a better guarantee and all this is what most people want… again, we UL gearheads are the odd birds here; not REI or its employees or its customers. billy

Ask REI employee and BPLr Justin Baker for his take

There is a lot to wade through in the Reddit thread. At the top, click on "Stritzke" to see his replies (and infer the question)