Originally Posted by
MarcusT
So, The GCN channel on Youtube made a video about supporting your LBS. I put in a comment about most bike shops do not have the choice I like and if ordered will take weeks and how after all is paid and done you become invisible. The LBS should be doing everything to keep my business, not the other way around.
Their reply?
"Biscuits and beer is a great way to make friends in the local bike shop."
Bribery to give them my money?
Originally Posted by
RH Clark
I take that to mean something more along the lines of, "Hey take the time to get to know us. It's hurtful if you come in and take up hours of our time to learn what you want, then go buy it somewhere else."
I am fine with that attitude and I have learned to avoid one shop and go to another. The one I avoid doesn't really want my small stuff business, like parts and accessories. The other is glad to help me out with anything and is more of a Co-Op that helps the community and promotes cycling. I've spent a few hundred with them in a few months and it's been great. What is sad is that the shop I avoid has to rely on people who just want to buy bikes and drop them off for cleaning and to be maintained. It makes me wonder which type shop will survive in the long term.
Look, there is no reason to give gifts to people before they do me a service .... and no need to give tips if they charge full price.
Obviously, trying on shoes or helmets at a shop and then ordering online is bad morality. But that really isn't the issue. it is that they don't even have the stuff to try on, or that what they do have doesn't interest me, particularly at three times the cost online.
The only things I would Need to try on would be helmets or shoes. And as far as that goes, I have a "Bell"-shaped head, so I just order bell helmets online. Shoes I need extra-extra-wide ... and stores simply don't carry them.
So ... why should I bring biscuits and beers?
And seriously, why should I Need to make friends with the staff at Any store? After all, it is just a business transaction. Are they going to give me discounts in excess of the value of the biscuits and beer? Then how is it a positive for me? Are they going to do better work if i bribe them? In that case I not only won't bribe them, I won't go to the shop. I deserve the best whether I bribe you or not---Every customer does. Am i going to go to the head of the list if I bribe them? How is that fair? Unless that is stated shop policy .... and I really cannot imagine any shop posting a sigh saying, "if you want it today, you gotta pay." Eh?
If i go to a store to buy something, I expect to get good treatment, and honest pricing. If I am not a regular, and a regular comes in, and is in a hurry, I understand that s/he will get preferred service ... but other than that, i expect to be serviced in the order in which I arrived. Even if the person right after me buys stuff there weekly. If someone wheels in the bike the shop tunes up weekly and says, "I have a race tomorrow, can you swap out XX" then I would say, "yeah, go ahead of me, i can wait a day, the race cannot." If the person is getting less time-sensitive work ... first come, first served, or I will never come back.
As far as buying the staff a six-pack of imported beer .... Let's get the relationship straight, here. I am the Customer. They want My business. I can go elsewhere. They should be offering Me incentives to use their services and give them my money. How brainwashed are bike riders if they think they need to pay for the privilege of paying for for bike parts and service?
The bike shop I rarely visit is run by people I used to ride with (before i got slow.) I will hopefully regain lost speed and ride with them again. We recognize each other when I go in, some know my name. i know some of them by name, and the rest through shared experience. If i want to share some ale with them ... it will be for their company, after work, not as a bribe to do the work I am already paying for. And friends or not, they had best be professional in doing business with me.
Why should bike shops be different from every other business on the planet?