Pros
great coworkers and work atmosphere. You get great deals on everything, which you get access to right after training. higher than normal percentage of nice customers.
Cons
hours fluctuate with no consideration of the impacts. Retail hours fluctuate ~36 to 5 (or even 0) and that can span months. Hiring follows demand, rather than anticipating it, leading to improper staffing. Employees must sell memberships, and hours are typically based on membership sales. Sadly, this means that people are rewarded for focusing on people who are singing up for a membership and ignoring the other customers. You get REI's health benefits only if you are full time (32hr+), otherwise you are on government healthcare. Previously they gave benefits to everyone (with different levels based on hours worked). The rest of the benefits you won't get until you work 1500 hours, which takes a long time when you average 15 hours. Although they do try to hire from within, if you are looking for a corporate level job, most of those go to people outside of the company. Overall, i still think that it is a great place that tries hard to do the right thing.