I don't believe ANYONE posting on the Paceline forum regarding Rivendell has any kind of real understanding about how much money it costs to run a company like Rivendell.
What other bike COMPANY (yes, it's a company, NOT a shop) with only 10 or 11 multi-hat wearing employees produces as much of their own stuff? Bikes, frames, components, clothing, lugs, bags, specialty racks, soap...C'mon, the list is endless. All of those items require multiple prototypes (which ---"surprise, surprise'" --the makers-suppliers do not provide for free); new tooling; materials; manufacturing; safety testing.....All of that costs LOTS of money. And the Rivendell mark-up is MINIMAL to keep all of these cool items as affordable as possible. Sure, they still "cost," but if they were marked up the way Made in Bangladesh Name Brand Designer Duds were, well, they'd be 10 times as much. Maybe 20X! Year round and especially during the holidays, I get tons of emails and catalogs from companies pushing their merchandise at 50% off. Rivendell can't afford to do that. They'd be losing money, big time. How can other places sell their stuff at 50% off and still thrive? Yep, they pay very little for their Made In Who Knows Where merchandise. So, Grant asking people to consider buying a $20 gift certificate after a slow month seems pretty harmless to me. And the guy on the Paceline forum who thinks December is a big month for the bike business has obviously never worked in the bicycle industry. It's a terrible month. People don't buy bikes as gifts, and most regular customers are busy spending their disposable income on their friends and family and kids....NOT on bikes and bike parts for themselves. I remember when Rivendell used to have paid memberships. $15 a year. It was a great way to make a small contribution in exchange for the tangible and intangible things Rivendell did, and to be a part of it all. These days, I'm seeing more and more blogs and sites charging to view their content. Riv doesn't do that. It's free. Heck, I'd pay $15 a year ---or more!--- JUST to read Grant's Blahg. Happy New Year to everyone who digs Rivendell and keeps 'em going! John Rivelo, LLC (Where we're proud & happy to be selling the best bikes in the world) Portland, Ore. On Monday, December 31, 2018 at 2:13:01 PM UTC-8, Steve Palincsar wrote: > > A few days ago over on the Paceline forum, in response to a recent Riv > email about a slow holiday season they've restarted the "Riv Saved For Now" > discussion. https://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=218496&page=4 > starting at post no. 51 > > I'm a bit surprised there's been no discussion of the subject here. > > -- > Steve Palincsar > Alexandria, Virginia > USA > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
