In my town, there’s a local gardening store. I often go there by car, but recently having gotten my first commuter bike several months ago, I decided to bike there. It’s a longer ride, but no big deal; I had other stops, and I only needed seed packets. I got there as they opened, and I started looking for somewhere to lock my bike. There are several dozen parking spaces and plenty of storefront, but for the life of me, I couldn’t find a bike rack. Turns out there was none, so I did the next-best thing and used an out-of-the-way cart return as a makeshift rack, ran inside feeling hurried and embarrassed, bought the seeds, and left.
Instead of giving up, I emailed them talking about my intention to commute by bike when possible, my history shopping with them, why I choose them over a nearer and more bike-accessible store, my experience that day, an argument for why not only I would appreciate it but why others probably would, and how small businesses can get long-lasting, off-the-shelf bike racks for fairly cheap. Not even 90 minutes passed before I got an email which CC’d the business’ management team as follows:
Hi [name]
I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to write to us with your suggestion.
We will seriously look in to the possibility of a bike rack.
And thank you for your business too. We appreciate it.
In the meantime, also feel free to lock your bike up against our long line of metal fencing located along our driveway […] That should be reasonably secure as well.
Copying the [business name] manager team on this well [sic] to see what and where we can make this improvement.
I agree it’s strictly possible that I’m being brushed off, but given bike racks can be bought off-the-shelf so cheaply, given there are neighborhoods very nearby, given they sell plenty of small goods that anyone with a bike could pick up, given they’re a long-established business, and given they went so far as to CC the entire management team, I feel confident something might actually get done here. I hope this will not only let people who already want to bike there do so, but it might also give the idea to some people who don’t yet.
tbh, it doesn’t sound like you were brushed off.
Of course, their management might brush off the email they were cc’d on, lol
Yeah, I phrased that poorly; I should’ve said “will be brushed off”. The person who responded CC’d multiple people, so I can tell they weren’t just placating.
True you may eventually be brushed off but at least you were given a safe place to secure you bike in writing. That in itself is progress.
Honestly it might not seem like much but someone CCing their manager on this makes a difference.
Plus they have solid incentive to do this because 1. there’s no harm, 2. good optics. 3. bike racks are cheap
it really wouldn’t take much effort. hell, I’ll do it for em!Good idea, but you really need to include a photo of the bike rack. Or they’ll get one that has “space” for 10 front wheels, really only has space for 2 bikes (on either side), and a theif can just pick the whole thing up and throw it in a pickup truck because it isn’t connected to the ground at all
I wrote them a follow-up thanking them and giving them some tips on buying a bike rack – the kinds, the pros and cons, and what use cases they’re best-suited for.
Some cities will install bike racks for merchants if requested. In fact, some cities require bike racks as part of any planning permit.
