REI Gear Sale

Modeling a Nano-Puff Vest on the HMS Belfast

REI gear sale is November 11th-21st.  If you are an REI member, you'll get a coupon for 20% one regular item and one from the REI Outlet.  

If you are new to REI: they typically have three of these 20% coupon deals (one for the regular store and one for the outlet) per year.  The next one will come out in March when the dividends are issued.   Also, if you get the REI Mastercard you can get an additional 5% back on all REI purchases.

Why do I mention all of this?  I like hiking, camping, backpacking, bicycling, kayaking, traveling, going to the gym, the occasional ski trip, and good winter gear (for those couple of months it's chilly here in Austin).  If you like any of the aforementioned: REI sells good equipment for all of these activities.  Many things they sell are not cheap, but the membership + Mastercard setup means you can get up to 15% back in store credit to subsidize gear for your hobbies.  For example: with accumulated store credit from the Mastercard* defraying the retail cost, I recently picked up a Patagonia Nano-Puff vest for $17 (as opposed to paying the full $179).  

[note: the above photo is from the HMS Belfast in London.  I toured it last month and recommend a visit to anyone interested in naval history.]

*now that Capital One runs the REI Mastercard, you can use your card rewards at any time throughout the year.  When U.S. Bank ran the rewards program, you had to wait until March at which point your rewards were issued all at once in conjunction with the annual dividend.  I appreciate the anytime access Capital One provides (plus the much improved website and phone app experience), though I do miss U.S. Bank's 2% rewards from any non-REI purchase made with Apple Pay.