Des Moines Bike Collective Shop Manual

Accepting a donation of multiple bicycles

From time to time, the collective receives donations of multiple bicycles. The arrival of 10 to 50 bicycles may be really stretch room in the shop, tax volunteer efforts and even clog up fire exits if not carefully managed.

• Before deciding to accept the donation, it should be -- tactfully -- determined if the donation meets collective objectives. A donation consisting solely of department store bicycles might be more than collective resources can possibly handle. (Note: there may be many ways to handle such situations. For example, a large donation of department store bicycles might be an opportunity to receive a cash donation from the donor.)

• When the truck delivering the bicycles arrives, it is best to offload the bicycles through the staging area, which is currently at the side of the shop. This will prevent disruption to any sales or customer viewing in the main area of the shop.

• Once the bicycles are offloaded, they should be categorized as quickly as possible: some may be scrapped, while others other might receive a quick evaluation (generally getting a green tag indicating their position in the repair queue.)

• If possible, the scrapping of unwanted bicycles should be the first priority, particularly if there are many to be dealt with. Scrapping is a relatively quick process and the frames can be kept in the scrapping area near the bike wash.

• If there are many bikes to be recycled, arrangements should be made as quickly as possible so as not to overwhelm any future donations.

• If the donated bicycles are making move through the shop difficult, arrangements should be made to move some other these to off-site storage.