Why don’t manfucaturers list the fill wieght of down jackets?

Then again, I was in Chattanooga recently at Rock Creek outfitters and spent 40 minutes talking to a sales clerk about his extensive mountaineering treks and his great knowledge of gear.

There's a sales clerk at Little River outfitters in Maryville TN named Bert Emmerson who is a triple crowner and knows so much he points out facts in a low voice. He's seen it all before.

REI has expanded so much in the last 10 years that maybe it has lost some of its "qualified" sale clerks.

Nearly every independent outdoor store I have ever visited know what they
are talking about, but most chain places are crap.

It was a staff clerk on an independent store. But there are certainly also knowledgable staff clercks. And to be honest, they don't know that what I ask I already know, and that I'm actually putting them through an exam.

I remember that more then a decade ago, I applied for the job of sales clerck in such an independent outdoor store and I was refused on the ground of being too highly qualified.