hey folks,
a moral or social dilemma: when your shop accepts donations of used bikes, but you're already filled to the gills with hundreds of bikes that may or may not ever get fixed up, how do you begin to turn away donations that are really not worth the space? or do you? just looking for some suggestions of how other shops have dealt with this issue. it gets to the point where we don't have the time, space, or man-power to strip down all those pieces-of-crap even to send to the scrap yard, but now that people know that we accept used bikes, it's hard to know how to say no.
thanks!
sarah
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building) Wilmington, DE 19802
Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00 Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
Community Cycles in Boulder partnered with our local hard-to-recycle-materials public utility/non-profit, (called CHARM: Center for HArd to Recycle Materials) which is the place people can take old paint, tv sets, mattresses, tires, etc. The center finds markets for this stuff, resells it, and keeps the stuff out of landfills as part of their mission.
They now accept bicycles at their location, and allow us to come and pick through for stuff we want, and leave the stuff we don't, for them to sell as scrap metal. They get a rate for a specific purity of steel. A bicycle, complete with rubber tires and tubes, plastic shifters, reflectors, housing, etc, meets the percentage for steel that they get paid, so they don't have to strip the parts off to get money for them. The bikes get chipped up and sorted by material as little tiny pieces. What this means for us us that it's a few crappy dept store bikes that we don't have to deal with, and the only ones we have to transport away from there are the good ones we want.
We also struck another deal with CHARM; we built up some bikes and gave them to the center, and now we get free tire drop off. The old rate was 50 cents a tire, I believe.
We still accept trash bikes at our shop, but we put them straight into our dumpster, and call our local junk guy when it's full. Some of the dumpier bikes go straight in with zero strippage happening first, depending on staff power, time, space, etc.
On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 6:15 PM, Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE < urbanbikeproject@gmail.com> wrote:
hey folks,
a moral or social dilemma: when your shop accepts donations of used bikes, but you're already filled to the gills with hundreds of bikes that may or may not ever get fixed up, how do you begin to turn away donations that are really not worth the space? or do you? just looking for some suggestions of how other shops have dealt with this issue. it gets to the point where we don't have the time, space, or man-power to strip down all those pieces-of-crap even to send to the scrap yard, but now that people know that we accept used bikes, it's hard to know how to say no.
thanks!
sarah
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building) Wilmington, DE 19802
Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00 Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@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...
as far as I know the war is still on. you could consider donating the metal
for that effort. it was done during the last two big wars and boy scouts
would hold drives to collect metal. not sure if there is a need but I know
they are still rationing sugar.
On Aug 12, 2009 6:23pm, veganboyjosh@gmail.com wrote:
Community Cycles in Boulder partnered with our local
hard-to-recycle-materials public utility/non-profit, (called CHARM:
Center for HArd to Recycle Materials) which is the place people can take
old paint, tv sets, mattresses, tires, etc. The center finds markets for
this stuff, resells it, and keeps the stuff out of landfills as part of
their mission.
They now accept bicycles at their location, and allow us to come and pick
through for stuff we want, and leave the stuff we don't, for them to sell
as scrap metal. They get a rate for a specific purity of steel. A
bicycle, complete with rubber tires and tubes, plastic shifters,
reflectors, housing, etc, meets the percentage for steel that they get
paid, so they don't have to strip the parts off to get money for them.
The bikes get chipped up and sorted by material as little tiny pieces.
What this means for us us that it's a few crappy dept store bikes that we
don't have to deal with, and the only ones we have to transport away from
there are the good ones we want.
We also struck another deal with CHARM; we built up some bikes and gave
them to the center, and now we get free tire drop off. The old rate was
50 cents a tire, I believe.
We still accept trash bikes at our shop, but we put them straight into
our dumpster, and call our local junk guy when it's full. Some of the
dumpier bikes go straight in with zero strippage happening first,
depending on staff power, time, space, etc.
On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 6:15 PM, Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE
urbanbikeproject@gmail.com> wrote:
hey folks,
a moral or social dilemma: when your shop accepts donations of used
bikes, but you're already filled to the gills with hundreds of bikes that
may or may not ever get fixed up, how do you begin to turn away donations
that are really not worth the space? or do you? just looking for some
suggestions of how other shops have dealt with this issue. it gets to the
point where we don't have the time, space, or man-power to strip down all
those pieces-of-crap even to send to the scrap yard, but now that people
know that we accept used bikes, it's hard to know how to say no.
thanks!
sarah
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building) Wilmington, DE 19802
Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00
Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
Thethinktank mailing list
Thethinktank@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...
give them to a scrapper,? you get the good will of the donaters, you help the finances of the scrapper and you get rid of junk.
-----Original Message----- From: Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE urbanbikeproject@gmail.com To: The Think Tank thethinktank@bikecollectives.org Sent: Wed, Aug 12, 2009 7:15 pm Subject: [TheThinkTank] rejecting trash bikes
hey folks,
a moral or social dilemma: when your shop accepts donations of used bikes, but you're already filled to the gills with hundreds of bikes that may or may not ever get fixed up, how do you begin to turn away donations that are really not worth the space?? or do you?? just looking for some suggestions of how other shops have dealt with this issue.? it gets to the point where we don't have the time, space, or man-power to strip down all those???????? pieces-of-crap even to send to the scrap yard, but now that people know that we accept used bikes, it's hard to know how to say no.
thanks!
sarah
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building) Wilmington, DE 19802
Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00 Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@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...
Over 12 years I don't think we've turned any away at our door, but it
can certainly be an issue. For instance, our partner org. once went
with a truck to pick up about 60 bikes and came back with 20, having
told the donors to take the other 40 directly to scrap.
The two metal recyclers here want seats and tires off at the very
least, so we have to do that. We also remove the pedals if we can,
as they snag everything when trying to pull the scrap pile apart and
drag stuff up to the truck (our scrap pile, which volume-wise is
about the size of a panel truck, is in our basement,)
I too would like to hear how other orgs. handle this. We find that
newbie volunteers seem to love taking bikes apart, so we're able to
cope with it.
Now, crappy little kids bikes, that's another issue... Currently
we're leaving some in our back alley, hoping they'll disappear (and
they often do) before we bring them inside. Fortunately our landlord
does not seem to mind this.
Mark Rehder - General Manager re-Cycles Bicycle Co-op http://re-cycles.ca
On 12-Aug-09, at 8:15 PM, Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE wrote:
hey folks,
a moral or social dilemma: when your shop accepts donations of used
bikes, but you're already filled to the gills with hundreds of
bikes that may or may not ever get fixed up, how do you begin to
turn away donations that are really not worth the space? or do
you? just looking for some suggestions of how other shops have
dealt with this issue. it gets to the point where we don't have
the time, space, or man-power to strip down all those
pieces-of-crap even to send to the scrap yard, but now that people
know that we accept used bikes, it's hard to know how to say no.thanks!
sarah
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the
building) Wilmington, DE 19802Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00 Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
I struggled with this same issue. We get donations that sometimes are not even recognizable as bikes, and they are occasionally left at the door while we aren't around.
I have started to ask people to hang on to donations until we create some space. However, I never turn down a bike that is delivered to us. If there are items that we do not want, they should be clearly identified in the request for bike donations. Once they make the trip, I feel an obligation to take it and thank them for their effort.
Here are a couple things that we are either doing or trying to set up to better manage junk bike donations:
-We promote Bike Round-Ups. They are one-day events where we take in a lot of donations, sort and strip them, and get scrap removed before anything goes in the building. It is volunteer-intensive, but prevents growth in the pile of bikes we never seem to get to.
-We sell junk bikes to the scrap metal dealer. Sounds like policies vary across the country, but we have been able to dump unlimited un-stripped bikes, and sometimes get a nice check back for our efforts.
-We coordinate with Goodwill. They are willing to accept bike donations on our behalf. It allows us to offer more supervised donation drop-off hours without having to staff our facility. The only thing we need to do is get them down the street to our shop.
-We offer bikes as materials for local artists. We haven't done a lot with this yet, but we have been trying to encourage bike-related art by offering bike parts and use of tools to local artists. We did get a cool bike rack built this way.
-We give the scrap away. A couple people already suggested giving it to scrappers. If just setting the pile out back doesn't work, a posting to the "free" section of Craigslist should do the trick.
Hope that helps!
Scott TenBrink Executive Director Fitness Council of Jackson 225 North Jackson St. Jackson, MI 49201 (517) 990-9798 scott@fitnesscouncil.org www.fitnesscouncil.org
-----Original Message----- From: thethinktank-bounces@bikecollectives.org [mailto:thethinktank-bounces@bikecollectives.org] On Behalf Of Mark Rehder Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 10:45 PM To: The Think Tank Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] rejecting trash bikes
Over 12 years I don't think we've turned any away at our door, but it
can certainly be an issue. For instance, our partner org. once went
with a truck to pick up about 60 bikes and came back with 20, having
told the donors to take the other 40 directly to scrap.
The two metal recyclers here want seats and tires off at the very
least, so we have to do that. We also remove the pedals if we can,
as they snag everything when trying to pull the scrap pile apart and
drag stuff up to the truck (our scrap pile, which volume-wise is
about the size of a panel truck, is in our basement,)
I too would like to hear how other orgs. handle this. We find that
newbie volunteers seem to love taking bikes apart, so we're able to
cope with it.
Now, crappy little kids bikes, that's another issue... Currently
we're leaving some in our back alley, hoping they'll disappear (and
they often do) before we bring them inside. Fortunately our landlord
does not seem to mind this.
Mark Rehder - General Manager re-Cycles Bicycle Co-op http://re-cycles.ca
On 12-Aug-09, at 8:15 PM, Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE wrote:
hey folks,
a moral or social dilemma: when your shop accepts donations of used
bikes, but you're already filled to the gills with hundreds of
bikes that may or may not ever get fixed up, how do you begin to
turn away donations that are really not worth the space? or do
you? just looking for some suggestions of how other shops have
dealt with this issue. it gets to the point where we don't have
the time, space, or man-power to strip down all those
pieces-of-crap even to send to the scrap yard, but now that people
know that we accept used bikes, it's hard to know how to say no.thanks!
sarah
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the
building) Wilmington, DE 19802Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00 Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@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 rg
No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.392 / Virus Database: 270.13.34/2268 - Release Date: 08/12/09 18:12:00
at the bike library in arcata ca. the pile of bike scrap was taken to the local wrecking yard where they have a crusher the truck load was bailed into a block ~ 4'x4'x2' and brought back to the library where it was the base for a glass top table one could sell that for big bucks in a big city. jim
--- On Thu, 8/13/09, Scott TenBrink scott@fitnesscouncil.org wrote:
From: Scott TenBrink scott@fitnesscouncil.org Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] rejecting trash bikes To: "'The Think Tank'" thethinktank@bikecollectives.org Date: Thursday, August 13, 2009, 6:17 AM
I struggled with this same issue. We get donations that sometimes are not even recognizable as bikes, and they are occasionally left at the door while we aren't around.
I have started to ask people to hang on to donations until we create some space. However, I never turn down a bike that is delivered to us. If there are items that we do not want, they should be clearly identified in the request for bike donations. Once they make the trip, I feel an obligation to take it and thank them for their effort.
Here are a couple things that we are either doing or trying to set up to better manage junk bike donations:
-We promote Bike Round-Ups. They are one-day events where we take in a lot of donations, sort and strip them, and get scrap removed before anything goes in the building. It is volunteer-intensive, but prevents growth in the pile of bikes we never seem to get to.
-We sell junk bikes to the scrap metal dealer. Sounds like policies vary across the country, but we have been able to dump unlimited un-stripped bikes, and sometimes get a nice check back for our efforts.
-We coordinate with Goodwill. They are willing to accept bike donations on our behalf. It allows us to offer more supervised donation drop-off hours without having to staff our facility. The only thing we need to do is get them down the street to our shop.
-We offer bikes as materials for local artists. We haven't done a lot with this yet, but we have been trying to encourage bike-related art by offering bike parts and use of tools to local artists. We did get a cool bike rack built this way.
-We give the scrap away. A couple people already suggested giving it to scrappers. If just setting the pile out back doesn't work, a posting to the "free" section of Craigslist should do the trick.
Hope that helps!
Scott TenBrink Executive Director Fitness Council of Jackson 225 North Jackson St. Jackson, MI 49201 (517) 990-9798 scott@fitnesscouncil.org www.fitnesscouncil.org
-----Original Message----- From: thethinktank-bounces@bikecollectives.org [mailto:thethinktank-bounces@bikecollectives.org] On Behalf Of Mark Rehder Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 10:45 PM To: The Think Tank Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] rejecting trash bikes
Over 12 years I don't think we've turned any away at our door, but it can certainly be an issue. For instance, our partner org. once went with a truck to pick up about 60 bikes and came back with 20, having told the donors to take the other 40 directly to scrap.
The two metal recyclers here want seats and tires off at the very least, so we have to do that. We also remove the pedals if we can, as they snag everything when trying to pull the scrap pile apart and drag stuff up to the truck (our scrap pile, which volume-wise is about the size of a panel truck, is in our basement,)
I too would like to hear how other orgs. handle this. We find that newbie volunteers seem to love taking bikes apart, so we're able to cope with it.
Now, crappy little kids bikes, that's another issue... Currently we're leaving some in our back alley, hoping they'll disappear (and they often do) before we bring them inside. Fortunately our landlord does not seem to mind this.
Mark Rehder - General Manager re-Cycles Bicycle Co-op http://re-cycles.ca
On 12-Aug-09, at 8:15 PM, Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE wrote:
hey folks,
a moral or social dilemma: when your shop accepts donations of used bikes, but you're already filled to the gills with hundreds of bikes that may or may not ever get fixed up, how do you begin to turn away donations that are really not worth the space? or do you? just looking for some suggestions of how other shops have dealt with this issue. it gets to the point where we don't have the time, space, or man-power to strip down all those pieces-of-crap even to send to the scrap yard, but now that people know that we accept used bikes, it's hard to know how to say no.
thanks!
sarah
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building) Wilmington, DE 19802
Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00 Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@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 rg
No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.392 / Virus Database: 270.13.34/2268 - Release Date: 08/12/09 18:12:00
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@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...
Ooh. . . I like that! I think I'll make one, too!
-Doug
From: thethinktank-bounces@bikecollectives.org [mailto:thethinktank-bounces@bikecollectives.org] On Behalf Of james blesdoe Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2009 9:31 AM To: The Think Tank Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] rejecting trash bikes
at the bike library in arcata ca.
the pile of bike scrap was taken to the local
wrecking yard where they have a crusher
the truck load was bailed into a block ~ 4'x4'x2'
and brought back to the library where it was
the base for a glass top table
one could sell that for big bucks in a big city.
jim
--- On Thu, 8/13/09, Scott TenBrink scott@fitnesscouncil.org wrote:
From: Scott TenBrink scott@fitnesscouncil.org Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] rejecting trash bikes To: "'The Think Tank'" thethinktank@bikecollectives.org Date: Thursday, August 13, 2009, 6:17 AM
I struggled with this same issue. We get donations that sometimes are not even recognizable as bikes, and they are occasionally left at the door while we aren't around.
I have started to ask people to hang on to donations until we create some space. However, I never turn down a bike that is delivered to us. If there are items that we do not want, they should be clearly identified in the request for bike donations. Once they make the trip, I feel an obligation to take it and thank them for their effort.
Here are a couple things that we are either doing or trying to set up to better manage junk bike donations:
-We promote Bike Round-Ups. They are one-day events where we take in a lot of donations, sort and strip them, and get scrap removed before anything goes in the building. It is volunteer-intensive, but prevents growth in the pile of bikes we never seem to get to.
-We sell junk bikes to the scrap metal dealer. Sounds like policies vary across the country, but we have been able to dump unlimited un-stripped bikes, and sometimes get a nice check back for our efforts.
-We coordinate with Goodwill. They are willing to accept bike donations on our behalf. It allows us to offer more supervised donation drop-off hours without having to staff our facility. The only thing we need to do is get them down the street to our shop.
-We offer bikes as materials for local artists. We haven't done a lot with this yet, but we have been trying to encourage bike-related art by offering bike parts and use of tools to local artists. We did get a cool bike rack built this way.
-We give the scrap away. A couple people already suggested giving it to scrappers. If just setting the pile out back doesn't work, a posting to the "free" section of Craigslist should do the trick.
Hope that helps!
Scott TenBrink Executive Director Fitness Council of Jackson 225 North Jackson St. Jackson, MI 49201 (517) 990-9798 scott@fitnesscouncil.org http://us.mc655.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=scott@fitnesscouncil.org www.fitnesscouncil.org
-----Original Message----- From: thethinktank-bounces@bikecollectives.org http://us.mc655.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=thethinktank-bounces@bikecolle ctives.org [mailto:thethinktank-bounces@bikecollectives.org http://us.mc655.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=thethinktank-bounces@bikecolle ctives.org ] On Behalf Of Mark Rehder Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 10:45 PM To: The Think Tank Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] rejecting trash bikes
Over 12 years I don't think we've turned any away at our door, but it
can certainly be an issue. For instance, our partner org. once went
with a truck to pick up about 60 bikes and came back with 20, having
told the donors to take the other 40 directly to scrap.
The two metal recyclers here want seats and tires off at the very
least, so we have to do that. We also remove the pedals if we can,
as they snag everything when trying to pull the scrap pile apart and
drag stuff up to the truck (our scrap pile, which volume-wise is
about the size of a panel truck, is in our basement,)
I too would like to hear how other orgs. handle this. We find that
newbie volunteers seem to love taking bikes apart, so we're able to
cope with it.
Now, crappy little kids bikes, that's another issue... Currently
we're leaving some in our back alley, hoping they'll disappear (and
they often do) before we bring them inside. Fortunately our landlord
does not seem to mind this.
Mark Rehder - General Manager re-Cycles Bicycle Co-op http://re-cycles.ca http://re-cycles.ca/
On 12-Aug-09, at 8:15 PM, Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE wrote:
hey folks,
a moral or social dilemma: when your shop accepts donations of used
bikes, but you're already filled to the gills with hundreds of
bikes that may or may not ever get fixed up, how do you begin to
turn away donations that are really not worth the space? or do
you? just looking for some suggestions of how other shops have
dealt with this issue. it gets to the point where we don't have
the time, space, or man-power to strip down all those
pieces-of-crap even to send to the scrap yard, but now that people
know that we accept used bikes, it's hard to know how to say no.thanks!
sarah
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the
building) Wilmington, DE 19802Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00 Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
http://urbanbikeproject.org/ _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org http://us.mc655.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=Thethinktank@bikecollectives.o rg To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org http://us.mc655.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollect ives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit: http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o rg
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Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org http://us.mc655.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=Thethinktank@bikecollectives.o rg To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org http://us.mc655.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollect ives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit: http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o rg
Yeah, there is this general impression that "it just needs a new chain and some tires," so we accept everything, even though we absolutely have no room for them. We've toyed with the idea of "stripper parties," to trick college kids into thinking working is "cool" and help deal with our heaps of bikes. The heaps of bikes out back:
- Make donors think they can dump awesome bikes off while we're closed,
so an unknown amount of our donations get stolen before we ever see them
- Make people think they can have anything out back for free, because
it's apparently leverage for haggling on irrelevant things like new cables
- Make people sneak around and strip things they want while we're
closed, and make an enormous mess for us to clean up in the process
And on and on. They're probably not worth the stress and disappointment and bitterness caused by them being around. I like to keep them so I can chop them up for bike racks, gates, furniture, etc. -- and yeah, we're not at a point where we can turn any donations away. Stripping bikes is currently the only worktrade we offer -- not that anyone takes it.
Also, rusty pink-and-purple roadmasters are excellent to have around when some sexist douche is, uh, being a sexist douche. "No, there's no mechanic around, it's only me the woman wearing a greasy apron and holding a headset press. Oh, you want to explain to me what a "fixie" is? Oh, it's a bike with no brakes, huh? Cool, buy that pink roadmaster over there for $800. It has no brakes." The possibilities are endless.
Andrea
Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE wrote:
hey folks,
a moral or social dilemma: when your shop accepts donations of used bikes, but you're already filled to the gills with hundreds of bikes that may or may not ever get fixed up, how do you begin to turn away donations that are really not worth the space? or do you? just looking for some suggestions of how other shops have dealt with this issue. it gets to the point where we don't have the time, space, or man-power to strip down all those pieces-of-crap even to send to the scrap yard, but now that people know that we accept used bikes, it's hard to know how to say no.
thanks!
sarah
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building) Wilmington, DE 19802
Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00 Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@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...
LOL! Andrea, I know what you go through. My wife and I often work side by side in the shop. When a "sexist douche" walks past her to talk to me, I play ignorant shop lackey and direct the questions her way. Interesting, though, is that just as many women fall into that trap as men.
Doug
-----Original Message----- From: thethinktank-bounces@bikecollectives.org [mailto:thethinktank-bounces@bikecollectives.org] On Behalf Of Bike City Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 11:32 PM To: The Think Tank Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] rejecting trash bikes
Yeah, there is this general impression that "it just needs a new chain and some tires," so we accept everything, even though we absolutely have no room for them. We've toyed with the idea of "stripper parties," to trick college kids into thinking working is "cool" and help deal with our heaps of bikes. The heaps of bikes out back:
- Make donors think they can dump awesome bikes off while we're closed,
so an unknown amount of our donations get stolen before we ever see them
- Make people think they can have anything out back for free, because
it's apparently leverage for haggling on irrelevant things like new cables
- Make people sneak around and strip things they want while we're
closed, and make an enormous mess for us to clean up in the process
And on and on. They're probably not worth the stress and disappointment and bitterness caused by them being around. I like to keep them so I can chop them up for bike racks, gates, furniture, etc. -- and yeah, we're not at a point where we can turn any donations away. Stripping bikes is currently the only worktrade we offer -- not that anyone takes it.
Also, rusty pink-and-purple roadmasters are excellent to have around when some sexist douche is, uh, being a sexist douche. "No, there's no mechanic around, it's only me the woman wearing a greasy apron and holding a headset press. Oh, you want to explain to me what a "fixie" is? Oh, it's a bike with no brakes, huh? Cool, buy that pink roadmaster over there for $800. It has no brakes." The possibilities are endless.
Andrea
Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE wrote:
hey folks,
a moral or social dilemma: when your shop accepts donations of used bikes, but you're already filled to the gills with hundreds of bikes that may or may not ever get fixed up, how do you begin to turn away donations that are really not worth the space? or do you? just looking for some suggestions of how other shops have dealt with this issue. it gets to the point where we don't have the time, space, or man-power to strip down all those pieces-of-crap even to send to the scrap yard, but now that people know that we accept used bikes, it's hard to know how to say no.
thanks!
sarah
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building) Wilmington, DE 19802
Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00 Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
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TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org
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We have a good relationship with someone who works at a scrap metal place and call him once a month to do a pick up. We often don't have time to part the bikes out, and we don't ask for the money back. Just the fact that they are at least being recycled and that we don't have to use precious volunteer hours to deal with it works out well. He gets to keep the money, we are able to shed our moral/ social burden and it's one less bike in the trash heap.
On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 8:15 PM, Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE < urbanbikeproject@gmail.com> wrote:
hey folks,
a moral or social dilemma: when your shop accepts donations of used bikes, but you're already filled to the gills with hundreds of bikes that may or may not ever get fixed up, how do you begin to turn away donations that are really not worth the space? or do you? just looking for some suggestions of how other shops have dealt with this issue. it gets to the point where we don't have the time, space, or man-power to strip down all those pieces-of-crap even to send to the scrap yard, but now that people know that we accept used bikes, it's hard to know how to say no.
thanks!
sarah
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building) Wilmington, DE 19802
Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00 Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@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...
Rejectable bikes are also pretty great material for making bike trailers.
On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 7:51 PM, MoBo Bicycle Co-op < mobobicyclecoop@gmail.com> wrote:
We have a good relationship with someone who works at a scrap metal place and call him once a month to do a pick up. We often don't have time to part the bikes out, and we don't ask for the money back. Just the fact that they are at least being recycled and that we don't have to use precious volunteer hours to deal with it works out well. He gets to keep the money, we are able to shed our moral/ social burden and it's one less bike in the trash heap.
On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 8:15 PM, Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE < urbanbikeproject@gmail.com> wrote:
hey folks,
a moral or social dilemma: when your shop accepts donations of used bikes, but you're already filled to the gills with hundreds of bikes that may or may not ever get fixed up, how do you begin to turn away donations that are really not worth the space? or do you? just looking for some suggestions of how other shops have dealt with this issue. it gets to the point where we don't have the time, space, or man-power to strip down all those pieces-of-crap even to send to the scrap yard, but now that people know that we accept used bikes, it's hard to know how to say no.
thanks!
sarah
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building) Wilmington, DE 19802
Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00 Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@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...
-- MoBo Bicycle Co-op a project of The Village Green Foundation 1415 Knowlton Ave Northside Cincinnati, OH
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit:
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Unless you have welding / reuse ability (and good insurance to match) put your energy into streamlining your recycling process so (s)crap bikes aren't a problem to accept so that you don't turn excited donors away in shame because they found out their donation was worthless.
We have welding equipment, but we don't have the space yet to utilize it. So until our space situation changes we just put scrap bikes and metal outside of the building and let the people that recycle metal take it away. It lasts out there in less than an hour in most cases.
Pros:
- Our shop doesn't get filled to the gills storing (s)crap
- The metal gets recycled.
- We don't upset donors.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Morrison Executive Director Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective 2312 S. West Temple Salt Lake City, UT 84115 w: 801-328-2453 c: 801-688-0183 f: 801-466-3856 www.slcbikecollective.org
Get Addicted to Crank! http://www.slcbikecollective.org/crank/
The mission of the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective is to promote cycling as an effective and sustainable form of transportation and as a cornerstone of a cleaner, healthier, and safer society. The Bicycle Collective provides refurbished bicycles and educational programs to the community, focusing on children and lower income households.
On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 10:12 PM, Angel York aniola@gmail.com wrote:
Rejectable bikes are also pretty great material for making bike trailers.
On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 7:51 PM, MoBo Bicycle Co-op < mobobicyclecoop@gmail.com> wrote:
We have a good relationship with someone who works at a scrap metal place and call him once a month to do a pick up. We often don't have time to part the bikes out, and we don't ask for the money back. Just the fact that they are at least being recycled and that we don't have to use precious volunteer hours to deal with it works out well. He gets to keep the money, we are able to shed our moral/ social burden and it's one less bike in the trash heap.
On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 8:15 PM, Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE < urbanbikeproject@gmail.com> wrote:
hey folks,
a moral or social dilemma: when your shop accepts donations of used bikes, but you're already filled to the gills with hundreds of bikes that may or may not ever get fixed up, how do you begin to turn away donations that are really not worth the space? or do you? just looking for some suggestions of how other shops have dealt with this issue. it gets to the point where we don't have the time, space, or man-power to strip down all those pieces-of-crap even to send to the scrap yard, but now that people know that we accept used bikes, it's hard to know how to say no.
thanks!
sarah
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building) Wilmington, DE 19802
Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00 Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@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...
-- MoBo Bicycle Co-op a project of The Village Green Foundation 1415 Knowlton Ave Northside Cincinnati, OH
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-- "UNLESS" - The Lorax
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At Sac Bike Kitchen, we had a long talk about this and decided we really wanted to just focus on fixing bikes, not selling or stripping bikes. So, we ask for a scrapping fee, suggested 5$. This is some of the only "work" we actually do for people. We only ask for donation from the people who bring bikes that go straight to the scrap heap.
I think it goes over pretty well, every time I explain that a roadmaster, is not going to get rebuilt and loved, but is going straight to the scrapper and that is because it was built to be disposable, people get it. I think some people know it is trash and we are just the fools getting the hot patatoe, whiles others have never thought about "quality" bikes. That department store bikes are trash in 3 years where as other bikes can last for 50 years.
It is also another time to remind people that our mission is to really help people fix bikes, not scrap bikes, not deal with donation, not sell bikes, but lend tools and teach.
In practice they often give a couple bucks and we scrap it or give away to anyone who wants it, but I think it helps us mentally, that we have thought about it, and that we have communicated to the community that scrapping bikes is a service that we provide and it is worth something.
In theory we hope that this stems the flow before it starts and gets people to think about the waste, hopefully before they buy another bike.
Cheers, Hope our slightly different take it helpful.
Ryan
On Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 8:12 AM, Jonathan Morrisonjonathan@slcbikecollective.org wrote:
Unless you have welding / reuse ability (and good insurance to match) put your energy into streamlining your recycling process so (s)crap bikes aren't a problem to accept so that you don't turn excited donors away in shame because they found out their donation was worthless.
We have welding equipment, but we don't have the space yet to utilize it. So until our space situation changes we just put scrap bikes and metal outside of the building and let the people that recycle metal take it away. It lasts out there in less than an hour in most cases.
Pros:
- Our shop doesn't get filled to the gills storing (s)crap
- The metal gets recycled.
- We don't upset donors.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Morrison Executive Director Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective 2312 S. West Temple Salt Lake City, UT 84115 w: 801-328-2453 c: 801-688-0183 f: 801-466-3856 www.slcbikecollective.org
Get Addicted to Crank! http://www.slcbikecollective.org/crank/
The mission of the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective is to promote cycling as an effective and sustainable form of transportation and as a cornerstone of a cleaner, healthier, and safer society. The Bicycle Collective provides refurbished bicycles and educational programs to the community, focusing on children and lower income households.
On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 10:12 PM, Angel York aniola@gmail.com wrote:
Rejectable bikes are also pretty great material for making bike trailers.
On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 7:51 PM, MoBo Bicycle Co-op mobobicyclecoop@gmail.com wrote:
We have a good relationship with someone who works at a scrap metal place and call him once a month to do a pick up. We often don't have time to part the bikes out, and we don't ask for the money back. Just the fact that they are at least being recycled and that we don't have to use precious volunteer hours to deal with it works out well. He gets to keep the money, we are able to shed our moral/ social burden and it's one less bike in the trash heap.
On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 8:15 PM, Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE urbanbikeproject@gmail.com wrote:
hey folks,
a moral or social dilemma: when your shop accepts donations of used bikes, but you're already filled to the gills with hundreds of bikes that may or may not ever get fixed up, how do you begin to turn away donations that are really not worth the space? or do you? just looking for some suggestions of how other shops have dealt with this issue. it gets to the point where we don't have the time, space, or man-power to strip down all those pieces-of-crap even to send to the scrap yard, but now that people know that we accept used bikes, it's hard to know how to say no.
thanks!
sarah
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building) Wilmington, DE 19802
Hours: Thursday 6:30-9:00 Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@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...
-- MoBo Bicycle Co-op a project of The Village Green Foundation 1415 Knowlton Ave Northside Cincinnati, OH
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@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...
-- "UNLESS" - The Lorax
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit:
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participants (13)
-
Angel York -
Bike City -
bovineoaks＠aol.com -
Doug Franz -
gzuphoesdown＠gmail.com -
james blesdoe -
Jonathan Morrison -
Mark Rehder -
MoBo Bicycle Co-op -
Ryan Drobek -
Scott TenBrink -
Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE -
veganboyjosh＠gmail.com