Ron,
I think this is a great question and much of it is discussed on the
wiki, but I wanted to note that much of these decisions are going to
be based on what the mission of your particular organization is. for
example our mission's core value is education, so basically if we are
staying afloat financially and providing the facilities materials and
expertise needed to learn none of the rest matters much and falls
back to the decision of the group.
Sign in sheets and systems of various forms have been used at our shop
with varying success, I think it depends on if you use this
information in ways to help you or not .. like to gather statistics
that can be used for grant funding or gathering email information to
spread information about your organization to those that want it etc.
a check in/out can help with donation collecting but just being a a
good greeter to those entering the shop and making sure they
understand how it works when they come in seems to work for us.
as far as donations/membership/fees etc. our shop chooses to ask for
a standard donation based on time and actual parts used from the shop
($5 per hour plus parts donation) most of this is on the honor system
and we try to leave it to the patrons as much as possible to pick a
price, I will give recommended donation amounts and they can chooses
to pay what they want based on their own constrains and perception of
value.
for us we have found that allowing access to most tools without much
orientation has worked fine .. granted we probably buy more cone
wrenches than we would in the other case but it removes on barrier to
being able to educate anyone rather than requiring an orientation and
it relieves our manpower needs at the same time. we do have a number
of expensive / specialty tools that we keep more out of the way and
instruct people on how to use them when they are needed( some examples
of these are spoke tension meter, steer tube threading tool, bottom
bracket threader and facer). Most patrons will never need these tools
and when they do a short orientation to the specific tool seems to
work for us for the most part.
being that education is our main goal and not say getting as many bike
fixed as possible ... we choose to limit the amount of new supplies we
have in the shop mostly he have, cables, housing, bearings, spokes,
patches and a few other small knick knacks that might be needed to get
the bike rolled to a local bike shop should one choose to get new
parts or have someone else fix it. I find that if the bike can be
fixed without "ordering" a part at a LBS it can almost always be fixed
at our collective using only used parts and these small amount of what
we call consumables. I could see this changing if we found that we
were not making enough to stay afloat through our regular donations,
but even in our depressed economic climate we are in high demand and
make plenty to pay for our tools and rent which is our main two costs.
hope that helps,
Robbie
Davis Bike Collective
On Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 7:54 AM, Ron Kellis <ron.kellis@velocitycoop.org> wrote:
> I am very new to coops of any type so I have to apologize if these subjects
> have been discussed in depth and I don't know where to look (if I can be
> pointed in the right direction, TIA). These questions are mine, not the
> VéloCity Co-op. Some have been discussed in general and some not at all, I
> am doing a little research for my own education.
>
> Use of patron/customer sign-in sheets. Y/N comments Pro/Con. Using sheets to
> track shop use, help motivate donations for stand time vs. not putting off
> those who have limited funds.
>
> Use of membership. Y/N comments Pro/Con. $5 for membership, 1st hour (or
> "use") is free so cost neutral, write the date on a business card and leave
> it at that. Collect $5 to use the stand/tools/consumables as patron/bike
> passes the door and either gets their card or flashes it to use the coop.
> Idea is they would spend >$20 to purchase the consumables they might only
> use once a year. Plants the idea stand time and consumables cost.
>
> Use of requirement to have taken a basic class to use the stands (waved at
> the discretion of the Sr. person on site). Y/N comments Pro/Con.
>
> Non-profit competing with the local bike shop by offering paid services.
> Pro/Con We try to offer "Verbal assistance" right . . . but many struggle
> with "Righty-tighty, lefty-loosy" and are often trying to get back on the
> trail so aren't in a place where they are looking for a learning experience.
> So if they can't do the work themselves, paid services when the LBS is on
> the other side of the same building.
>
> Again, TIA to any who can take time to answer or point me to message
> archives for education.
>
> Ron
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