The REI.com Purchase That Saved Their Lives!!!
Written: Aug 05 '01 (Updated Sep 05 '01)
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The Bottom Line
One of the best designed shopping websites I have used! Shop REI.com you will be satisfied.
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Recreational Equipment, Inc. was formed in the 1930’ to aid a group of 25 mountain climbers in their goal of getting good prices on the quality equipment they would need for their outings. In the past 60 years that cooperative has grown into over sixty stores with sales also on the Internet and telephone.
You can become a member of the co-op by paying a membership fee of ____ and you will enjoy special prices and the ability to vote on the Board of Directors. This article will focus directly on REI.com.
Many of my readers who are familiar with my family know that my husband and oldest son embarked upon an adventure with friends in the Grand Canyon this past April. While shopping for this trip we learned quite a bit about products and things you really do (and do not) need to be well equipped for an extended hiking trip.
One place we shopped at was REI.com Why? For one reason my husbands friend mentioned that he shops at one of their brick and mortar stores in California so we decided to check out their product line. The other reason being the bargain shopper I am I discovered we could earn points (which translate to gift certificates) for shipping at REI.com through various points programs. My Points and Milesource being two such programs.
Visiting the REI.com website you will find a very well organized and easy to maneuver site. The last product we purchased through them was a three-man/three season tent (watch for the upcoming review).
On the home page REI.com offers a search feature that you can use to search for products by name or catalog number. Below that you will see categories listed; Camp/Hike, Climb, Cycling, Paddling, Snow Sports, Cross Training, Fishing, Travel, Men’s Clothing, Women’s Clothing, Kid’s Clothing, Footwear, Books/Maps, Gifts, Gift Certificates, Racks, On Sale, All Categories, REI-OUTLET.com (note - this is a different store, different shopping cart) & sign up for e-mail.
Clicking on one of these categories will bring you to a list of sub categories such as backpacks. Under backpacks you will find areas broken down further by Internal Frame - Long Haul, Internal Frame - Short Trips, External Frame, Daypacks. Each of those sub categories is broken down yet further for easy search i.e. youth packs, woman's packs etc. With a glance you can see what category you wish to look for an item and easily click to that area.
Once you find the exact category you are searching for i.e. Youth External Frame click on the link. Here you will find a list with photo’s of the available packs and their price. Click on the individual pack and you will find even more detail, which is very important for hikers to know i.e. weight of the pack, volume that it can contain, number of pockets etc. This page will also show you a box with suggestions for other products that may relate to the purchase you are going to make. In this case two other youth packs and a youth sleeping bag. Oh yes and lest I forget you will also find the available colors, shipping info etc.
Categories such as the clothing category offer easy to use size charts and a vast selection of clothing items for adults. As with other sporting stores they also offer tops for women with built in support (bras). That makes working out or exercise more comfortable. REI.com also offers one of the largest selection of real sports clothes for kids. Quality raingear and hiking clothes etc.
REI.com also offers some great information to their website visitors. Further down on the left side of the home page you will see an area that is obviously not shopping categories. Learn & Share offers information for a huge variety of sports and activities. You can find information on the how to’s & checklists. They also offer a forum where you can even post a note to find a hiking partner in their forum.
Similar to Gorp REI.com offers vacation packages such as cycling in Holland or backpacking in Italy. Prices are listed along with difficulty rating for participants. The travel section also gives your some detail on who the travel guides to notes from others travels.
Membership is offered at REI.com at a one time life membership fee of $15.00. With this you earn voting rights for the Board of Directors, Special Deals for members only, a patronage refund (% of your shopping total for the year), discount car rental etc. For more details please visit their web page. My husband is a member I am not.
I however am on their email list, which is easy to sign up for with a link on their home page. Just about once a month I receive Gearmail from REI.com. This months Gearmail starts off by showing me the members specials - which when clicked also show me a link on how to sign up to be a member. Lower in my email there are a variety of items they claim are handpicked specials. They may or may not have to do with my shopping pattern - I tend to think not as I shop mainly in the camping/hiking area.
Delivery of orders are via UPS or Fedex and you can track your order two days after placing it directly from the REI.com website. I have always used standard shipping and received my order between seven to ten business days. Presently standard shipping fees are $5.99 for up to $75.00. An order from $75.01-125.00 will cost $6.99 and an order over $125.00 will cost $7.99. Good reason to hold out to place a large order (which is not hard to do).
Between my husband and myself we have placed several orders through REI.com since this past January. The merchandise has always arrived in a timely manner and is well packed. I have not had to deal with customer service or returns as everything we have received we have been very pleased with. This would include clothing purchased that we used their sizing charts for fit - we found the charts true to size.
Once you have placed an order you cannot change it unless it is backordered. If backordered you can send a special email from their help area that will be taken care of by REI.com. If you are not satisfied with a product that you purchase you may return it for refund or exchange either at the store or return mail.
We are very satisfied customers of REI.com and plan to utilize this online store for years to come. You really have to visit their website to see the fantastic job they have done setting it up - I think it is really one of the best designed shopping websites I have used. They offer quality products so expect to spend a bit of cash, however they also offer sales (marked well for customers to see) in which you will certainly find some great bargains.
Need some gear? Shop REI.com you will be satisfied.
Oh yes, about my title! Living in Connecticut there is a rare problem with bears. My husbands buddy however lives out in CA and he and his wife frequent more wooded national forests on the West Coast. Prior to the big Grand Canyon trip my husband told me about Pat and his wife running into a rather large Grizzly on one of their hikes. “Oh great” I thought.
One night while shopping on REI.com I decided to be cute and I ordered a $3.00 Bear Bell as a joke for Pat. Surely there would be no bears in the Grand Canyon. I sent this off with my husband purely as a joke.
Pat is great at sending pranks to us like the Y2K survival kit (that he did make up himself from scratch), or the Big Foot slippers from our friends in the northwest one Christmas. Pat being the fun guy he is put his Bear Bell on his pack jingling his way down through and back up the canyon. People glancing at this odd sound as they made their way through (my husband made sure to tell me that :grin:).
Two weeks ago my husband was talking with Pat on the phone. Seems that he and his wife had been off on another backpacking trip and ran into a Grizzly. Wearing his bear bell on his pack did indeed send the bear off in the opposite direction.
Who would have thought my silly joke would really make a difference? This has made take a more serious look at this situation of hiking/camping in the large parks. The most I have to deal with in my back yard are the wild turkeys, red fox and nocturnal Rocky the Raccoon and Petunia the skunk. We have coyotes in town but I haven’t seen any on our side yet.
Buy a bear bell. People may think your Santa Claus and you just may be if you save a life =)
Recommended:
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