Hi Tegan, All-
The Salt Lake Bicycle Collective has, for years, employed mechanic staff (in addition to program staff, some of which is contracted, others employees). Last I checked, the pay scale is pretty flat with most mechanics earning about $15/hr. With a vibrant bike community in Utah and 4 locations, the Bicycle Collective has acted as a training grounds for future commercial bike shop employment, with several former employees in key/leading roles at local for-profit bike retailers, where wages are in the $18-24/hr for skilled mechanics. Donna McAleer is the executive director and somewhat new to the job, I don't think she's on this list.
In my experience, many community bike shops in larger, bike popular towns operate with paid staff: Portland-Community Cycling Center, City Bikes, North Portland Bike Works; Boulder-Community Cycles; Seattle- Bike Works; San Francisco- Freewheel; Boise-Boise Bicycle Project. I'm not sure if any of those orgs are on the list, but you may be able to contact them for insights. Bikes are getting increasingly complex and diverse so it's nice to see that someone could make a decent wage while promoting this great activity.
Kevin
On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 4:30 PM Thomas Butler thomas.unavailable@gmail.com wrote:
In 2013 we at Austin's Yellow Bike Project started a staff program, mostly because our big new-at-the-time shop seemed underutilized. It seemed fine until the last few years. The staff feels there is a lack in accountability from the board, which is a loosely organized group of volunteers. So when the staff has problems, they seem not to get solved and people quit. We're down to 2 employees (one of whom is part time) from a peak of 7 a year ago. Almost all staff were board members before their hire date, so the arrangement has had the added detriment of gutting the board of (often its most) capable members.
To answer your questions: We pay them hourly, and all the same hourly (which was their choice). But that may be about to change as there's talk of re-organizing from a collective to a manager-and-staff. They set the bike prices.
Thomas Butler he | they Austin's Yellow Bike Project austinyellowbike.org
On Thu, Nov 26, 2020 at 5:39 PM Tegan Moss [B!KE] < director@communitybikeshop.org> wrote:
Hi Folks,
B!KE does not currently pay anyone to fix bikes. We do not have any staff members who do repairs for clients or refurbish bicycles to sell. Our hundreds of refurb that get completed each year are currently done by volunteers.
We have occasionally talked about how to compensate volunteers who are particularly prolific bike builders. What do other shops do? Do you pay people to refurbish bikes? Is it per bike or per hour? Are all bikes worth the same amount? Are all bike builders compensated equally?
If you have a system that is working well for your shop I would be very interested in talking to you about what you do. Please send me an email if this is something you'd be open to talking about.
Thanks, Tegan
-- Executive Director B!KE: The Peterborough Community Bike Shop 293 George St, Peterborough ON (705) 775-7227 communitybikeshop.org she/her
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