Article on Seattle Weekly

[Doug]

http://www.seattleweekly.com/features/printme.php3?eid=44944

[Kiwi]

I've been thinking about this alot recently, and I tend to agree.

[cj001f]

The authors experience neatly dovetails with mine. Earlier this year I e-mailed the board about the requirements, and process, to become a director. They responded that the requirements were not available yet, but they'd add me to the list of potential canidates, and that they would send the requirments to me in June. They've yet to do that, even though:

 

a) the director requirements have been posted in their stores since mid-May

 

b) the 21,000 signatures are due by July.

 

I'm currently writing my resignation letter.

[slothrop]

A very good article. I enjoyed seeing a UW professor skewer every asinine statement the CEO made. Madsen's equating consumer spending habits to democracy is particularly troubling. You don't vote with your dollars, you vote with your vote. If the members of REI have no power to make decisions as to how the co-op's run, it's not a co-op anymore.

 

cj, are you a future former employee? What job do you do for REI?

[cj001f]

slothrop said:cj, are you a future former employee? What job do you do for REI?

 

No-

I'm a future former owner. If I were an employee I might have had a chance at the becoming a BOD canidate - as a lowly marketing program member (aka "REI member") I didn't really have a chance. What I found most troubling, both in my dealings with REI, and in the article, was the complete absence of information regarding governance matters.

 

[cj001f]

Oddly enough, today I received this e-mail (my prior correspondance was in February, until this point I had received no information)

 

Dear Mr. Johnson:

 

Thank you for your inquiry earlier this year into REI's board of

directors' election. The election cycle will open July 1, 2003, and

complete election material is available at that time. If you wish to

receive an election packet, please confirm your interest, and I'll be

sure the material is forwarded to you when it is available. You may

reach me by reply to this e-mail; by mail at REI Public Affairs, (address and number snipped)

There are two ways to pursue candidacy for the board of directors: by

nomination or petition. The election packet more fully explains this

process and provides potential candidates with the background material

required necessary to apply for the 2003-2004 election cycle. Each

year

the Nominating Committee works actively to offer the membership

candidates whose skills and abilities match the needs of the board and

the co-op. The Nominating Committee pursues this goal by reviewing

requests for nomination from interested members and actively recruiting

candidates. The petition method offers members an opportunity to appear

on the ballot by collecting signatures of active members.

 

In addition to completing the candidate packet, to qualify as a

candidate a person must have been a member (or spouse of a person who

had been a member) for one year as of December 31, 2003.

 

Thank you again for your interest in REI and its election process. I

look forward to hearing from you.

 

Sincerely,

(name snipped)

Public Affairs Director

 

 

 

[alienPDX]

It would be fun to have a cc'r bring these issues to the REI CEO at this Puget Sound Business Journal event:

 

Dennis Madsen, president and CEO of Seattle's renowned Recreational Equipment Company Inc., has guided the organization's growth to a national powerhouse in its industry.

 

What began life as a cooperative 65 years ago has emerged into a recreation-equipment retailer with more than 2.1 million active members across the nation.

 

Madsen will be our guest interviewee at the next Business Journal Live event Thursday July 24 at the Seattle Harbor Club (801 2nd Ave., 17th Floor). The event begins at 5:30 p.m. with registration, networking and heavy appetizers.

 

The program with Madsen, who will be interviewed by Business Journal managing editor Rob Smith, gets under way at 6:30 p.m.

 

To register, go online to: http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/networking/events/10257, or call Jenna Higgins at 206/447-8505 (ext. 124). Or e-mail her at jhiggins@bizjournals.com.

 

The cost is $35, including the appetizers and beverages.

 

Deadline for registrations is Friday, July 18.

 

 

[johnny_destiny]

REI is slowly becoming the new Eddie Bauer. I was up stairs (Seattle store) the other day and saw that the "attic sale" area is gone. Replaced by an expanded shoe area. It resembles Banana Republic.

I am slowly weaning myself from REI and purchasing at other shops. Even though this means going to several places to buy gear.

I feel better giving my money to the little guy and not the towering giant that crushes the small store owner, harasses me to death about joining a coop I already belong to, and trying to sell me charge cards that I don't want.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Greg_W]

This thread doesn't belong in "Local Gear Shops", because REI is not. They have become a nationwide (worldwide?) conglomerate just like Eddie Bauer, Target, WalMart, etc. They ARE NOT your "local gear store" anymore. Who the fuck wants to buy Chukar Cherries?