Any luck with bike recipient organizations covering u-lock and light expenses?
Hi all,
I and some other folks are starting a bike collective-esque organization here in Southwest Florida. We're working with existing nonprofits to distribute the bikes we collect and refurbish, and it seems that demand for our bikes will far outpace supply.
We consider it necessary to include a basic u-lock and lights on every bike we distribute, but we also wish to keep our expenses down, so we can focus more on collecting/distributing bikes and less on selling them as a fundraiser.
Even at wholesale cost through J&B (with quantity discounts), it'll cost us around $16 to equip each bike. We would like to test the waters a bit and see if any recipient organizations would be able to cover some or all of these costs. Perhaps it's a stretch, as these organizations are just as cash-strapped as we are, but have any other bike collectives had success with this?
Also, is there any cheaper place to find u-locks and lights (perhaps some supplier sells them cheaper or offers super-high-quantity discounts)?
Many thanks!
It depends on how active the crime is in your area, if it is like NYC wear the thieves are wheeling around plasma cutters than my solution is not for you. That being said you can buy chain by the foot at most hardware stores and if you buy in bulk it gets cheaper by the foot, and simple padlocks don't costs that much money 5$? I think at home depot i got chain 20 ft of chain at 1.20$ a foot and 10 padlocks for ~5$ a lock totaling around 75$ which could be ten chains and locks at 2 ft for a price of 7.50$. all prices are USD hope that could be a solution for you
On 1 September 2012 12:15, Ryan Feller - Suncoast Community Bikes < ryan@suncoastcommunitybikes.org> wrote:
Hi all,
I and some other folks are starting a bike collective-esque organization here in Southwest Florida. We're working with existing nonprofits to distribute the bikes we collect and refurbish, and it seems that demand for our bikes will far outpace supply.
We consider it necessary to include a basic u-lock and lights on every bike we distribute, but we also wish to keep our expenses down, so we can focus more on collecting/distributing bikes and less on selling them as a fundraiser.
Even at wholesale cost through J&B (with quantity discounts), it'll cost us around $16 to equip each bike. We would like to test the waters a bit and see if any recipient organizations would be able to cover some or all of these costs. Perhaps it's a stretch, as these organizations are just as cash-strapped as we are, but have any other bike collectives had success with this?
Also, is there any cheaper place to find u-locks and lights (perhaps some supplier sells them cheaper or offers super-high-quantity discounts)?
Many thanks!
-- Ryan Feller Director
5800 Bay Shore Road, Box 275 Sarasota, FL 34243 (954) 232-3790 ryan@suncoastcommunitybikes.org *www.suncoastcommunitybikes.org*
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Have you tried any type of fundraising activity? We are on the board of our local bike co-op, Lincoln Bike Kitchen, and we held a rummage sale at our house. We had lots of donations to sell from other Kitchen supporters. We made about $100 dollars (on a rainy weekend!), which we will use to purchase light sets to distribute with earned bikes. Try Amazon. We found light sets for as low as $3.50. One of our board members has free shipping with Amazon. Try your local hardware store (like a mom-and-pop franchise type place.) They may sell you large chain quantities on the cheap, and you might make better deals on locks with a local place, too. Anyway, that's what's going on here. Don't know if that will work for you in Florida, but it's an idea to kick around. Keep up the good work, lots of folks need what you (and all of us) are doing! Burklee GreenTreasurer, Lincoln Bike Kitchen Date: Sat, 1 Sep 2012 12:15:30 -0400 From: ryan@suncoastcommunitybikes.org To: Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Subject: [TheThinkTank] Any luck with bike recipient organizations covering u-lock and light expenses?
Hi all, I and some other folks are starting a bike collective-esque organization here in Southwest Florida. We're working with existing nonprofits to distribute the bikes we collect and refurbish, and it seems that demand for our bikes will far outpace supply.
We consider it necessary to include a basic u-lock and lights on every bike we distribute, but we also wish to keep our expenses down, so we can focus more on collecting/distributing bikes and less on selling them as a fundraiser.
Even at wholesale cost through J&B (with quantity discounts), it'll cost us around $16 to equip each bike. We would like to test the waters a bit and see if any recipient organizations would be able to cover some or all of these costs. Perhaps it's a stretch, as these organizations are just as cash-strapped as we are, but have any other bike collectives had success with this?
Also, is there any cheaper place to find u-locks and lights (perhaps some supplier sells them cheaper or offers super-high-quantity discounts)?
Many thanks!
Thank you all for the advice!
To keep costs down, I think we're going to provide locks (we found decent ones for $7.50 apiece) but leave it up to individual recipients to provide lights for themselves.
We're definitely interested in hosting fundraisers in the future, and yard sales and excess bike sales are definitely on the list. We also plan on applying for a few small grants once we achieve 501(c)(3) status.
If anyone has further fundraising ideas, feel free to share them!
Regards,
participants (3)
-
Dylan Thies -
greenbean246 Green -
Ryan Feller - Suncoast Community Bikes