Bicycle Shop Bailout Plan Debated in Congress

This is a headline you won’t see anytime soon. Obviously the big story is the financial crisis hitting our country. But there is something to my headline. From one source, about 30% of bike shops in the U.S. have closed in the last 5 years.

I have not studied the problem facing these retailers. So I can’t go into detail on that here. But here is what I think. Bicycle shops are small businesses. Big industry, but small business. Nobody is watching out for small business owners. We are on our own. These shops are also spread out. There might be one or two shops in any town or neighborhood.

Banks are big business. To some degree, banks are in the business business. They provide the gasoline for the economy. They are clearly more important than bike shops. Or corner bakeries. Or (gasp) print shops. So, banks and investment firms get government bailouts. Small business owners don’t get a “do-over.”

This is sad to me. As a small business owner I feel for these shop keepers. As a lifelong biker I am a sad customer. Bike shops and book stores are two of my favorite places to visit. Don’t get me started on book stores. They all but disappeared about 7 years ago.

I understand that the big banks need to be protected. They are too tied into our economy. However, I have not seen anything about consequences. Unless there is clear evidence of theft or fraud, I would not be happy seeing bankers put in jail. But having to pay back their ill gotten gains? Perhaps. But business survival has to make economic sense. Poorly managed businesses should fail or be bought out by smarter business people. Bike shops—the market is speaking. Investments banks—your time has come too. What do you think?

End of the Line for Kinko’s

We recently heard about the end of Kinko’s. If you haven’t heard, FedEx, the current owner of Kinko’s has decided to change their name from FedEx Kinko’s to FedEx Office. They will be dropping Kinko’s entirely.

This is a huge change for the printing and copying industry. For many years this brand-name was synonymous with photocopying. It was almost as popular as the name Xerox. Because it sounded funny it was the punch line of many jokes and story lines in sitcoms. Now it’s just part of history.

As a printer I have mixed feelings about FedEx’s decision. Kinko’s has been a standard bearer in our market’s mind. While printers have not measured themselves to Kinko’s, some customers have. This has given us a good standard to follow to point out our strengths versus them. For instance, in Illinois copy shops like Kinko’s have to charge sales tax. Print shops do not. We are considered value added resellers. In my county, this saves my customers 10%.

Nevertheless, there is still power in brand names. Once I had a customer take a long walk across my parking lot to walk in and asked me if I knew where the closest Kinko’s was. When I asked him what he was looking for and he just said copies, I said that I could do them here. He seemed to be more than a little surprised. He explained that he needed to have Kinko’s copies made. When I told him that we had similar equipment and we can do everything that they could do, he was still not satisfied. He left explaining that Kinko’s copies are better because they’re from Kinko’s.

FedEx’s decision to change the name is a puzzling one. They bought the company because it had the best name in the industry. Now that they have written off about one third of the value of the venerable copy shop, they have decided to strip most of the rest of the value of their purchase away too. It’s sort of like buying a McDonald’s Happy Meal and throwing away the toy.

Hello World!

So, here is my introductory, welcome to my blog posting. Like many beginning bloggers we find it necessary to explain that we are blogging. Again, like most bloggers I hope to post witty, informative, and interesting information. I welcome your comments and questions.