REI Return Policy

The company has the most liberal return policy on earth...and it is ingenious. Marketers are always searching for a way to create loyalty beyond reason for a company's consumer but the problem with this is that it lacks substance. REI has created a loyalty with a reason; they're generous return policy. I am at the state now to where if anything that I need is available for sale at REI I will buy at REI because of their return policy. The assurance that if a product doesn't meet my fullest expectations I can return it even if it is years old is worth my complete loyalty as a consumer. Granted I have stretched the limits of "satisfaction guarantee." Particularly with a rain jacket that was originated purchased for $100 in 2005. The jacket was falling apart after two years of heavy use so I took it back to REI for a full refund. I used that money to exchange for a new jacket by a different company. I did the same process one year later with a rain jacket from another company. Then just recently I exchanged that jacket for the high end event REI jacket. So I ended buying the most expensive jacket at the store but just had to go through three poor quality jackets over six years to get there. I used the $100 I spent on a jacket in 2005 towards this new $250 jacket I just bought. Oh the beauty of REI. Plus I think it will work out in the end for the company. I don't mind paying extra for a product that's sold at REI as long as it has that great return policy attached to it.