Vantaggi
Love my fellow employees. Even though I'm just in sales I feel like my voice matters and that I can (and I have) make decisions that impact my department and the store as a whole. I have met the CEO and also received a video via email about REI's long term goals and how the company plans to meet them. Interviewing for a new position in the store I work at soon and will be attending a meeting next week for people who want to work their way up the ladder at REI.
Svantaggi
Employee discounts make even thing you want feel obtainable and I tend to spend more money than I should on the great gear I'm selling to customers. Also many may complain about having to sell memberships. I researched this before I was offered the job and figured, "Hey, if I can come to terms with having to constantly push memberships and get myself to be ok with it, then there may not be any downsides to this job." I have sucked it up and sold memberships...it isn't hard to do at all as long as the people you work with aren't cut throat about it and don't try to push memberships on every customer they see.