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Today's Topics:

1. using the bicycle kitchen's POS system? was :Electronic
Tracking (andrewsawtelle@riseup.net)
2. Re: Random Thought: Creating a bicycle parts/tools
distributor for Community Bike Shops. (veganboyjosh@gmail.com)
3. Re: Random Thought: Creating a bicycle parts/tools
distributor for Community Bike Shops.
(Urban Bike Project of Wilmington, Inc.)
4. Re: Random Thought: Creating a bicycle parts/tools
distributor for Community Bike Shops. (Stuart O Anderson)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:03:53 -0400 (EDT)
From: andrewsawtelle@riseup.net
Subject: [TheThinkTank] using the bicycle kitchen's POS system? was
:Electronic Tracking
To: "The Think Tank"
Cc: kitchen@bicyclekitchen.com
Message-ID: <1386.127.0.0.1.1205384633.squirrel@tern.riseup.net>
Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1

Yeah, at bikebike in Pittsburgh back in August Josh Moody from the LA Bike
Kitchen was talking about their whole POS system and how they could
probably make it available to people who want to use it. I've CCed their
main contact email so maybe they'll let us know.

Andrew
Recycle-A-Bike, Providence RI
http://www.recycleabike.org

Velocipede Bike Project wrote:
> This is convenient because we at velocipede are at the same point. I know
> that the bike kitchen said they would send out they're software at bike
> bike, but I haven't heard back from them....is anyone from the bike
> kitchen(in LA) on this list?
>
> -beth
> velocipede bike project
> Baltimore, MD
>
>> I know that this has been discussed before but I didn't see what I was
>> specifically looking for in the archives. We are growing faster than
>> our paperwork can keep up and are in need of a better system for
>> tracking both inventory/bikes-in/bikes-out/donations type stuff as
>> well as Work-Trade volunteer hours. I know that there is mention of
>> developing a "community bike software suite", does anyone know where
>> at in development that is? From what I saw in the archives, some
>> places do have databases set up for tracking this stuff, is there any
>> chance that could be shared as a template with the wider community?
>> Thanks, Andrew
>> FM Community Bicycle Workshop
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Thethinktank mailing list
>> Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org
>> http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.org
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Thethinktank mailing list
> Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org
> http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.org
>




------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2008 07:53:10 -0600
From: veganboyjosh@gmail.com
Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Random Thought: Creating a bicycle
parts/tools distributor for Community Bike Shops.
To: "The Think Tank"
Message-ID:
<53e5a1720803130653r7a38184awd6e60449603919df@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

i love the idea.

what about creating some sort of blanket national/international
organization/club/something that community bike shops could belong to, and
then creating accounts for that group, the members of which would then reap
the benefits?

i dunno how chain stores--rei, performance, etc--get their accounts set up,
but surely every brick and mortar store that is a part of a chain doesn't
have to go thru the hassle of getting an account set up?

i also love that jonathan called grease "wearable." it certainly is at
community cycles...

there was some talk of this at bikebike! in 07, perhaps we should get a
discussion group going, and have a workshop about it in 08?



On Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 9:41 PM, Vyki Englert
wrote:

> Love the idea, if there is a shop willing to set themselves up as a
> distributor, I'm sure the kickstand would be interested in being on the
> distribution list.
> We are still so very new, I doubt we could set ourselves up for that
> position. Though down the road, I'm sure we would be able to help alot
> more.
> -vyki
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 9:59 PM, 1304bikes <1304bikes@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I really like this idea as well, mainly because we here at 1304bikes
> > fall into the not established enough to get a distributor account. This
> > means we usually have to pay retail prices for anything we happen to need.
> > A lot of the local bike shops to give us a nice discount, but we still pay
> > some markup on wholesale.
> >
> > I agree with option 2, that it is worth doing. I'm just not sure how
> > one would go about doing so; but i certainly love the idea.
> >
> > -Doug
> > 1304bikes
> > Raleigh, NC
> >
> > On 3/12/08, Jonathan Morrison wrote:
> >
> > > Distributors (
> > > http://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/index.php?title=Distributors) are
> > > just the middle men separating manufacturers from retailers. Just like food
> > > cooperatives that buy in bulk and disseminate food at bulk rates, we could
> > > do that with bike parts. For those of us that buy using distributors it
> > > would save an roughly 25% off of wholesale, and for those community bike
> > > shops that aren't established enough to get a distributor account -- we
> > > would be providing an option that is 75% off of MSRP.
> > >
> > > Ideally we would get accounts with tool manufacturers like park tool,
> > > pedros, hozan, etc.,... as well as wearable items like grease, bearing,
> > > chain lube, patch manufacturers, and then lower-end (but quality) parts
> > > manufacturers for things that we don't get enough of donated, or that aren't
> > > worth re-using. This will be different for each shop, but as an example in
> > > SLC we don't re-use bearings, spokes, cables or housing -- they get recycled
> > > and we put new ones on bikes. We also buy new road tires (27" & 700c)
> > > because we don't have enough decent ones donated, either they are too worn
> > > or dried out.
> > >
> > > I can think of 2 conclusions:
> > >
> > > 1) It isn't worth doing. The 25% cut a distributor gets is worth
> > > paying given the hassle and it is just another random thought that might
> > > result in spending $5 to save $3.
> > > 2) It is worth doing.
> > >
> > > --
> > > Sincerely,
> > >
> > > Jonathan Morrison
> > > Executive Director
> > > Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective
> > > 2312 S. West Temple
> > > Salt Lake City, UT 84115
> > > w: 801-328-2453
> > > c: 801-688-0183
> > > f: 801-466-3856
> > > www.slcbikecollective.org
> > >
> > > Get Addicted to Crank!
> > > http://www.slcbikecollective.org/crank/
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Thethinktank mailing list
> > > Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org
> > >
> > > http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.org
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > 1304bikes
> > 2419 Mayview Rd.
> > Raleigh, NC
> > 1304bikes.org
> > _______________________________________________
> > Thethinktank mailing list
> > Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org
> >
> > http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.org
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> Vyki Englert
> "sprocket" acting Director of operations
> Member Board of Directors
> Gainesville Community Bicycle Project, Inc "the Kickstand"
> 722 South Main Street Gainesville Fl 32601
> www.thekickstand.org
> vyki.englert@thekickstand.org
> 850.819.8808
>
> 'every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist
> the black flag, and begin slitting throats.' --h.l. mencken
> _______________________________________________
> Thethinktank mailing list
> Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org
>
> http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.org
>
>
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Message: 3
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:38:26 -0400
From: "Urban Bike Project of Wilmington, Inc."

Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Random Thought: Creating a bicycle
parts/tools distributor for Community Bike Shops.
To: "The Think Tank"
Message-ID:

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I think it's a great thought, but i'm in agreement with the number "1"
conclusion. You would have to set up a warehouse/storage area for parts
that you receive from manufacturers. Then the problem lies in fulfilling
"orders" from CBS's. Someone has to process, ship, keep track of money,
inventory etc. To make it work out would probably require at least one full
time employee. The reason that distributors get stuff so cheap is because
(what jonathan said) they order in bulk. We'd have to have a lot of up
front money to say, purchase 200 chain breakers, 100 27'' tires or whatever
the minimum order is for *every part* to be stocked. You'd still end up
having to ship everything to a central location and ship orders to CSB's all
over the country.

Perhaps if someone were to start a "benevolent distributor" that would sell
to regular bike shops as well as giving reduced pricing and less account
restrictions to community based organizations? Shops that are
geographically close could also form a purchasing Co-op, managed by one of
the shops, to approach manufacturers with large orders.

My cents,
Brian

On Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 7:32 PM, Jonathan Morrison <
jonathan@slcbikecollective.org> wrote:

> Distributors (
> http://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/index.php?title=Distributors) are just
> the middle men separating manufacturers from retailers. Just like food
> cooperatives that buy in bulk and disseminate food at bulk rates, we could
> do that with bike parts. For those of us that buy using distributors it
> would save an roughly 25% off of wholesale, and for those community bike
> shops that aren't established enough to get a distributor account -- we
> would be providing an option that is 75% off of MSRP.
>
> Ideally we would get accounts with tool manufacturers like park tool,
> pedros, hozan, etc.,... as well as wearable items like grease, bearing,
> chain lube, patch manufacturers, and then lower-end (but quality) parts
> manufacturers for things that we don't get enough of donated, or that aren't
> worth re-using. This will be different for each shop, but as an example in
> SLC we don't re-use bearings, spokes, cables or housing -- they get recycled
> and we put new ones on bikes. We also buy new road tires (27" & 700c)
> because we don't have enough decent ones donated, either they are too worn
> or dried out.
>
> I can think of 2 conclusions:
>
> 1) It isn't worth doing. The 25% cut a distributor gets is worth paying
> given the hassle and it is just another random thought that might result in
> spending $5 to save $3.
> 2) It is worth doing.
>
> --
> Sincerely,
>
> Jonathan Morrison
> Executive Director
> Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective
> 2312 S. West Temple
> Salt Lake City, UT 84115
> w: 801-328-2453
> c: 801-688-0183
> f: 801-466-3856
> www.slcbikecollective.org
>
> Get Addicted to Crank!
> http://www.slcbikecollective.org/crank/
> _______________________________________________
> Thethinktank mailing list
> Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org
>
> http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.org
>
>


--
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington
1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building)
Wilmington, DE 19801

Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
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Message: 4
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:55:25 -0400
From: "Stuart O Anderson"
Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Random Thought: Creating a bicycle
parts/tools distributor for Community Bike Shops.
To: "The Think Tank"
Message-ID:
<7ed3bc8b0803130755g58ee3486n5560963191451b2c@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

At Free Ride we have a purchasing policy that directs us to buy local,
union, and sustainable products when they are available. If there
were a distributor that could source parts the best complied with this
policy I think we'd definitely be interested.

Of course, this would be a huge undertaking for the person(s) that
wanted to do it. I imagine one has to order in very large quantities
from manufacturers to be able to offer wholesale prices comparable to
other distributors, and that the amount of cash tied up in stock at
any given time is rather signficant. Having to rent or maintain a
warehouse on top of that means that there's a minimum rate of
consumption a distributor would need to maintain to avoid losing
money. That rate is going to depend on the size of the niche market
for community bike shops, and the assumption that other distributors
wont alter their own policies to capture that market - it's not clear
to me that there is enough demand, even combining all the major
community bike shops into a single bloc, to solely support a single
distribution operation. But that's just a guess and a real answer
would require market research on the part of interested parties.

It seems to me that QBP supplies most of the CBS's right now. Maybe
someone should approach them about identifying and stocking products
that conform to our purchasing policies (i.e. green/fair trade/us
made/union made/etc icons in the catalog) and ask about discounts for
non-profits promiting bicycle use? I'd think the best way for that to
happen would be for several shops to work together to create a request
that could be delivered on all our behalfs. Does this interest anyone
- I'd be willing to help with such a project.

Stuart


------------------------------

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End of Thethinktank Digest, Vol 19, Issue 12
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