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This is how I’ve felt about it. I’m a member and I had no idea you can vote for board members, that never came up during the pitch to sign up. It was all about the member-only sales events and cash back rewards.

Members can vote on the board of directors.

I doubt anyone really cares, and it's not open nominations.

The difference is that the company is actually owned by the co-op members, so it’s a co-op and not a rewards program.

I don’t get any money out of it unless I buy stuff. And it’s never anywhere near how much I spent. And I’m pretty sure it’s store credit (I can’t recall for sure, been a while). So.

I thought you were wrong about cash back being not an option, but that changed this year:

https://www.rei.com/help?a=Can-I-receive-my-Total-REI-Reward...

That's pretty lame.

You'll definitely get asked about it, but there is absolutely no requirement to join to buy anything from REI.