REI membership: is it worth it?

[davester]

I'm a longtime outdoorsy guy (I'm a geologist, you've kind of got to be outdoorsy in my profession) so I've belonged to REI since the 70s. Needless to say, the membership has paid for itself many times over. Also, they have sales a couple of times a year where you can buy anything they sell for 20% off. I've gotten some big ticket items for great deals that way. Of course, if you don't buy camping gear or sporting goods/clothing much then it won't be useful to you.