Re: [TheThinkTank] Policy on Profiteering from Community Bike Shops
This is the proposed policy we are now considering in Corvallis, Oregon.
Pricing/Sorting Policy Only Shop Managers may set prices on bicycles and bicycles parts and decide whether bicycles should be stripped, recycled, or repaired. Discrepancies between Shop Managers' pricing and pricing techniques are expected. Shop Managers must use their best judgment, be impartial, and avoid making decisions where they may have a conflict of interest. We believe that bicycles are valuable and prices should be set which respect that value. We do not want collectors scooping up deals to quickly flip and resell. We are not a thrift store and we are not out to undercut the prices and profitability of the bike shops. They are among our best allies. We want people to come out and use our shop to build the bike they'll want to ride every day. We want to empower people to apply whatever they have toward obtaining a bicycle that fits well and works reliably. General Rules/Practices for determining prices:
* Parts Pricing Chart
* Range on used items; shop managers may use their discretion to go outside range
* Fixed prices on resale of new items which shop managers may not deviate from
* Free parts if the bike was bought from us and works on it in the shop
* Limited to individual usedparts worth less than $20
* Excludes “as is” bikes
* High-quality parts
* Special, particularly high-quality or rare parts should be individually tagged with a price.
* We don’t hide parts from the public, but special parts may be designated for a specific bicycle when appropriate.
* Adjusting Prices
* Any Shop Manager can raise or lower the price of any bike or part below $200.
* The price on any bike or part above $200 prices can only be lowered by consensus of two shop managers
* Shop managers may not purposefully over-value a bicycle to save it or because they are attached.
INCENTIVE POLICY In order to promote its mission of increasing bicycle ridership in the Corvallis area and to encourage and reward its volunteers for their efforts, the Corvallis Bicycle Collective offers the following program for its volunteers:
Any volunteer who has finished building, repairing, or overhauling two working bicycles for the Collective may take and keep the bicycle of lessor value or a different bicycle of equal value.
The Collective, may permit a volunteer to offer the equivalent effort of shop volunteer duties in lieu of rebuilding one or both bicycles.
No volunteer may take more than one bike per year under this program, nor any bike valued in excess of $300. The Collective, may offer free, used replacement parts to continuing volunteers as may be required for the operation of a bicycle owned by the volunteer.
Anybody who buys a bike or receives an incentive bike, other than one marked “as is” from the CBC may add or replace any parts or accessories worth less than $20 each to that bike in our shop at no additional cost. This is to give incentive for people to do the work in our shop. As a learning shop, we all benefit from others working there. If you know what you're doing, we want to watch. If you don't, we want to hear your questions.
participants (1)
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Vernon Huffman