REI is no longer a co-op and has caught Big Business Brain and is now on the Quest To Make More Money, which ironically (or perhaps not, given the types of clientele they’ve historically attracted) is in the process of tanking them. Fuck 'em. I quit shopping there years ago, when this happened.
Functionally, yes. I mean, they probably stopped being a true co-op going on for a decade ago or more. But they finally neutered their membership rewards program so much that any vestige of an allusion to any manner of cooperative structure is now totally gone. You can’t cash out your rewards anymore, they’re only usable as company scrip now, and they expire.
REI is no longer a co-op and has caught Big Business Brain and is now on the Quest To Make More Money, which ironically (or perhaps not, given the types of clientele they’ve historically attracted) is in the process of tanking them. Fuck 'em. I quit shopping there years ago, when this happened.
Christ… I had no idea about that.
Did they actually stop being a co-op?
Functionally, yes. I mean, they probably stopped being a true co-op going on for a decade ago or more. But they finally neutered their membership rewards program so much that any vestige of an allusion to any manner of cooperative structure is now totally gone. You can’t cash out your rewards anymore, they’re only usable as company scrip now, and they expire.
Wow. I got like a lifetime membership ages ago, I didn’t know about that, thank you for filling me in a bit. That fuckin sucks shit.