I guess im looking to see if anyone has made the switch from selling  to not selling. What happened what do i need to look out for?

We could be putting a thousand bikes on the street into the hands of those that need them, but sadly we just sell them off to rot and rust on campus.




From: mattface@gmail.com
To: thethinktank@bikecollectives.org
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2009 00:13:56 -0500
Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Bike sales out of control.

well that IS an interesting problem. if you really WERE a regular bike shop I'd say raise your prices. Since you're not I say you need to prioritize. Maybe the first priority might be programs to train more people to fix bikes. maybe you'll get more volunteers, maybe if you have to turn people away for lack of bikes ready for sale you can point them towards a build a bike program where they build one for sale, and one for themselves.


On Jan 19, 2009, at 12:08 AM, Patrick VDT wrote:


So we have an interesting problem. 
We have become so engrossed with raising money that 95% of our time is spent selling off what was donated to us. 
We are seriously putting in 100 hours a week building and selling but only 2-4 hours on programs. 

Im so fed up with it im going to start giving away all the bikes that would have been sold to other charities in town. 

Money is not an issue for a at least two years. . . . 

Ideas 

Please help, we are turning into a real shop that sells only to college students with $100 shoes. 





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