[TheThinkTank] Random Thought: Creating a bicycle parts/tools distributor for Community Bike Shops.
Vyki Englert
vyki.englert at thekickstand.org
Thu Mar 20 15:46:20 PDT 2008
We've had pretty good luck so far contacting companies directly and asking
for discounts. Bell Helmets, Park Tools, and one other tool company have
given us a specific price list of parts/tools we can order. I recall with
one of them we had the opportunity to set up an account as a nonprofit
bicycle group. I'll look up the information and post it here when i find
it.
Vyki
On Thu, Mar 13, 2008 at 1:02 PM, Rich Points <rich at richpoints.com> wrote:
> I vote for this! Thanks for writing what I've been thinking Sasha.
>
> Rich
> Community Cycles
>
>
> dragonfly at mac.hush.com wrote:
>
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> Hello, Everyone.
>
> Stuart, I really like your idea about approaching QBP.
>
> My new seed catalogues have lovely icons telling me which
> seeds are heirloom varieties, which are organic, etc. They even
> have a pretty little snowflake to help people up in Northern
> Ontario pick seeds that can tolerate their conditions. It would be
> great if QBP's catalogue had icons for union/ fairtrade/ local/
> etc.
>
> Asking existing suppliers/distributers if they could offer
> discounts makes more sense to me than creating an inefficient
> version of their infrastructure.
>
> While there are many super well organized people who work
> or play at Community Bike Shops, the idea of a warehouse and
> distrubition network run by the likes of us seems like a bad idea.
> Have you ever been at a meeting where people spend almost an hour
> discussing the way we should spell women/wimmin/wymyn?
>
> Our shops perform magical feats of bicycle relclamation and
> we contribute to improving neighbourhoods and to helping people
> feel competant and connected. Sometimes I feel as if my local CBS
> is saving the world one spiffed up junker at a time. I love us. But
> somehow I don't see us running a continental just-in-time delivery
> system for bike parts.
>
> Working together online to craft a proposal to pitch to QBP
> and any other suppliers or distributers seems doable. So does
> creating national or international (or perhaps just several
> regional) organization(s) of community bike shops for the purposes
> of getting good deals from suppliers, etc.
>
> Does anyone feel knowlegable enough about how it could
> work to draft something to circulate? Having a nice tangible thing
> or plan to discuss at this year's bikebike would be good.
>
> Sasha
>
>
> On Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:55:25 -0400 Stuart O Anderson<soa at ri.cmu.edu> <soa at ri.cmu.edu> wrote:
>
>
> At Free Ride we have a purchasing policy that directs us to buy
> local,
> union, and sustainable products when they are available. If there
> were a distributor that could source parts the best complied with
> this
> policy I think we'd definitely be interested.
>
> Of course, this would be a huge undertaking for the person(s) that
> wanted to do it. I imagine one has to order in very large
> quantities
>
>
> >from manufacturers to be able to offer wholesale prices comparable
>
>
>
> to
> other distributors, and that the amount of cash tied up in stock
> at
> any given time is rather signficant. Having to rent or maintain a
> warehouse on top of that means that there's a minimum rate of
> consumption a distributor would need to maintain to avoid losing
> money. That rate is going to depend on the size of the niche
> market
> for community bike shops, and the assumption that other
> distributors
> wont alter their own policies to capture that market - it's not
> clear
> to me that there is enough demand, even combining all the major
> community bike shops into a single bloc, to solely support a
> single
> distribution operation. But that's just a guess and a real answer
> would require market research on the part of interested parties.
>
> It seems to me that QBP supplies most of the CBS's right now.
> Maybe
> someone should approach them about identifying and stocking
> products
> that conform to our purchasing policies (i.e. green/fair trade/us
> made/union made/etc icons in the catalog) and ask about discounts
> for
> non-profits promiting bicycle use? I'd think the best way for
> that to
> happen would be for several shops to work together to create a
> request
> that could be delivered on all our behalfs. Does this interest
> anyone
> - I'd be willing to help with such a project.
>
> Stuart
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>
> --
> Rich Points
> Community Cycles Directorhttp://CommunityCycles.orgRich@CommunityCycles.org
> 720-565-6019
>
>
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--
Vyki Englert
"sprocket" acting Director of operations
Member Board of Directors
Gainesville Community Bicycle Project, Inc "the Kickstand"
722 South Main Street Gainesville Fl 32601
www.thekickstand.org
vyki.englert at thekickstand.org
850.819.8808
'every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the
black flag, and begin slitting throats.' --h.l. mencken
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