- TheThinkTank - lists.bikecollectives.org

Re: [TheThinkTank] Policy on Profiteering from Community Bike Shops
by troy neiman 28 Mar '13

28 Mar '13

We have had this problem over the years also. We have developed a 1 bike a year policy to try to avoid this with occasional exceptions for stolen bikes, etc. We also have a max on our work trade credit that people can earn of $160. We figure that people can get a good, quality bike for that kind of money but they cant work off the full price of really fancy bikes that we need to sell to help pay our overhead. We dont really have a limit on how much parts people can work for. We have such a high demand for our Work Trade program that we try to get everyone that needs a bike or a repair the opportunity to do so but if people seem to be abusing that then we will give others the priority for work credit over the abuser. We do also sell used parts on the super cheap. We have had minimal problems with this over the years. We have a few people that fix up bikes on the side and come to us to buy parts and bikes. The problem with this is that they often scoff at our already super low prices because they are wanting to make a profit which is not our problem. I will often times give people working on their bikes a much better deal than these guys that are repairing for profit but if they are willing to pay for the parts then we dont really care what they do with it. The other problem is these garage repair guys will come in and try to buy all of our best parts for rock bottom prices. For example, our kickstands are $1 but this guy would come in and buy all 10 of our long aluminum kickstands and then we have only crappy steel and too short kickstands for people that live on their bikes with all their gear and need a good kickstand. So now its sort of a one kickstand, 2 tires, etc at a time and nicer parts and better condition cost more (steel kickstands+$1, Alum=$3). Seems to work pretty well because its still a great deal for people that need to fix their bikes and we get a little more cash flow from these guys even if we have to listen to them whine about the prices. Then there is the ebay crowd which probably made a lot of money off of us for years but now we either sell it in the shop for a still cheap but more fair market value price or we will sell some vintage campy whatever on ebay ourselves and have more cash flow for our programs. ----- Original Message ----- From: Edward Kirkwood Sent: 03/25/13 07:51 AM To: thethinktank(a)lists.bikecollectives.org Subject: [TheThinkTank] Policy on Profiteering from Community Bike Shops I am curious if any of you have had problems with folks using community bike shops to run their own repair business? We currently have some folks who are abusing the privilege of purchasing parts with sweat equity volunteer time and then selling those parts to folks outside the shop. How does your shop police that? Allen Kirkwood

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Volunteer perks and parts
by troy neiman 27 Mar '13

27 Mar '13

Hey all, We are looking into providing discounts on new parts (special order opportunitys) for our long term volunteers. Does anyone else provide this? If so, how does that work for you? How do you track the hours and the volunteers that are able to have this perk? Have you had any problems or people taking advantage of this? What other kinds of perks do folks provide to volunteers? Different levels of volunteering get different perks? Thanks, Troy Neiman BICAS Tucson

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Liability Insurance up in July
by Eric Montgomery 27 Mar '13

27 Mar '13

www.brockvillebikeministry.com is now in our second year. We supply youth ten to twenty years of age the opportunity to do a complete rebuild of the bike of their choice. We teach them weekly all summer long, feed them and supply them with lights, bell, locks, and a helmet along with their bile for free. We would like to get insurance quotes for this year. Is their group insurance available to.us.

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Looking for some volunteer testers
by Godwin ! 26 Mar '13

26 Mar '13

Hey folks, we've been hard at work over the past few weeks putting together a new website for Bike!Bike! and we are looking for people to try their best at breaking it (or just come up with ways to improve it). The site isn't just going to be for this year's conference but is an organization registry and will help organizer and retain information from all Bike!Bike!s, annual and region, past and future. We're looking for a mixture of people who have experience testing and don't, and also have experience running a Bike!Bike! conference and don't. We really just need people to create fake users, organizations, and conferences, register for conferences, administer them, ect. We need people to find bugs, but also look for ways to improve the site in any way. If you're interested, please keep the weight off this list and contact me directly, I'll give you all details you need. Thanks!!.godwin

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Volunteer Coordinator Position
by Tim Buckingham 26 Mar '13

26 Mar '13

As you can see, Broke Spoke is growing like a weed, we have been hitting this list hard the last few days. We are an all volunteer run organization and have the opportunity to create a short-term funded position. We have kicked it around a lot and are looking at a Volunteer Coordinator who will do a lot of behind the scenes work. Including: - Volunteer Recruitment - Volunteer Communications - Volunteer Trainings - Scheduling - etc Shop that have a position such as this or outreach coordinator shop manager, can you send me job descriptions? Cheers Tim

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Policy on Profiteering from Community Bike Shops
by Edward Kirkwood 25 Mar '13

25 Mar '13

I am curious if any of you have had problems with folks using community bike shops to run their own repair business? We currently have some folks who are abusing the privilege of purchasing parts with sweat equity volunteer time and then selling those parts to folks outside the shop. How does your shop police that? Allen Kirkwood

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Volunteer Background Checks
by Tim Buckingham 25 Mar '13

25 Mar '13

At Broke Spoke (Lexington) we are working to improve our volunteer process and how we create shift managers and dull out keys. What type of checks (if any) do other shops use prior to handing out shop keys to volunteers? Any background, employment history, references, etc? Some of these might be barriers as we work with a lot of folks who are in recovery centers, shelters, etc. Any help is greatly appreciated. Cheers Tim

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Sackville Bike Co-Op
by Michael Watkins 25 Mar '13

25 Mar '13

Hello Everyone I'm Michael Watkins one of the co-founders and coordinators of the Sackville Bike Co-op. After discussing some stuff with Amanda Hachey of La Bikery in Moncton, I was hoping to give everyone our Co-op's elevator speech while asking for some help. The Sackville Bike Co-op is a small not for profit startup run out of the Mount Allison University Students' Union looking to open our doors to the public this spring. Through the Co-op we will be providing students and members of the Sackville community with access to low cost rental bikes throughout the season, and in future we hope to start providing community workshops on bike repair, safety, and general maintenance. Through this co-op we hope to lessen our communities dependance on fossil fuels while simultaneously providing access to safe and healthy transportation for everyone, including those without alternate means. However, my current question/request is for advice on procuring a legally vetted waiver form to place the safety of our members into their own hands while they use our bicycles. If anyone on the mailing list can provide me with some advice, or better yet an already vetted form that would be so greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for any help, and with any luck the Sackville Bike Co-op will be up and running before we know it. Thanks again -Michael --- Michael Watkins Mount Allison University '13 BA Double Major in History and Biology Sackville Bike Co-Op Coordinator Mount Allison Students' Administrative Council email: mewatkins(a)mta.ca Facebook: Sackville Bike Co-Op

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Wait list managment
by Patrick VDT 25 Mar '13

25 Mar '13

Hello everyone, Im curious to find out how people are managing wait lists for programs. More specifically, are you picking students for your programs or is it first come first served on a sign up list. If you are picking students, what criteria are you using? We are starting to get more attention than we want to handle at this point. So we have programing slots for 350 students but we have 5-600 students sign up for the wait list. Up until this point we have always done first come first served. But we are trying to avoid telling a kid : Thanks for signing up, we will see you in 8 months when we have an opening. Thanks Patrick

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Revolve Community Bike Shops seek Shop Manager
by Elizabeth Bejan 21 Mar '13

21 Mar '13

Sorry about the duplication...Job description is attached The Shop Manager will coordinate operations of the Revolve Community Bike Shops, located at 5100 Troost in Kansas City, MO and 554 Central Avenue; Kansas City, KS. The Shop Manager will primarily work out of the Kansas City, KS location. The Shop Manager will offer guidance and technical support in all areas of shop operations, including but not limited to: refurbishing bicycles for sale; tearing down bicycles for parts; maintaining inventory, equipment, and supplies; organizing volunteers; and administering business aspects of the shop. The Shop Manager will report directly to the Executive Director and help supervise the Part-Time Mechanic working at the 5100 Troost location. Revolve, Inc. (www.revolvekc.org) is a 501(c)3 organization that offers bicycle safety education and several Earn-A-Bike programs; in addition, Revolve sells donated, refurbished bicycles to support its mission of redistributing refurbished bicycles to those who cannot afford a bicycle. See photos and newsclips of what we do at: www.facebook.com/RevolveKC.org. Read a recent *Kansas City Star Magazine *cover story on us here: http://revolvekc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/KC-Star-Mag-Article.pdf *Minimum Qualifications:* [image: *] Experience working on a wide range of bikes; familiarity with bikes and components from the1960s through the 1990s a must [image: *] Minimum of one year bike shop mechanic experience [image: *] Passion for bikes and bicycling as transportation *Desired Qualifications:* [image: *] Excellent shop organization skills [image: *] Strong written and verbal communication skills [image: *] Ability to work collaboratively with community members and community partners [image: *] Demonstrated ability to work with diverse people while observing sensitivities and differences [image: *] Ability to foster an environment of empowerment and cooperation [image: *] Experience organizing volunteers and staff [image: *] Familiarity with relevant safety and health issues [image: *] Experience in sustainable business practices [image: *] Familiarity with Microsoft Office, Google Docs office suite, and social media [image: *] *Ability to speak Spanish a huge plus* *Job Tasks:* [image: *] Build bicycles for sale from donated supplies of bikes and bike parts [image: *] Oversee shop operations, repair bikes, and conduct sales [image: *] Oversee volunteers [image: *] Maintain an organized and safe workspace [image: *] Manage the inventory of new and used equipment [image: *] Answer questions and provide information to the public about programs and services [image: *] Coordinate closely with staff and attend relevant meetings [image: *] Submit regularly scheduled report of activities and shop operations [image: *] Maintain updated records and files of bikes and inventory *Salary:* [image: *] Commensurate with experience. Manager will work a set schedule of 40 hours/week (generally Tuesday through Saturday), with occasional over-time. We are ready to pay to offer competitive pay to a bike mechanic who speaks Spanish. *Benefits: * [image: *] Discount on purchases of new bike-related items from bike store partner and discounts on used parts from Revolve [image: *] 13 Days of Paid Time Off per year for use as vacation, sick, and holiday pay (hours are proportional for first year) [image: *] F lexible Winter Schedule We'll put mechanically-inclined significant others to work as our PT Bike Mechanic. -- reuse, reduce, recycle, Revolve! Elizabeth Bejan, MSW Executive Director, Revolve 816-835-3310 (cell) www.facebook.com/RevolveKC.org www.revolvekc.org Revolve acts on the belief that the bicycle is the simple solution for healthy lifestyles, and affordable, earth-friendly transportation. We get Kansas City cycling!

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