Poll- REI Join Date/Member Number

[haha]

REI assigns member numbers consecutively, they are serial numbers. Yesterday I was checking out at Seattle Main Store and the guy said, that is a low number, do you know when you signed up? I said can't remember, so he looked it up. June, 1967. My number is mid 5 digits. As I remember the store had already moved from Downtown up to Capitol Hill, in a building at 11th and Pine that is now home to a Bianchi bicycle dealer. There was only one store, and they sold a lot of army surplus and cheap but good stuff that kept you "warm even when wet", which was a common condition-wet was anyway. It was known as The Coop, and Coops of various kinds have a long history in Seattle. They had then as they do now a policy of "if it fails, bring it back". Now there are many stores, and I called and was told that new members are assigned numbers >7 million. I read in a Seattle Times article that after the Pike Place Public Market, the new downtown REI store is the #2 Seattle tourist attraction.

Anyway, how low is your number, or if you remember, when did you join?

 

[REWahoo]

I had to Google "REI" to figure out what it was...

 

[haha]

I had to Google "REI" to figure out what it was...

Ha- I guess you are not one of the 7 million+ members! My provincialism showing.

 

[Lakedog]

My number is low seven digits - I believe I joined in 1993 when I was living in Oregon.

 

[W2R]

What is REI? Never heard of it.

And I thought I was so cosmopolitan, since I have heard of TJ's and Costco even though we don't have those stores here.

Edited to add: AH - - I Googled it, and now I understand. They apparently sell hiking clothing. Here, that involves webbed feet and a pirogue.

 

[ls99]

On one of my trips through Seattle, I joined mid seventies. Six digit number, 48xxxx. A few years ago stopped in the Towson MD store to get stuff. The clerk choked, said he has never seen a number that low.

Then REI issued a new card with stylish green colors with the numbers 0048xxxx and REI Inc. The old one is light tan with brown lettering saying REI co-op. The new one omits co-op. I gues they are no longer a co-op, seeing the Inc.

 

[Tesaje]

Low 200ks here. I joined in 1971 when a junior in high school.

 

[Moemg]

I knew what REI is but I have never been in one . It's funny how every region has it's own speciality stores . We have Beall's which sells summer clothes year round for what they call the Florida life style.

 

[youbet]

I joined fairly recently, I think it was 2 - 3 yrs ago. I purchased my Ocean Kayak brand kayak there and the member's discount immediately covered the cost of membership. My number is 8,847,XXX, far beyond the 5 mil max in the survey.

Some of our camping/kayaking/fishing friends are very loyal to REI due to the co-op business structure. It fits well with their anti-business, anti-establishment, anti-X thinking. We like the local store staff, the fact we can order from the catalog and they'll ship to the local store free and the excellent selection of outdoorsy stuff. I usually check with them for prices before buying from the big box outdoor stores like Bass Pro, Cabela's, etc., and go with REI if the prices (including member annual rebate) are similar.

 

[bssc]

2000xxx. Missed the 2 millionth member by less than a thousand. They gave away a nice prize for it. That was in 1987 or so

 

[travelover]

I didn't join until they opened a store in my city. I have an REI rewards credit card, too - I've got Gortex everything except a bathing suit.


I love their garage sale when they sell all the stuff that has been returned for their lifetime guarantee. Some of that stuff is just plain worn out.

 

[Westernskies]

High 6 digits. Joined over 30 years ago when I lived in Spokane.

 

[haha]

It's funny how every region has it's own speciality stores . We have Beall's which sells summer clothes year round for what they call the Florida life style.

I've never heard of Beall's, but I get the regional outdoor gear store idea.

When I still lived in New England I made a trip up to the old L.L. Bean store in Freeport Maine. That was funky and fun. I think I bought some shoe pacs to help me deal with the wet snow.

Does anyone remember Herter's from Minnesota? Great stuff, cheap and a good catalog. I bought George Leonard Herter's Bull Cook Book. It was as useful as it was funny. I bought a rain suit and some old fashioned wooden snowshoes from them. I think they are kaput now.

Ha

 

[RockyMtn]

I'm in the 2,700,000 range. Joined too many years ago when growing up in Portland.

 

[powerplay]

I'm in the 7 digit club with 2,05x,xxx and probably joined in the late 1980's.

 

[Ronstar]

I'm around 6,227,000. I can't remember when I joined, but I have to get back there for some stuff

 

[halcyon7886]

I am in the 3,6xx,xxx range. Don't know when I got it, probably in the early 1990's when they opened a store in the Chicago suburbs. Later I moved to the Seattle area and about 7 years ago when I was changing jobs I decided to target local companies with top reputations for treating their employee's well. The local list of "Best Places to Work" at the time included Starbucks, Nordstrom's, Washington Mutual, Western Wireless, and REI. I got an interview with REI and got past the first two rounds, but I got an offer from another company that I took. The headquarters is in Kent WA. The people I talked with at REI were very positive about the company (almost cult like, but in a nice way) and I remember there were setups to hang your bike from the rafters if you rode it to work.

 

[Free To Canoe]

6 digits. Below 250,000.
I think I joined in the 1980s. In MN I think. They carry pretty good outdoors stuff.

Used to be pretty regional. Now they are most everywhere. They even have a store in backward Pittsburgh near where I grew up.

Free to canoe

 

[IBWino]

I'm in the 3,8xx,xxx range. I think I joined some time in the early to mid 90's.

 

[Htown Harry]

Last summer, after some motivational speeches from my REI-enthusiast, 21-year-old daughter, I contacted REI to see if they could find my old number. I had joined back in the mid-70's as a boy scout buying camping gear via catalog, using my paper route proceeds.

It took several rounds of e-mails and some memory-searching for my name variations, old addresses and phone numbers, but I was thrilled when this arrived:

Hello Htown,
Thank you for your response to our inquiries regarding your REI membership number.

I was able to go into our microfiche and find your original REI membership with your ____ address. Your membership number is 376xxx. You will receive a new membership card within the next three weeks at the address you provided.

We look forward to continuing to serve your outdoor needs.
[FONT=&quot]C. S.[/FONT]
REI Membership Services
​

 

[DangerMouse]

In the 7 million range here. DH joined up after visiting the mothership store in Seattle. 10 years later he is still talking about the place.

BTW have the dividends for last year come out yet? Reason I ask is we have received nothing so far and I thought they were normally out by the end of Feb.

 

[Bestwifeever]

I forgot I had an REI "membership." I just looked it up--number is 6,080,xxxx, I think from 2001. Probably the last time I used it (store is hard to get to); but there is a $2.00 dividend in my account! Yay! Now if only they sold Thin Mint GS Cookies....

 

[Nova]

I think I got my card in the late 80s. The number is 3,250,000+. We used to do a lot of backpacking trips. REI outfitted us all from head to toe. Still have a lot of the gear...still good. DH used to joke that his backpack contained 80 pounds of the lightest weight high-tech gear that money could buy. Actually, he wasn't exaggerating by a lot.

 

[mb]

REI one of my very favorite places. A store where I actually enjoy shopping.

I'm 1,7xx,xxx. I joined sometime in the early or mid 80s I think.

For those of you that are not familiar with REI, it started in Seattle in the 30s IRRC by a group of alpine climbers to import climbing equipment from Europe that was not available in the US. It is still a non-profit, co-operative organization owned by the members and the members get a "dividend" at the end of the year based on how much money that they spent at REI.

IMHO it is a great institution although some of the more hardcore outdoor types think that it has changed over the years. One comment I have heard is:

"REI used to be a store for people that wanted to climb Mt. Everest. Now it is a store for people that want to look like they want to climb Mt. Everest."

 

[toofrugalformycat]

I joined over 30 years ago, but my member number is in the low single millions. I may have rejoined after I took an unintentional swim and the card melted. That was before they had things computerized.