Questionable customers
Have an uncomfortable question to ask. How does a shop deal with some of the more questionable customer? By questionable I mean the type of people that are volunteering to earn a bike for the purpose of selling it or using it to get a "fix". The reason I ask, is we had one of volunteers bikes stolen from inside the shop with people there. Didn't care if was caught, yet somehow no one saw him. Lately we have been having a lot of addicts and such coming by looking to get a bike but have little money so we offer them up a cheap Walmart type bike. It was a great way to get rid of the garbage. But now we find that we might be catering to them too much at a cost to those that want to use the shop for what it was intended to be, a place to teach bike mechanics. Any thoughts? Thanks
Mark Friis
Executive Director, Inland Empire Biking Alliance
PO Box 9266
Redlands, CA 92375
909-800-4322
*mfriis@iebikingalliance.org*https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/mfriis@iebikingalliance.org **
WWW.IEBIKE.ORG https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/WWW.IEBIKE.ORG
Ron King here in Little Rock, AR. We have an earn a bike program and limit it to one bike only. If it is stolen or lost bring us the police report and you can work for another one. As for what they do with it once they have earned if , we can't control that, it's their bike. Once we made that decision our life became a lot easier. Hope this helps
Sent from my iPhone
On Oct 14, 2013, at 9:38 AM, Mark Friis iebafriis@gmail.com wrote:
Have an uncomfortable question to ask. How does a shop deal with some of the more questionable customer? By questionable I mean the type of people that are volunteering to earn a bike for the purpose of selling it or using it to get a "fix".
The reason I ask, is we had one of volunteers bikes stolen from inside the shop with people there. Didn't care if was caught, yet somehow no one saw him. Lately we have been having a lot of addicts and such coming by looking to get a bike but have little money so we offer them up a cheap Walmart type bike. It was a great way to get rid of the garbage. But now we find that we might be catering to them too much at a cost to those that want to use the shop for what it was intended to be, a place to teach bike mechanics. Any thoughts? Thanks Mark Friis Executive Director, Inland Empire Biking Alliance PO Box 9266 Redlands, CA 92375 909-800-4322 mfriis@iebikingalliance.org WWW.IEBIKE.ORG _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit: http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
If its an addict they wont want to take the time to earn anything. We alsomhave a rule in our orientation stating that drugs alcohol and cigs are strictly forbidden. If they must smoke, they have to go out of site. If they come intoxicated they are forever banned. We snap a picture of them and ban them we also turn away people who try to sell stolen bikes
Sent from my iPad
On Oct 14, 2013, at 10:46 AM, Recycle recyclebikesforkids@gmail.com wrote:
Ron King here in Little Rock, AR. We have an earn a bike program and limit it to one bike only. If it is stolen or lost bring us the police report and you can work for another one. As for what they do with it once they have earned if , we can't control that, it's their bike. Once we made that decision our life became a lot easier. Hope this helps
Sent from my iPhone
On Oct 14, 2013, at 9:38 AM, Mark Friis iebafriis@gmail.com wrote:
Have an uncomfortable question to ask. How does a shop deal with some of the more questionable customer? By questionable I mean the type of people that are volunteering to earn a bike for the purpose of selling it or using it to get a "fix".
The reason I ask, is we had one of volunteers bikes stolen from inside the shop with people there. Didn't care if was caught, yet somehow no one saw him. Lately we have been having a lot of addicts and such coming by looking to get a bike but have little money so we offer them up a cheap Walmart type bike. It was a great way to get rid of the garbage. But now we find that we might be catering to them too much at a cost to those that want to use the shop for what it was intended to be, a place to teach bike mechanics. Any thoughts? Thanks Mark Friis Executive Director, Inland Empire Biking Alliance PO Box 9266 Redlands, CA 92375 909-800-4322 mfriis@iebikingalliance.org WWW.IEBIKE.ORG _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit: http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
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Limit one earn a bike/ year. Used parts sold have to be appropriate for the bike you have with you and you have to install the part at the shop.
Enzo Loconte Board Secretary Bikerowave
On Oct 14, 2013, at 8:28 AM, Jon Sher jonathansher@charter.net wrote:
If its an addict they wont want to take the time to earn anything. We alsomhave a rule in our orientation stating that drugs alcohol and cigs are strictly forbidden. If they must smoke, they have to go out of site. If they come intoxicated they are forever banned. We snap a picture of them and ban them we also turn away people who try to sell stolen bikes
Sent from my iPad
On Oct 14, 2013, at 10:46 AM, Recycle recyclebikesforkids@gmail.com wrote:
Ron King here in Little Rock, AR. We have an earn a bike program and limit it to one bike only. If it is stolen or lost bring us the police report and you can work for another one. As for what they do with it once they have earned if , we can't control that, it's their bike. Once we made that decision our life became a lot easier. Hope this helps
Sent from my iPhone
On Oct 14, 2013, at 9:38 AM, Mark Friis iebafriis@gmail.com wrote:
Have an uncomfortable question to ask. How does a shop deal with some of the more questionable customer? By questionable I mean the type of people that are volunteering to earn a bike for the purpose of selling it or using it to get a "fix".
The reason I ask, is we had one of volunteers bikes stolen from inside the shop with people there. Didn't care if was caught, yet somehow no one saw him. Lately we have been having a lot of addicts and such coming by looking to get a bike but have little money so we offer them up a cheap Walmart type bike. It was a great way to get rid of the garbage. But now we find that we might be catering to them too much at a cost to those that want to use the shop for what it was intended to be, a place to teach bike mechanics. Any thoughts? Thanks Mark Friis Executive Director, Inland Empire Biking Alliance PO Box 9266 Redlands, CA 92375 909-800-4322 mfriis@iebikingalliance.org WWW.IEBIKE.ORG _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit: http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
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A couple of options:
Lifetime/annual limits on bikes available through an Earn-A-Bike program Enforce whatever "be good to this community space" rules you have Include a "we reserve the right to refuse an EAB customer" clause Reach out to homeless/drug rehab organizations to see if they have suggestions
--Ryan
On Mon, Oct 14, 2013 at 7:38 AM, Mark Friis iebafriis@gmail.com wrote:
Have an uncomfortable question to ask. How does a shop deal with some of the more questionable customer? By questionable I mean the type of people that are volunteering to earn a bike for the purpose of selling it or using it to get a "fix". The reason I ask, is we had one of volunteers bikes stolen from inside the shop with people there. Didn't care if was caught, yet somehow no one saw him. Lately we have been having a lot of addicts and such coming by looking to get a bike but have little money so we offer them up a cheap Walmart type bike. It was a great way to get rid of the garbage. But now we find that we might be catering to them too much at a cost to those that want to use the shop for what it was intended to be, a place to teach bike mechanics. Any thoughts? Thanks
Mark Friis
Executive Director, Inland Empire Biking Alliance
PO Box 9266
Redlands, CA 92375
909-800-4322
*mfriis@iebikingalliance.org*https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/mfriis@iebikingalliance.org **
WWW.IEBIKE.ORG https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/WWW.IEBIKE.ORG
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Community Cycles has a one-time rule for going through EAB. We also sell used parts and do have some people that we know sell bikes for profit. We work with them on a case by case. Some of the people who sell bikes are low-income. They're not turning a huge profit by selling rather staying afloat.
We have had to have serious conversation with some people that were taking advantage of our low priced used parts and using them to sell $$$ bikes and/or flipping our bikes. Most of these people have been people with resources who are using the system...not cool and not in the spirit of our community shop.
Not quite the same issue, you're seeing Mark, but similar in the sense of your shop being taken advantage. I agree with reserving the right to refuse a customer or participant. Luckily, it doesn't happen too often.
Wanda
Wanda Pelegrina Caldas, Board Member
Community Cycles, Boulder's only nonprofit bike shop, serves all your bike commuting needs.
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Thanks!!
Date: Mon, 14 Oct 2013 07:47:00 -0700 From: sharpe@sacbikekitchen.org To: thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Questionable customers
A couple of options:
Lifetime/annual limits on bikes available through an Earn-A-Bike program Enforce whatever "be good to this community space" rules you have
Include a "we reserve the right to refuse an EAB customer" clause Reach out to homeless/drug rehab organizations to see if they have suggestions
--Ryan
On Mon, Oct 14, 2013 at 7:38 AM, Mark Friis iebafriis@gmail.com wrote:
Have an uncomfortable question to ask. How does a shop deal with some of the more questionable customer? By questionable I mean the type of people that are volunteering to earn a bike for the purpose of selling it or using it to get a "fix".
The reason I ask, is we had one of volunteers bikes stolen from inside the shop with people there. Didn't care if was caught, yet somehow no one saw him. Lately we have been having a lot of addicts and such coming by looking to get a bike but have little money so we offer them up a cheap Walmart type bike. It was a great way to get rid of the garbage. But now we find that we might be catering to them too much at a cost to those that want to use the shop for what it was intended to be, a place to teach bike mechanics.
Any thoughts?Thanks
Mark Friis
Executive Director, Inland Empire Biking Alliance
PO Box 9266
Redlands, CA 92375
909-800-4322
mfriis@iebikingalliance.org
WWW.IEBIKE.ORG
Thethinktank mailing list
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To manage your subscription, plase visit:
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participants (6)
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Jon Sher -
Mark Friis -
Recycle -
Ryan Sharpe -
Wanda Pelegrina Caldas -
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