6d ago

REI says it was a ‘mistake’ to endorse Trump interior secretary

www.cascadepbs.org

Summary

REI apologized for endorsing Trump interior secretary nominee Doug Burgum, citing backlash over his support for fossil fuel drilling and deregulation.

CEO Mary Beth Laughton, who took over March 31, called the endorsement “a mistake” and pledged to refocus REI on protecting public lands.

The co-op will lead a new coalition, Brands for Public Lands, to lobby for conservation.

The REI Union, which had criticized the endorsement, praised the retraction. The company also faces legal challenges over alleged anti-union practices and benefits withholding.

83 comments

"We have many values, but the most valuable value to us is profit, far and away. As a business pursuing profit above all else, supporting this administration, and always being ready and willing to bootlick, anywhere, anytime, at a moments notice, was thought to be our best shot at the highest profitability possible for our members. Unfortunately, like most of the supporters of trump, his administration, and his best-picked people, we're left embarrassed, and holding a (figurative) bag of shit, with nothing to show for it except for smelly hands. Sorry. Can we get a do-over?"
- "We have a problem considering everyone that buys our stuff are campers that camp at these parks. We totally did not see or hear anything about this and caught completely by surprise the administration was going to do this. The "Drill baby Drill" slogan we thought he was referring to drilling for profits in OTHER people's lands! Who are we going to sell all this crap to now?!"
  The leopards have never seen such a buffet of faces to eat. Only the best buffets. The biggest. Buffets like nobody has ever seen before! Billions of faces. Ok I'll see myself out now.

"why golly golly gumdrops we had no idea asshole mcbabyeater was a baby eating freak that wanted to eat our babies, we just thought he would let us dump out trash in the local pond and lower our taxes. We take full responsibility for this one, so we're going to start a branding coalition. Sorry, guys :("

Oh no. Anyways, still on my list of places not to buy.
- Right? They cant have it both ways. Dine with a nazi and you’re a nazi. Simple as that.
  
  Maybe once they recognize the union and give them everything they ask for. 'Til then they get none of my money.
- Imagine being able to afford camping and outdoor gear.
  
  Where will I get a $47 headlamp though?

No shit.
- Yeah I have a friend from the UK who voted for Brexit. He regrets it now and I'm like: "WHAT DID YOU THINK WAS GOING TO HAPPEN?!"

REI is corpo scum. They are not a co-op. This retraction is nice to hear but ultimately meaningless as long as they continue forcing corpo trash board candidates into their rigged board elections system.
- Their union has done a decent job of documenting some of their behavior. This wasn't an anomaly.

Don't care. REI is dead to me.
Shop at Academy instead, they don't give to any political parties & their employees mostly give to non-Fascist groups.
- Is this true? I’m a fan of Academy. Don’t let me down.
  
  Academy is iwned by the same Private Equity firm that tanked Toys-R-Us. They are also the only national retailer that sells AR-15's. Corporations are not your friends. You should not idolize them
  
  Yes, it's true. Check OpenSecrets.org.

"We just wanted to treat our employees like slaves! Why is he doing this to us?"

This combined with them being anti union means I won't be shopping there for a while.
- how you gonna call yourself a co-op and be anti-union
  
  The board is cooperative with their bank accounts. 🙂

This is beyond not knowing their customer base. Where are people going to hike once national Parks are clear cut?
- Doesn't matter, line went up.

Resign, they endorsed because they thought they would be the winners, turns out it wasn't the popular move they thought it was, now watch them burn.
- Is it a new board because I'm pretty sure we all voted withhold.

No shit, everybody knew Trump and his team of morons was exactly that - fucking morons.
- don't forget corrupt
  
  I though that fact was fairly obvious, but you're absolutely right.

REI makes a large amount of money selling bikes which almost entirely come from China. This about-face is purely a reaction to tariffs and the Orange turd affecting their bottom line, not some moral epiphany.

So odd that REI put themselves with this group. They look very out of place in this group.
Here are the other signatories on that letter from January supporting Burgum:
American Bus Association
American Horse Council
American Prairie
American Sportfishing Association
Archery Trade Association
Association of Marina Industries
Boat U.S.
CHM Government Services
Diving Equipment & Marketing Association
Eddyline Kayaks
International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association
Marine Retailers Association of the Americas
Motorcycle Industry Council
National Forest Recreation Association
National Marine Manufacturers Association
National Park Hospitality Association
National Ski Areas Association
National Wild Turkey Federation
Outdoor Hospitality Industry
Outdoor Industry Association
Paddlesports Trade Coalition
PeopleForBikes
Professional TrailBuilders Association
Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle Association
REI Co-op
RV Dealers Association
RV Industry Association
Society of Outdoor Recreation Professionals
Specialty Equipment Market Association
Specialty Vehicle Institute of America
Sports & Fitness Industry Association
The Corps Network
- REI turned corporate or at least pro-corporate shortly after the pandemic. This all went down probably not coincidentally right after they hired an ex-Amazon exec, Cameron Janes, to be their "Chief Commercial Officer."
  They're turning into another profit motivated shitshow and have become explicitly anti-union, hostile to their own labor, and also hostile to their own customers. They did this in the name of making more money, but given that it pissed off swath of their core customer base who are probably more vocal, left leaning, and activist than the average bunch of consumers who all quit buying from them, I'm pretty sure this wasn't a net gain.
  
  I contacted their customer support and had them delete my account. I also sent them an email as to why, and stated I'd be telling everyone I know not to shop at REI.
  Fuck them.
  
  REI was already fully transitioned from a co-op to another big box store well before that.
  REI has consistently hired executives and board members with backgrounds in traditional retail and other for-profit ventures since 2010.
  They have chosen to run REI like their prior companies, focusing on margins and profitability rather than its primary responsibility, the members.
  They have continued to open new stores and over extend themselves because profit must go up, though the main revenue generator for them is the membership fee. And because it is a one time fee, rather than recurring, they have to continue to open new stores to stay profitable.
  On top of no longer acting like a co-op, REI has decided to fight its employees unionization efforts. Numerous REI stores have voted to unionize, and REI has refused to recognize the unions, in some cases for years at this point. REI has also hired notorious union- busting lawyers, removed PPE from repair shops, and illegally laid off dozens of individuals.
  REI is now clearing house; laying off long term staff and replacing them with new, less expensive, and less knowledgeable employees. In 2010 the average camping department employee got 15+ hours of training; whereas by 2018 it was less than 4 hours.
  REI is following exactly in the footsteps of Mountain Equipment Co-Op in Canada. Once on par with REI, MEC is just another shell of a company raped by private equity. And unfortunately for a lot of good people, I think REI will suffer a similar fate.
- Yeah honestly I was completely baffled by that move
- They saw the rv industry in elbow deep and decided to go lock step?

I had no idea they endorsed Trump. I will never buy from them again.
- They endorsed a Trump nominee, I thought. Or was still enough for me to vote withhold and I'm not likely to shop there until it's clear all the rot is removed.

I'm an REI member and I hadn't voted in a board election until this. I voted against all of them.
- I'm also an REI member, how do we vote?
  
  No on all.

Trumps entires presidency is a big oopsie

Damn, even REI. The disappointments won't stop coming.
- Not a case of "even REI." REI revealed themselves into just another boardroom full of bad guys in 2022 and have not improved since.

A mistake like that gets people fired.
It is being called a mistake because it's costing them more money than they thought it would.

Choke on every rhino dick in Africa, REI.
- That’s not that many (╥﹏╥)
  
  How many do you think it takes?

Too fucking late

We're in the market for a kid carrying ebike, and while REI makes the most financial sense, I think we'll be paying a visit to our LBS.
As an aside, I tend to prefer Sports Basement. Have had better luck with their bike department, too. No idea if they're better from a corporate standpoint though.
- LBS FTW
- Hell yeah on LBS.

Sigh. Where do I shop instead? Anywhere that actually supports cooperative efforts?
- Eastern Mountain Sports maybe? I have no idea how that company is run though.
  from Wikipedia:
  On September 3, 2024, the chain was acquired by British Outdoor retailer Mountain Warehouse for $10 million. Mountain Warehouse plans to expand the company and open as many as 100 new stores over the next few years.
  
  Maybe as part of those 100 new stores they can re-open one of the three around me that they abruptly closed several years ago. One of those was one of their "flagship" stores and had about the same square footage as one of the larger REI locations and seemed to be doing a brisk business right up until the end. So I'm not sure what was up with that. My nearest EMS is now 120+ miles away which is a bit silly if all I need is some chalk or something.
  I did score some mega-clearance stuff back then, though. So that was neat. Like a pair of Gore Tex Ascent pants for $15 or thereabouts.