Eric F 

Mine is 7. I think I joined in the late '80s.

indyfabz

You can get the dividend back in cash. Easiest way is to visit a store, buy something like a Cliff bar with it and ask for the balance of your dividend in cash.

For people who shop there often enough, that is actually the most "profitable" way to do it. You don't earn a dividend on stuff you purchase using your dividend directly. If you take the dividend in cash and then use that to buy stuff, you do earn a dividend on stuff you purchase with your dividend.

Mojo31

You should get more.

Mojo31

We never had a problem using REI dividends in the past. Most of the time we'd just give them to the kids since they are both outdoors types. A lot of times we use them to get birthday or Christmas gifts.

WhyFi

Wut. How dumb would that be? Isn't he on the hook for the taxes? Giving it away would cost the guy a bunch of money.

Mojo31

Yeah, tax bill could potentially be as much as several thousand dollars. But even without the tax liability, expecting someone to give something like that away just because they may not want it is just insane. That's like saying that I spent less than I earned this month so I should give the excess away.

If the guy doesn't want the bike, there is nothing unreasonable about selling it and enjoying the prize in some other way.

genejockey 

This makes my head hurt, but that could be because it's Monday and I'm still surprisingly tired from yesterday's ride.

big john

I don't want to race strangers so sometimes I will sit a few bike lengths behind them before I pass. A lot of times passing someone will trigger their race mode. I was cruising the bike path and a young couple on nice bikes entered the path ahead of me and they were riding slower than I was so I passed her and when I started to pass him he stood up and hammered the pedals to try and prevent me from passing. Why would he do that? So by the time I had disposed of him he was way ahead of his friend/wife/whatever.
If I am passed by someone and I want to see what they have, I will stay back and never try to prevent them from passing. A guy on a TT bike passed me on a straight one day and he got into his elbow steerers and all tucked in and I could tell he couldn't dial it up to 400 watts so I followed him for a couple miles. It was fun and I never got into his draft.

genejockey 

In this case it seemed more like they were doing what I do - dawdle some places, push harder in others - but their dawdling was slower than my dawdling and their pushing harder was faster than mine. e.g. there's a 0.5 mile hill of about 3.5% gradient, and they were both out of the saddle the whole way. I can't do that long out of the saddle. But on the descent following, I had to brake to stay behind the slower of the two. Then they turned onto the side road I always take, and dawdled even more than I do on that road, so my choices were to dawdle even slower than that, or pass them. So I did the latter.

I guess the good news is that I've gotten fast enough that whether to pass people I think can smoke me if they try is actually something that's possible, instead of being that guy everyone passes.

genejockey 

Well, depending on who he gives it to, and the rest of his tax picture. Like, if he itemizes and gives it to a qualified charity, he might deduct it and maybe end up owing nothing. Or I could be wrong, because I don't do our taxes and haven't for years and I'm a Molecular Biologist, not a CPA.

I dunno. On the one hand, I'd LOVE to have a superbike to ride. On the other, it's worth more than all my bikes put together, and for the price of that I could get some really nice s**t.

Velo Vol 

Why?

genejockey 

It's the American way.

indyfabz

A decent enough amount. I can easily drive to three B&M locations in my area. I like to see and try gear/clothing before I buy it. My current touring tent, sleeping pad, sleeping bag, and collapsible bowl and cup were all purchased from REI. So was one of my camp stoves. Just got some socks delivered last week. The shoes, pants and base layer I am wearing right now were bought there as was the headlight for my commuter/touring bike. It's also where I pick up MSR White Gas, which cannot be shipped. One big problem is that around these parts, there are no other outdoor gear outlets.

And as noted, I can always take my earned dividend as cash and spend it wherever.

Velo Vol 

How much is the "dividend"?

Mojo31

So you can get more stuff!





Full disclosure - I only have 2 credit cards, one personal and one business. I don't think you should take my advice to get more.

LesterOfPuppets

Sure don't see many of these beauties these days.

Mojo31

10%

REI Member Dividend: How it Works | REI Co-op

Velo Vol 

I don't recall ever buying anything at REI.

genejockey 

Plymouth/Dodge Omnirizon?

Mojo31

There was even a Shelby version that's more rare.

big john

When I started with the club in 1989 there was a guy in his late 50s and he was good at long, hard efforts. He had run marathons and was super fit but didn't look the part. He would chase someone down and before he passed them he would calm his breathing and maybe wipe the sweat from his brow and casually pull up alongside and say "How are you doing?" or something. Great guy and fun to ride with but he loved to psyche people out.

WhyFi

Yeah, I wasn't aware that you could cash out the dividend until last year or the year before, but I wasn't really shopping there that much, so just the 1% wasn't reason enough to use it and remember to pay the bill.

LesterOfPuppets

Indeed. In the desirable GLH trim

Mojo31

Someone needs to get out more.

There's one in your town: 6700 Papermill Drive, Knoxville, TN 37919

big john

We used to call them "ominous".