wow.  interesting.

our scrapper George (a local scrapper who brings us random stuff and takes our scrap steel on a weekly basis - no cash exchanged) gets bikes from wal-mart from the scrap yard.  he reported with confidence that they come to the scrapyard from Wal-mart by the trailer truck load !!!

the bike he had salvaged was in perfect condition minus being poorly assembled.  the gyro brake was seized (pretty common, as you all know).

he suggested talking to someone there, and i nodded, but placed it pretty far down on my mental to do list.

we are swamped with bikes... but dont turn anything away.  wal-mart sending a check with the bikes! whoa.

a




On Fri, Jan 25, 2013 at 6:45 PM, Doug Franz <doug@coatesvillebikeworks.org> wrote:

The strangest thing happened last night.  I was at an open house for another charity here in Coatesville, talking up our charity because it’s my job, and I was introduced to the District Manager of Wal*Mart. 

 

I’m not a Wal*Mart fan.  I understand they fill a need in society, and obviously lots of people don’t subscribe to my point of view or else they wouldn’t be as successful as they are.  But for me, I would rather give up other luxuries to afford the more expensive products at my neighborhood store than buy them from the Wal*Mart in town.  I actually feel some joy when one of our kids asks me what his Wal*Mart bike is worth, and I answer “10 cents a pound!”

 

Anyhow, this woman explained to me that Wal*Mart doesn’t have a system for handling the bicycles that get returned to them or that arrive with defects from the manufacturer.  She asked me if they could be sent to us as a donation.  I explained to her that we accept bicycle donations, but typically the Wal*Mart bikes get stripped for parts and recycled.  She asked if they could send them to us anyhow.  I pointed out that we incur some costs in the processing of this material, and if we decide to fix some of them up there is the costs of the parts.  She asked if they could send a check along with the bikes. 

 

So, we made a deal.  Wal*Mart stores in her district will send us bikes they can’t use, along with $20 per bicycle.  We have 35 bikes arriving next week.

 

This will be interesting. . . .

 

Doug Franz, President

 

BikeWorks_3_wText

 

coatesvillebikeworks.org

like us on facebook!  http://www.facebook.com/CoatesvilleBikeWorks

 

doug@coatesvillebikeworks.org

610-383-4349

 

I respect your right to manage the amount of email you receive.  If you want to be removed from this email list, please reply to ONLY ME, with "unsubscribe" in the subject line. 

 


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andrew lynn 518-573-7947