I guess something to add to Judith's idea would be to somehow designate more strictly duties for volunteers. You might be able to have similar productivity in mixed shifts just by saying "this [person currently performing this] role is exclusively to build up bikes for sale. They aren't available for public assistance.".
Though, based on past [torturous/loathsome] experience in retail, I can also guess that there would still be some tantrums from visitors who could see a potentially helpful person, and be angry about being forbidden to request help from them, or that there would be people who would take up a lot of space and time trying to socially engineer the volunteer away from their task. So maybe it *is* necessary to keep the workers that need to focus away from probable distractions.
cyclista Nicholas
On 2023-03-08 08:20, cyclista--- via Thethinktank wrote:
Not every person has the same resources; some people have more time than money, some people have more money than time. This is an inequity you have no responsibility for creating, but the fact that you have different options to accommodate both situations actually creates equity.
Put another way, sure, the night in question creates inequity, and all the other, different nights do as well. The point would be that these inequities balance one another out.
I suppose that you could combine both use cases during all shifts, with the different users being officially present under separate auspices, but in order to avoid misunderstanding you'd need to create messaging to the effect that those auspices would be completely clear for all present. I like Judith's idea about designated stands for this concept, that might help with clarity.
"Oh, yeah, that over there is the volunteer area."
In any case, I also second Alexander that for community shops it's really useful, sometimes critical, to have a time and space where maintaining the shop and developing products for sale can be accomplished without distractions for a large enough block of time to be effective.
Side note: It sounds like you have a distinction that's a little confusing here regarding the difference between "volunteering" and "public work/trade". It sounds like those categories both expend time (rather than money) to benefit the shop. If so, you're already doing money>time and time<money in the same shift (unless volunteers aren't allowed except during volunteer night), and perhaps just need to organize it a little better.
cyclista Nicholas
There's a lot of people out there in both situations, and society generally caters more to the "more money than time" crowd. It's actually great to foster options for people to use the currency of time.
On 2023-03-07 23:16, Gabriel Trainer via Thethinktank wrote:
Long time listener, first time caller coming from Bike Farm (all volunteer run collective) here in Portland, OR. We currently have a weekly volunteer only night to build bikes at the shop to sell to the public and recently it has come to my attention that this night can be seen as inequitable and exclusive. This night excludes those who cannot afford to volunteer their time as every other shift we have is open to the public to utilize our space and help for $5/hr, work/trade, or for free if the individual truly needs it. Does anyone else have a volunteer/staff only night? I am having a tough time justifying for myself the existence of this volunteer only night. Looking for thoughts from you all.
Kind regards, Gabriel
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