:lol:
Does he test life preservers that thoroughly too?

Forgot I had a dividend so I used it along with the 20% to pick up a pair of Time pedals for my new Niner!

The returned item sales happen once every month in Bay Area stores. Search for your local store on their web site and look for the sale in their events calendar.

Thanks. I think that the morning hours on Saturday is the sales? I read about it but never gave an effort to attend one. I'm out riding usually by mid morning, but I think I should check it out sometime.

I need to visit the SF store. So far I did Berkeley, Fremont, and Redwood.

Bingo! This was the main reason I went ahead and joined.

My dividend helped get me a new pair of baggy cycling shorts ;-)

My dividend got me a pair of carbon bottle cages ( I bent my two metal ones by hooking my pant cuffs into them ), two pairs of SmartWool cycling socks, and a pair of lightweight hiking shoes. :D

My girlfriend found an Arc'teryx Beta AR jacket for $120 in the returns section, but took too long to make her mind up, and someone else got it. :(

rei has the best beef jerky..

I had never been to one of these sales either until this past weekend myself. I'm pretty sure the sale is a two day event but the web site says one needs tickets to get in. I went to the Berkeley store around 3pm this past Saturday and found that was not the case. It might be only the early morning around when the store opens. I picked up a pair of Marmot Goretex snow sport gloves for 60% off.

My guess is that getting to the store early gets one access to the better stuff.

I think I just miss ya at the store. I was at the Berkeley store last Saturday till 2pm at the bike section. I was the one buying the Fiona comfort bike.

I've been wanting to get some waterproof Panniers for several years (I'm tired of having to first wrap everything in trash bags before packing), but have held off......... until now.
I turned in a 20% coupon and dividend for last year, and got some bright yellow Ortlieb Backroller Classics for the sum total of $13.

Sweet.

Yea, I've been annoyed on several occasions to see a bike listed on their website only to search out the fine print and find that they won't/can't actually sell them to me. IMO, they shouldn't have such things listed on their site - or should have a smart enough website to show product based on your location. It would be a fairly easy thing to do.

If you're going, be in line well before the sale starts. I don't like crowds, standing in line, and try to avoid impulse buys, so I personally skip them here.

This sounds like some kind of non-compete agreement between REI and the manufacturer to protect the LBS in the area. REI can be a huge player, attract more traffic than LBS, and eat into the sales of the local bike shops carrying Cannondale, Marin, Scott, etc. This is also likely the reason they don't allow the use of coupons for bikes other than Novara.

One of the bike shop people in the Berkeley REI told me that while they have a few Marins, they generally don't carry many of them because there is another (I am assuming independent) bike shop nearby that carries Marin.

I bought a shiny new SRAM 10 speed cassette at the last minute. I was going to pass, but I needed the cassette anyway. I got it for less than $20 with coupon and dividend.

Ordered a Novara Safari using the 20% and my dividend. I was reluctant to buy a bike without test riding for fit, but since so few LBS' around me carry touring bikes of any kind, I figured REI is the way to go. If I don't like it, back it goes! Plus, with the discount and dividend, it's about half the out-of-pocket that a Surly would have cost, with reasonably similar specs. Pretty happy with it so far, but I don't have any real miles on it yet.

I got my Feedback sports Velo Cache 2 stand for $1 because of the 20% off coupon and my dividend. Apparently I spent a lot of money there this past year.

I didn't spend enough money there last year. All I got for my 20% off + divivend was a pair of fenders, a tube and a patch kit. I'll have to spend more this year. :D

rei is awesome i got $57 back from my novara!