Wouldn't recommend it - Sales Specialist REI Employee Review

1.0
13 Nov 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great incentives, pretty good pay, pro deals are great

Cons

REI sells you a dream when they are first hiring. The dream is that this is a company where hard work pays off, we are not "car salesman" was the exact words that were used. However soon enough we discovered that car salesman is exactly what were expected to be. The membership is all that management cares about. They want you to go around the store hunting for new members and we have to sell it anyway possible. I was an employee at the store in Yonkers and while there is no incentive for selling memberships since that is "our job", we did get penalized for not selling them. The people who worked the hardest and were brilliant when it came to the outdoors got little to no hours while the lazy ones that managed to sell memberships and were on managements good side got all the hours. Management is lazy, immature and unaware of anything that goes on in the store and the HR department is horrible. They say that we can contact them and they will try to solve the issues but even after more than 5 employees contacted them about the same issue nothing was done. A lot of people at the Yonkers store quit right after taking the job because they quickly realize what they have gotten themselves into. I regret taking this job since it was just a waste of time. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Explore other reviews about REI

5.0
25 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

very supportive management and team members.

Cons

sometimes, the hours are late. But very doable.

3.0
20 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Excellent coworkers - REI does a great job of hiring enthusiastic and personable staff - Slightly better pay compared with other retail in the area - Prodeals and discounts - Flexible hours - Good (although rapidly diminishing) healthcare benefits

Cons

- Once a (better) company known for its investment in knowledgeable and friendly staff via extensive training and investment, the company has been slowly slashing away at most of what makes it special since the pandemic - Hours and benefits are worsening, proper employee training is becoming hard to come by - lots of mediocrity and sometimes questionable ethical calls made by management - Punitive disciplinary policies that seem to be designed to create higher turnover (advantageous to them given the gradual pay, benefit and policy changes)

3
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