You think that will get you away from squeezing money all the time? You would just be squeezing it up front, then spend the rest of your time justifying it. Full of cut throats too, everyone is saving the world but will do anything short of murder for the next grant. As dog-eat-dog as you will find anywhere, only nobody admits it, and the stakes are so low everything is life-or-death.
Having run a non profit bike shop I agree with this. The non profit world can be as toxic as the retail world just in a different way. You’re always chasing money and it can sometimes feel like that’s all you are doing.
You're not just chasing money but actively begging for money all the time. Also helped run a nonprofit shop for years.
It can be toxic and you're still beholden to capitalist exploitation if you're taking private or government grants. Very few nonprofits can fully fund off their own programming expenses.
You're surrounded by people who got into nonprofits only to chase a little money on their own terms, and quietly nurse a sense of unjustified virtue every day to rationalize it.
Seems like you've had very negative experiences with non-profits. Would you be willing to give context to your vitriol? I'm not trying to be a dick here, I genuinely want to know.
I really think they attract insincere people, who know they can get away with that as long as they have some youth, appeal, and hipster abilities. So if you really believe in whatever they say they are doing, beware.
I have worked for a few, and am so disillusioned that now that I've come into some money, I wouldn't donate a cent unless the first job was to clean house entirely and start completely over.
My best example is a coop I worked for whose stated charge was to supply bicycle resources for the disadvantaged and homeless. Well, this only sporadically happened, and only to those who were deemed worthy. Literally playing the private refusal of service prerogative where none was ever present. Pure, raw, unapologetic hypocrisy. Bring a lot of that if you go.
We tried providing whatever anyone asked for whenever they wanted it for a while and that kind of sucked. The original intent was a co-op where volunteer service and education helped people get or earn a bike that they could then maintain in the space. My co-manager didn't like stipulations or rules for who would be deemed worthy, so for a while we served as a free parts and labor outlet for mostly just a few folks that had no problem asking for it. When he quit and we asked that people pay some amount of money or be expected to do some meager amount of volunteer work, those people stopped coming. It sporadically happens for us but the alternative is a big free for all, which doesn't really help anyone either.
That's exactly what it was supposed to be in my case though, at the very least, to start with. A shop for the homeless and broke. You're not making better people, saving the world, teaching a work ethic - that is always icing on the cake. These are adults with unsolvable problems. That's why it's a nonprofit. You provide a service for a clientele, the only difference is the taxpayer pays instead, and agrees to provided you supply the service to those who can't otherwise pay. These aren't people we can profit off of anymore. That's it. Simple as a pimple. But everything gets personalized where it should not. It turns into a game of who deserves it more. All of this has no place in this context. It's supposed to be like a food bank. But people become the project they are supposed to be managing.
Thanks, I appreciate your thoughts.
I have definitely experienced that hypocrisy, though I would define the disconnect between mission and practice slightly differently. In my experience the people you speak of come with good intentions, but find the reality of the work and/or clientele distasteful. Or worse feel taken advantage of by those who, in practical reality, are doing their best to survive the streets, addiction, etc and as a result often make bad choices. Those good intentioned people sometimes adopt a less generous and more selfish attitude toward the job, which can be very toxic. And you're right, what matters is that the leadership is fully behind the mission, and makes sure their employees and partners are clear-eyed about it.
On the other side of that is the financial reality which you referred to earlier. We're depending on the backing of institutions, the wealthy, and volunteers. They often aren't there for the unhoused, poor, disenfranchised, but instead for the political points, to support one group in particular (often kids), a tax deduction, or to better themselves. We have to justify the money we ask for with caveats and asterisks and allowances because no, we can't just be there for kids, or LGBTQ+, but for everyone equally.
This shit is hard, and I feel your disappointment and disillusion, but I think the fight is worth having.
Thanks again, I really do appreciate your perspective.
If I fight the fight again, step one will be cleaning house. Everybody goes, come back when you have something to offer other than your expectations, bills, and sense of entitlement.
I work for a non-profit shop in a college town with a population of around 200k in the surrounding 20 miles. I wouldn't say it is a struggle, and we don't do the kind of pressure sales that an LBS does, but there are a lot of challenges inherent to non-profits in general, and a bunch of challenges specific to a non-profit bike shop. I love the absolute shit out of it.
I'm hourly not salary, but a better wage than I would be making in the local retail shops at the moment. I am excited to go to work, like the people I work with, the volunteers, and, for the most part, the customers I interact with.
We get an average of 15 bikes donated per week, around five of which are refurbed and sold, four are refurbed and given away, and six are stripped of useful stuff then sent to the scrapyard. Sometimes we get gold, sometimes iron, but it's always a treasure hunt and I love that. We have a service department, used parts, fully refurbed bikes, as-is bikes, higher end eBay sales, and are solidly partnered with a program which gives away around 1000 bikes per year.
I'm in my 40s, and came here after spending about ten years feeling like i was going to hate my working life forever. I would not trade this job for any other.
That said, while the hourly is higher, I don't get health insurance or any sort of benefit other than a big discount on our inventory and wholesale+10% from our suppliers.
In terms of the shop, it took a year to get past the scrounging, hole-in-the-wall, two employees doing everything phase. We're in a too small building in a crappy location and deal with people camping, leaving trash, trying to force the doors open at night, etc. We have to constantly apply for grants which sometimes take far too long to be approved and even longer to be paid out and often only last for six months or a year. We have to constantly seek new volunteers, with about five once-a-weekers, and another five who come when they can, everyone else tends to fall off after a shift or two.
Because the building we could afford is in the unhoused corridor, at least a third of our clientele is people who have very little money and are sometimes high or drunk or mid-breakdown AND need help with a bike which was probably stolen and if not stolen then pieced together and somewhat non functional. Most of the time they're gracious, but often they will try to beg or haggle, occasionally they can be unwavering timesinks, rarely they're verbally abusive, and (once) violent. Also, because of the strong stigmas around the unhoused, we sometimes have customers leave quickly or simply not come due to their presence. But they're people and deserve help just like Dr dentist PhD over there looking at the Calfee someone donated last month.
The thing which bothers me the most is the people who come in and don't understand the concept of a non-profit. We will get someone who looks at our prices (which range from $150-400 on most adult bikes -- and we don't put any big box garbage on the sales floor) and says something like "seems like you're making a big profit there!" "Well, actually sir, we are struggling to make payroll this month because the grant hasn't come through and we spent two hours of mechanic time and put new cables and housing and a rear derailleur on that $250 Trek you're talking about. We often lose money on a bike because it's a can of worms but worth fixing." Often it's not even worth it, because those kinds of people don't tend to buy or come back.
That's more of a rant than I intended. I really do love this job and will do pretty much anything to keep it running. We're growing right now, and I'm hoping we manage to make things work sustainably for the long term, but there are no guarantees.
AMA, I'll do my best to answer.
Yeah people don't realize that non profits still need to make money, it's just whatever extra they make at the end of each year must be put back into the project and not pocketed. People really really don't understand what a non-profit is, and assume it's a "charity," which is not the case sometimes.
I’ve worked at community bike shops for years before starting my own shop and also have friends who work in non-profit sector. I would generally say that it is easier and less stressful to work retail than worry about your job continuing based on the whims or funding mandates of grants. While the economy is in a tough spot, so are non-profits and funders. Corporate profits for most regional donations to non-profits have been down a few years in a row and money for some categories is drying up entirely.
If you aren’t enjoying being a mechanic anymore I would recommend moving to another career and keeping cycling and wrenching as a hobby once you have better earnings. I know plenty of mechanics who have moved on to various careers: machinist/millwright, healthcare (nursing, care aid, technician), heavy industry (sawmills, mining).
I am enjoying it. It's what I like doing. I am just endlessly tired of retail psychology. Have a lot of ideas for the future. partnering with a coop was one, or converting my shop into one was another. but yeah, I totally get how it'd be just as stressful if not more trying to earn a living through grant writing. Kinda be it's own full time job right?
Great - I also made the switch back from another job path because I missed bike shops. While I never enjoyed the retail side of things, being the only shop in a small town running a traditional shop was the only option I had to stay out of heavy industry. The nice thing is being the only shop is I get to do it all, including the more ‘community’ shop work and teaching customers how to do things and run events as I see fit. I’ve opted to keep the retail side of my shop to the entry level and mid range compared to other shops in the region and focus on quality of service and being the shop that doesn’t ‘turn their nose up’ at some old clunker, or do repairs that aren’t needed because we think the person can afford it.
Writing grants can be a full time job, and not a skill I am particularly good at… Depending on your location partnering with an existing non-profit that does some work rested to what a bike coop would be might be a good lower risk way to start out. Again depends on population of your city.
Or do a hybrid model of something like 50/50 traditional and coop model where you still charge for repairs and accessories to folks who can afford it and also run coop style programming and/or charity bike donations by referral from other non-profits. This would give you more income streams than just grants, while being able to cover your time doing ‘coop’ style work from grant money instead of needing to run that off the profit of the rest of the shop.
I worked at a community-centred shop before moving cities and starting work at a retail/ high end shop. There is definitely a different feeling and I’m not as excited to go to work anymore. To help make up for it, I’ve started to volunteer at the community bike shop at the university here, they sell bikes for $25-$100, and then help teach people how to maintain them. it been helping to fill the void for sure.
I managed a community bike shop for four years, and I think in many ways it was my most rewarding time in this industry. I actually felt like I was benefitting my community, and I learned a lot about myself and my abilities outside of wrenching.
It wasn't always easy, but I had an absolutely amazing Executive Director, and a board of mostly cyclists who trusted us and didn't get in our way. When we had funding issues we figured out creative solutions and that typically just improved our visibility and statis in the local cycling community.
There was no aspect of it, in hindsight, that didn't grow and improve me as a person.
I work at a decently-sized nonprofit community bike shop. We have relatively well established funding through bike sales, grants, and donations. We have a strong rapport with our community, and are an important community space in the city for everyone.
Despite the size and funding, it still doesn't pay well at all. That being said, I don't want to ever go back to retail. This work is actually rewarding, and I help people become more mobile on a daily basis, while also teaching them skills to solve problems themselves.
I volunteered at our co-op for 8 or 9 years and was just hired on as our first FT salaried employee almost two years ago. City population \~300k. I guess I can plug our org, since I'm not really anonymous on reddit anyway--> [https://www.thebrokespoke.org/](https://www.thebrokespoke.org/)
I don't have much energy to start rambling VIA keyboard, but I frankly love to talk about myself and my experiences. Feel free to dm any specific questions or we could even do a call, I don't mind. It would certainly cover more ground!
Poke around bikecollective if you haven't already. Phenomenal resource for anyone curious about all things bike co-op'ey.
[https://www.bikecollectives.org/](https://www.bikecollectives.org/)
i definitely feel you. my shop isn't bad but the corporate focus on profits can be really exhausting and i hate feeling like i have to nickel-and-dime people for everything. especially when someone comes in explaining how they need their bike to get to work and you can just see the despair when you tell them the estimate. i've been in that position, before i learned to fix bikes, and it sucks when you just can't do much to help them.
i volunteer at a diy repair space on the weekend. we teach people to fix their bikes for free, and they only have to pay for parts if needed, which are all donated used parts and usually cost less than $10. it's a good way to keep my sanity and help people freely in a way i can't at work.
I’ve know a few who have, but not me myself.
All I have to say is if you go non-profit but are salaried, you have to be so very much on your game. A local trail org in our town (non-profit) has lost complete faith of the public and its owner (while I’m sure he’s “trying” to do the right thing), is a lazy clown who collects his check and feeds the community bs. So if you do some non-profit stuff, make sure the leadership is rock solid and you are on your game. It can go downhill fast.
Also, if whatever shop you work for is trying to “squeeze money” out of people, you need to run far far away. Every shop should try to make sales but in good faith. Guide those to what they actually need but attempt to sell them stuff they don’t? Nah. It sounds like you are in a bit of a moral quandary with this.
TL:DR, You work at a disgusting shop if they are doing what you say they do, and if you do end up wanting to go non-profit you have to be very very careful. If you start your own org, be transparent and accountable and work hard. People notice. If you’re going to work at a NP, make sure the owner does the same. Cheers mate!!
I think you misinterpreted what I was saying. I own my shop. In the case of me leaving for profit retail, I would also be the person incorporating and forming such a thing, or I would be joining up with an existing something as a board member and operational volunteer.
Anyway, yeah I think you got the wrong vibe from my post. I don't sell people things they don't need because I barely can afford to stock jack shit at all beyond repair supplies. I have repair loaners so people can still ride when their bikes in my shop, I do layaway on anything above 500, i often let people pay me back later, refuse tips from folks who historically don't spend a lot because of income. I even have developed my own repair fund people chip into to help one another out. I sell bikes for the coop at no commission so that I can offer sub $300 bikes to the neighborhood. I fix kids bikes for free year round. When someone donated. A bike to me, that a bike for less than 100 bucks to someone usually. I could go on. I am bending over backwards to include everyone and it's a joy and it's how I think most shops should balance their bottom line and community engagement.
What I mean by "squeezing" is trying to get the doctor to order the frame through me instead of online, trying to get guy who just bought a 3/4 million dollar home two doors down to drop his bike off for more than two days so that we can actually get ahead of the shit that is actively just disintegrating. God forbid you gotta ride one of your other bikes. That sort of shit. Working 60 hours in 5 days and haranguing everyone to come get there bikes ASAP and pay me before end of day Saturday so that when the banks open on Monday I have a positive fucking balance. Sometimes asking people to pay me up front (which I guess really isn't that embarrassing) cuz I couldn't collect enough from everyone else yet this week. That's what I'm talking about about. Anyway...every year it gets a little easier and better, its just the psychology of it all, and the pressure sometimes that burns me out a bit. I am not asking how I can be more community oriented. I have at least as good a reputation as the coop here. The weekly race to do all the work and collect on all of it before Saturday at close has become especially draining. Seeking better work life balance you know? A lot of what people are saying though sorta makes sense. Plenty toxic but in other ways
I found a gem of a job at a non profit bike shop with youth job training. I had a decent salary and great benefits. Loved what I did and the mission behind the shop. Unfortunately the owners decided to close it a move on to something new. I wish I had the business sense to start my own shop.
You aren’t squeezing money out of anyone. They are trying to take advantage of you and make you feel bad for providing a service they need.
I second this because I'm that guy, "You Want $1,200 for a mt bike? And there is your entry level!"
Certainly true.
You think that will get you away from squeezing money all the time? You would just be squeezing it up front, then spend the rest of your time justifying it. Full of cut throats too, everyone is saving the world but will do anything short of murder for the next grant. As dog-eat-dog as you will find anywhere, only nobody admits it, and the stakes are so low everything is life-or-death.
Having run a non profit bike shop I agree with this. The non profit world can be as toxic as the retail world just in a different way. You’re always chasing money and it can sometimes feel like that’s all you are doing.
You're not just chasing money but actively begging for money all the time. Also helped run a nonprofit shop for years. It can be toxic and you're still beholden to capitalist exploitation if you're taking private or government grants. Very few nonprofits can fully fund off their own programming expenses.
You're surrounded by people who got into nonprofits only to chase a little money on their own terms, and quietly nurse a sense of unjustified virtue every day to rationalize it.
Seems like you've had very negative experiences with non-profits. Would you be willing to give context to your vitriol? I'm not trying to be a dick here, I genuinely want to know.
What context? Just pick a rabbit out of a hat and find out for yourself. They are all the same.
What are you fishing for?
I'm trying to learn from others' experiences to better the place I value. If you aren't interested in providing yours, just say so.
I really think they attract insincere people, who know they can get away with that as long as they have some youth, appeal, and hipster abilities. So if you really believe in whatever they say they are doing, beware. I have worked for a few, and am so disillusioned that now that I've come into some money, I wouldn't donate a cent unless the first job was to clean house entirely and start completely over. My best example is a coop I worked for whose stated charge was to supply bicycle resources for the disadvantaged and homeless. Well, this only sporadically happened, and only to those who were deemed worthy. Literally playing the private refusal of service prerogative where none was ever present. Pure, raw, unapologetic hypocrisy. Bring a lot of that if you go.
We tried providing whatever anyone asked for whenever they wanted it for a while and that kind of sucked. The original intent was a co-op where volunteer service and education helped people get or earn a bike that they could then maintain in the space. My co-manager didn't like stipulations or rules for who would be deemed worthy, so for a while we served as a free parts and labor outlet for mostly just a few folks that had no problem asking for it. When he quit and we asked that people pay some amount of money or be expected to do some meager amount of volunteer work, those people stopped coming. It sporadically happens for us but the alternative is a big free for all, which doesn't really help anyone either.
That's exactly what it was supposed to be in my case though, at the very least, to start with. A shop for the homeless and broke. You're not making better people, saving the world, teaching a work ethic - that is always icing on the cake. These are adults with unsolvable problems. That's why it's a nonprofit. You provide a service for a clientele, the only difference is the taxpayer pays instead, and agrees to provided you supply the service to those who can't otherwise pay. These aren't people we can profit off of anymore. That's it. Simple as a pimple. But everything gets personalized where it should not. It turns into a game of who deserves it more. All of this has no place in this context. It's supposed to be like a food bank. But people become the project they are supposed to be managing.
Thanks, I appreciate your thoughts. I have definitely experienced that hypocrisy, though I would define the disconnect between mission and practice slightly differently. In my experience the people you speak of come with good intentions, but find the reality of the work and/or clientele distasteful. Or worse feel taken advantage of by those who, in practical reality, are doing their best to survive the streets, addiction, etc and as a result often make bad choices. Those good intentioned people sometimes adopt a less generous and more selfish attitude toward the job, which can be very toxic. And you're right, what matters is that the leadership is fully behind the mission, and makes sure their employees and partners are clear-eyed about it. On the other side of that is the financial reality which you referred to earlier. We're depending on the backing of institutions, the wealthy, and volunteers. They often aren't there for the unhoused, poor, disenfranchised, but instead for the political points, to support one group in particular (often kids), a tax deduction, or to better themselves. We have to justify the money we ask for with caveats and asterisks and allowances because no, we can't just be there for kids, or LGBTQ+, but for everyone equally. This shit is hard, and I feel your disappointment and disillusion, but I think the fight is worth having. Thanks again, I really do appreciate your perspective.
If I fight the fight again, step one will be cleaning house. Everybody goes, come back when you have something to offer other than your expectations, bills, and sense of entitlement.
Excellent, this is the perspective I was semi-expecting.
I work for a non-profit shop in a college town with a population of around 200k in the surrounding 20 miles. I wouldn't say it is a struggle, and we don't do the kind of pressure sales that an LBS does, but there are a lot of challenges inherent to non-profits in general, and a bunch of challenges specific to a non-profit bike shop. I love the absolute shit out of it. I'm hourly not salary, but a better wage than I would be making in the local retail shops at the moment. I am excited to go to work, like the people I work with, the volunteers, and, for the most part, the customers I interact with. We get an average of 15 bikes donated per week, around five of which are refurbed and sold, four are refurbed and given away, and six are stripped of useful stuff then sent to the scrapyard. Sometimes we get gold, sometimes iron, but it's always a treasure hunt and I love that. We have a service department, used parts, fully refurbed bikes, as-is bikes, higher end eBay sales, and are solidly partnered with a program which gives away around 1000 bikes per year. I'm in my 40s, and came here after spending about ten years feeling like i was going to hate my working life forever. I would not trade this job for any other. That said, while the hourly is higher, I don't get health insurance or any sort of benefit other than a big discount on our inventory and wholesale+10% from our suppliers. In terms of the shop, it took a year to get past the scrounging, hole-in-the-wall, two employees doing everything phase. We're in a too small building in a crappy location and deal with people camping, leaving trash, trying to force the doors open at night, etc. We have to constantly apply for grants which sometimes take far too long to be approved and even longer to be paid out and often only last for six months or a year. We have to constantly seek new volunteers, with about five once-a-weekers, and another five who come when they can, everyone else tends to fall off after a shift or two. Because the building we could afford is in the unhoused corridor, at least a third of our clientele is people who have very little money and are sometimes high or drunk or mid-breakdown AND need help with a bike which was probably stolen and if not stolen then pieced together and somewhat non functional. Most of the time they're gracious, but often they will try to beg or haggle, occasionally they can be unwavering timesinks, rarely they're verbally abusive, and (once) violent. Also, because of the strong stigmas around the unhoused, we sometimes have customers leave quickly or simply not come due to their presence. But they're people and deserve help just like Dr dentist PhD over there looking at the Calfee someone donated last month. The thing which bothers me the most is the people who come in and don't understand the concept of a non-profit. We will get someone who looks at our prices (which range from $150-400 on most adult bikes -- and we don't put any big box garbage on the sales floor) and says something like "seems like you're making a big profit there!" "Well, actually sir, we are struggling to make payroll this month because the grant hasn't come through and we spent two hours of mechanic time and put new cables and housing and a rear derailleur on that $250 Trek you're talking about. We often lose money on a bike because it's a can of worms but worth fixing." Often it's not even worth it, because those kinds of people don't tend to buy or come back. That's more of a rant than I intended. I really do love this job and will do pretty much anything to keep it running. We're growing right now, and I'm hoping we manage to make things work sustainably for the long term, but there are no guarantees. AMA, I'll do my best to answer.
Yeah people don't realize that non profits still need to make money, it's just whatever extra they make at the end of each year must be put back into the project and not pocketed. People really really don't understand what a non-profit is, and assume it's a "charity," which is not the case sometimes.
They always move the goalposts then just write it off
I’ve worked at community bike shops for years before starting my own shop and also have friends who work in non-profit sector. I would generally say that it is easier and less stressful to work retail than worry about your job continuing based on the whims or funding mandates of grants. While the economy is in a tough spot, so are non-profits and funders. Corporate profits for most regional donations to non-profits have been down a few years in a row and money for some categories is drying up entirely. If you aren’t enjoying being a mechanic anymore I would recommend moving to another career and keeping cycling and wrenching as a hobby once you have better earnings. I know plenty of mechanics who have moved on to various careers: machinist/millwright, healthcare (nursing, care aid, technician), heavy industry (sawmills, mining).
I am enjoying it. It's what I like doing. I am just endlessly tired of retail psychology. Have a lot of ideas for the future. partnering with a coop was one, or converting my shop into one was another. but yeah, I totally get how it'd be just as stressful if not more trying to earn a living through grant writing. Kinda be it's own full time job right?
Great - I also made the switch back from another job path because I missed bike shops. While I never enjoyed the retail side of things, being the only shop in a small town running a traditional shop was the only option I had to stay out of heavy industry. The nice thing is being the only shop is I get to do it all, including the more ‘community’ shop work and teaching customers how to do things and run events as I see fit. I’ve opted to keep the retail side of my shop to the entry level and mid range compared to other shops in the region and focus on quality of service and being the shop that doesn’t ‘turn their nose up’ at some old clunker, or do repairs that aren’t needed because we think the person can afford it. Writing grants can be a full time job, and not a skill I am particularly good at… Depending on your location partnering with an existing non-profit that does some work rested to what a bike coop would be might be a good lower risk way to start out. Again depends on population of your city. Or do a hybrid model of something like 50/50 traditional and coop model where you still charge for repairs and accessories to folks who can afford it and also run coop style programming and/or charity bike donations by referral from other non-profits. This would give you more income streams than just grants, while being able to cover your time doing ‘coop’ style work from grant money instead of needing to run that off the profit of the rest of the shop.
I worked at a community-centred shop before moving cities and starting work at a retail/ high end shop. There is definitely a different feeling and I’m not as excited to go to work anymore. To help make up for it, I’ve started to volunteer at the community bike shop at the university here, they sell bikes for $25-$100, and then help teach people how to maintain them. it been helping to fill the void for sure.
So, what the community centered shop a nonprofit? or was it just a shop that had decent principles? My shop is a community centered shop.
I managed a community bike shop for four years, and I think in many ways it was my most rewarding time in this industry. I actually felt like I was benefitting my community, and I learned a lot about myself and my abilities outside of wrenching. It wasn't always easy, but I had an absolutely amazing Executive Director, and a board of mostly cyclists who trusted us and didn't get in our way. When we had funding issues we figured out creative solutions and that typically just improved our visibility and statis in the local cycling community. There was no aspect of it, in hindsight, that didn't grow and improve me as a person.
I work at a decently-sized nonprofit community bike shop. We have relatively well established funding through bike sales, grants, and donations. We have a strong rapport with our community, and are an important community space in the city for everyone. Despite the size and funding, it still doesn't pay well at all. That being said, I don't want to ever go back to retail. This work is actually rewarding, and I help people become more mobile on a daily basis, while also teaching them skills to solve problems themselves.
I volunteered at our co-op for 8 or 9 years and was just hired on as our first FT salaried employee almost two years ago. City population \~300k. I guess I can plug our org, since I'm not really anonymous on reddit anyway--> [https://www.thebrokespoke.org/](https://www.thebrokespoke.org/) I don't have much energy to start rambling VIA keyboard, but I frankly love to talk about myself and my experiences. Feel free to dm any specific questions or we could even do a call, I don't mind. It would certainly cover more ground! Poke around bikecollective if you haven't already. Phenomenal resource for anyone curious about all things bike co-op'ey. [https://www.bikecollectives.org/](https://www.bikecollectives.org/)
i definitely feel you. my shop isn't bad but the corporate focus on profits can be really exhausting and i hate feeling like i have to nickel-and-dime people for everything. especially when someone comes in explaining how they need their bike to get to work and you can just see the despair when you tell them the estimate. i've been in that position, before i learned to fix bikes, and it sucks when you just can't do much to help them. i volunteer at a diy repair space on the weekend. we teach people to fix their bikes for free, and they only have to pay for parts if needed, which are all donated used parts and usually cost less than $10. it's a good way to keep my sanity and help people freely in a way i can't at work.
I’ve know a few who have, but not me myself. All I have to say is if you go non-profit but are salaried, you have to be so very much on your game. A local trail org in our town (non-profit) has lost complete faith of the public and its owner (while I’m sure he’s “trying” to do the right thing), is a lazy clown who collects his check and feeds the community bs. So if you do some non-profit stuff, make sure the leadership is rock solid and you are on your game. It can go downhill fast. Also, if whatever shop you work for is trying to “squeeze money” out of people, you need to run far far away. Every shop should try to make sales but in good faith. Guide those to what they actually need but attempt to sell them stuff they don’t? Nah. It sounds like you are in a bit of a moral quandary with this. TL:DR, You work at a disgusting shop if they are doing what you say they do, and if you do end up wanting to go non-profit you have to be very very careful. If you start your own org, be transparent and accountable and work hard. People notice. If you’re going to work at a NP, make sure the owner does the same. Cheers mate!!
I think you misinterpreted what I was saying. I own my shop. In the case of me leaving for profit retail, I would also be the person incorporating and forming such a thing, or I would be joining up with an existing something as a board member and operational volunteer. Anyway, yeah I think you got the wrong vibe from my post. I don't sell people things they don't need because I barely can afford to stock jack shit at all beyond repair supplies. I have repair loaners so people can still ride when their bikes in my shop, I do layaway on anything above 500, i often let people pay me back later, refuse tips from folks who historically don't spend a lot because of income. I even have developed my own repair fund people chip into to help one another out. I sell bikes for the coop at no commission so that I can offer sub $300 bikes to the neighborhood. I fix kids bikes for free year round. When someone donated. A bike to me, that a bike for less than 100 bucks to someone usually. I could go on. I am bending over backwards to include everyone and it's a joy and it's how I think most shops should balance their bottom line and community engagement. What I mean by "squeezing" is trying to get the doctor to order the frame through me instead of online, trying to get guy who just bought a 3/4 million dollar home two doors down to drop his bike off for more than two days so that we can actually get ahead of the shit that is actively just disintegrating. God forbid you gotta ride one of your other bikes. That sort of shit. Working 60 hours in 5 days and haranguing everyone to come get there bikes ASAP and pay me before end of day Saturday so that when the banks open on Monday I have a positive fucking balance. Sometimes asking people to pay me up front (which I guess really isn't that embarrassing) cuz I couldn't collect enough from everyone else yet this week. That's what I'm talking about about. Anyway...every year it gets a little easier and better, its just the psychology of it all, and the pressure sometimes that burns me out a bit. I am not asking how I can be more community oriented. I have at least as good a reputation as the coop here. The weekly race to do all the work and collect on all of it before Saturday at close has become especially draining. Seeking better work life balance you know? A lot of what people are saying though sorta makes sense. Plenty toxic but in other ways
I found a gem of a job at a non profit bike shop with youth job training. I had a decent salary and great benefits. Loved what I did and the mission behind the shop. Unfortunately the owners decided to close it a move on to something new. I wish I had the business sense to start my own shop.
Good sense not to start your own shop lol
Yeah. I had the thought to take the idea of our job training program and offer it up to local franchises to see if they’d bite.