Question for PK

[Dawgee]

PK i was wondering if you ever thought of having like a yard sale and use the money to help towards Vietnam? Im sure alot of people on here have parts hanging around they would donate then sell the stuff and use all the profit for buying the land. Just a thought

[pk]

Good idea, Dawgee.

Maybe we can do this at the NEMBAfest as part of the BikeSwap Zone. Or maybe we can do something at the Hodges Village Dam Harpoon Ride on July 27th.

If we did the later, do you think you might be able to help organize it?

pk

[CouchingTiger]

Why not expand the criteria and just do a general yard sale, like with anything? We have been threatening to have a big old yardsale for a while now and figured that if you got a multi-family going and advertised in the yard-sale want-ads it would be pretty popular.

A general yardsale vs. a bike specific one would have a couple benefits. One is that it would have much greater appeal and the second is that it would have a much greater opportunity for donations as they wouldn't "have to be" bicycle related.

All we would need to do to make this happen is;

a) find out where to advertise (ask some yardsalers)
b) find a place to make/store donations
c) find a good location to have it (EZ access, local)
d) build some tables/racks
e) price it all up very reasonably
f) get volunteers to work it
g) have at it

-Couch

[C.P.]

NEMBA sponsored Yardsale + Bike Stuff sale = great idea.
However, in organizing such an event, a plan for what to do with items that don't sell would be a must. Imagine NEMBA being left with a truckload of stuff that people dont want...yikes

[CouchingTiger]

That has actually happened in the past even with a bike only sale (just ask AA).

Agreed, all junk must go somewhere. Usually some charity organization will come and get it wholesale at the end of the day if you plan ahead.

-Couch

[Tim]

I would vote for bike stuff only -- too big to manage otherwise!

Tim

[CouchingTiger]

The problem with bike stuff only is that the draw/gain is really too small for the outlay. The best success we had was at the VeloSwap a couple years back. That was an organized even for just this type of thing. I think that the take was in the hundreds of dollars. I believe that last year's sale at NEMBAfest raised significantly less money.

A large scale yard sale can be expencted to take in much more money than that. Besides, what bike parts donations can NEMBA expect? I know for last year's event there were only a hand full of folks who donated. PK, AA and I gave all of stuff away already.

Funny, a small highschool class in Bethel ME was able to organize a large scale yardsale last weekend. A significantly larger group of metropolitan, adult, professionals can't handle that type of challenge ;)

-Couch


I would vote for bike stuff only -- too big to manage otherwise!

Tim

[Dawgee]

I wouldnt be able to help organize it but i do have a few things id donate. Maybe a mix of bike stuff and normal stuff would be good. As far as getting stuck with stuff left over just keep track of who gave what then what doesnt sell give back. I know it be a pain in the rear but most things worth doing are. I have a Frame, a older Rox Shox fork a ridgid fork 3 flat bars (hardly used) and a few other things id be willing to donate seeing i dont have much money to donate to the cause.

[Z]

I wouldnt be able to help organize it but i do have a few things id donate. Maybe a mix of bike stuff and normal stuff would be good. As far as getting stuck with stuff left over just keep track of who gave what then what doesnt sell give back.

Yikes. Sounds like a nightmare to manage, especially without someone to organize the thing!

We need a fundraiser that makes a reasonable amount of money, without a lot of cash outlay or drain on PK and the usual NEMBA suspects (who are already overburdened). If there is a way to pull this off and bring in enough money to make it worthwhile, I'm all for it. But without someone driving this, I'm not sure how feasible this is!

Any takers?

[Dawgee]

Have the wives and girlfriends run it LOL j/k

[Tim]

Hey, think the folks running it would let NEMBA set up a yard sale at Pedrosfest in August? I'm assuming that NEMBA will have a presence there in any case, so maybe it could be done without a huge amount of extra effort?

I think it would be best / easiest to take donations of parts and then have all the proceeds go the NEMBA's Vietnam fund rather than take a percentage of sales or something like that.

Tim

[AA]

OK I figured I would have to chime in eventually. I was "volenteered" to be the bike swap guy over the past few years. We started at the Veloswap event at Wachusett mountain a few years ago. For those who dont know Veloswap is a bike swap event (bike part yard sale) that Velo news magazine does every year in Colorado (and sometimes is other locations). If you have never been to a bike swap befor it pretty cool. I used to go to the event in Palmer MA every fall for the cross race / bike swap. The basic idea is people unlod there old crap and people looking to buy want good deals. It is a true yard sale mentality. Typical exaples are handlebars for $1 and rigid forks for $4. At wachusett we had literally a pickup truck load of stuff that we scrounged up. I stayed up till 3AM the night before the event pricing everything and we ended up making just over $700. We skipped a year of doing a swap (Velo News didnt want to do the Wachusett event again) and we brought back the swap at NEMBA fest last fall. I had been collecting stuff from donors for over a year. At NEMBA fest I started by getting $75 in small bills for change and at the end of the day I gave PK a shade over $400 (this included the $75). Again a pickup truck load of stuff. The other problem is you are left with a pile of stuff that you need to bring home and donate some other way. See thread on the hazards of trying to give stuff away.

http://www.nemba.org/yabbse/index.php?board=18;action=display;threadid=1377;st art=0

Another issue is people want to give you junk that they can put out for the trash like Murray 3 speeds. Trust me no one wants them no matter how good they shift.

Anyway my point is its a LOT of work for a minimal payout. I was kicking random bike **** around my cellar for 3 years to net $1100. I'd rather just donate that much $$ and be done with it.

Now if you could get 5 or 6 people to split the duties it wouldnt be bad. Perhaps break it up geographically so one person isnt trying to manage the huge pile of "treasures". What I'm trying to say is I'd do it again if I get some help and for what it's worth I would shoot for NEMBAfest in the fall (as opposed to Pedros).

[CouchingTiger]

I still contest that the bike only approach is too limited in potential. Looks at the best case, Veloswap the other year. We only took in $700. I'd still say a general yardsale would do better and allow for much better quality and quantity donations. It could also be had anywhere.

Oh well, will see.

-Couch