I'll apologize up front for the large amount of exposition to come. If you'd prefer to thin-slice, my question is this: What conflicts have other collectives encountered with "shade tree" mechanics and other unofficial LBS's, and what are reasonable steps to take to avoid unnecessary competition with them?
Hi, this is Joel Gillespie from The Bike Project of Urbana-Champaign (http://www.thebikeproject.org) in Illinois. We've recently entered into a Facility Use Agreement with the University of Illinois to collaborate with the U of I to open an on-campus location for our cooperative, to be known as the Campus Bike Project (clever, right?).
A student group funded by an optional student sustainability fee gave us a grant to convert an old garage into a shop, and the university is allowing us to use the space rent- and utility-free (at least for the first year), and they're paying a 20-hour-per-week employee (me) out of the facilities budget.
In return, we're doing basically the same things we already do at our original location -- assist with member repairs and build-a-bikes, refurbish and sell or donate used bikes, and sell a few very low-end, consumable or safety parts like tires, tubes, helmets, locks and lights. Our collective has an ongoing relationship with the U of I parking department where they give us the abandoned bikes from the previous school year (this was something that they approached us about, not something we sought).
This new location has been the last straw for one of our erstwhile volunteer staffers, who operates a used-bike sales, frame painting, and bike repair business out of his house. He's made some noise on the local bike listservs and has been accusing us of some pretty nasty things like misusing our nonprofit status and has threatening an FBI investigation, etc., but I guess that's not really the point of my question. His view is that we're unfairly competing with him because we accept grants and get benefits from working with the university.
The most reasonable part of his argument is that we're unfairly competing with his business since we sell repaired bikes to non-members, and we also don't have the best membership tracking system, which has probably led to non-members taking advantage of multiple unpaid visits for repair help. We have a "first visit free" policy for use of the shop and tools, after which you have to buy a membership to use the space -- $25 per yr for students, $40 per yr for non-students. Those points have some merit, and we're taking steps to make things more member-centric. We're also going to have very visible maps and handouts showing locations and contact info of LBS's.
So, I guess what I'm asking, is that enough? Does what we're doing sound unreasonable? We don't want to bend over backwards to please someone just because they're complaining, but at the same time, we want to be a good neighbor to folks trying to make a decent living. Thanks in advance for your time and insights.
Joel Gillespie
The Bike Project of Urbana-Champaign
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