Hi Everyone,
The Bike Church does sells bikes that are surplus to the needs of our
youth program, which raises money for the agency as a whole. We have
had this situation where people have been using the place as a workshop
for their own entrepreneurship projects. On the whole Bike Church
members have found this abhorrent and greatly discouraged it. On the
other hand, not many people seem to have much of a problem with selling
their own bikes in our space! I think it might be that what looks
valuable to most of our volunteers is the time workshop space rather
than the "customer base." There are gradations of what could happen.
For instance, is it OK for someone to sell a bike on Craig's list and
then have the person pick it up from a volunteer or patron at Bike
Church? Personally I'm fine with a consignment deal as long as it's
worked out in advance because it has the potential to bring more people
in here.
Regards,
Andy
Paul Park wrote:
Hi all,
At the Mount Rainier Bike Coop in Mount Rainier, Maryland, a suburb of
Washington, DC, we are working how to sell our bikes that we
refurbish. We really don't have any fixed or regular costs; the city
gives us the space (a garage), so we just use our money on spare parts
and tools. We have an earn-a-bike program so youth can build up bikes
for us, learning mechanic skills, and then after fifteen hours of
voluteering, the youths can build a bike for themselves. Volunteers
who have already put in 15 hours of work can basically just keep
refurbishing bikes. No one gets paid anything at this point.
Generally, at this point, we just sell our refurbished bikes in one way
or another. Do other shops do this? Also, presumably, volunteers
could, after working fifteen hours, refurbish bikes for themselves, and
then sell them on craigslist or something. Do other coops have a
policy with regards to refurbishing bikes for yourself, one after the
other, and then selling them for your own profit? Or perhaps a system
where you refurbish a bike and then you have to give a certain
percentage of the sale to the coop?
--
PJ Park
http://www.biketobrazil.blogspot.com
http://www.imagestation.com/members/pjpark
http://picasaweb.google.com/PaulJosephPark
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--
Andrew C. Dyson
Executive Director
Neighborhood Bike Works
Increasing opportunities for youth through bicycling
Check our Web Site:
http://www.neighborhoodbikeworks.org
Neighborhood Bike Works
3916 Locust Walk,
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Office: (215) 386-0316
Cell: (215) 873-6695
FAX: (215) 386-7288