Foo - The most painfull thing I had to do today

Man got me a part time gig at the WalMart. They made me bicycle builder. I thought I was going to be building bikes. Instead I spent 4 hours hacking away at 30 perfectly good bikes so no one would "steal" them from the trash. Some had bent wheels some were missing cables, or seats, or misc components, but everyone of them could be repaired and given to a kid who could use it. When asked about that they said they donate to the children's miracle network only. I offered to buy the bikes and they donate that money to the network. I offered a hundred bucks, because I felt that was better than trashing them. They said no. I'm baffled. Just seems like a waste that's all. Anyone know anything about bicycle co-ops? Or nonprofit community bike shops. I read about some in magazines, but don't know how to get started.

Brutal.

Blow the whistle!!!

Not Wal-Marts fault. It is a reflection on American society. Wal-Mart donates bike that had previously been returned. Kid falls and breaks arm. Low Income mommy see's a chance to make a few bucks and sue's WalMart because they donated a known faulty bike to her little junior. It's the lawyers fault I tell ya.......

Speaking of safety, I had to THROW away (not compost) 3200 pounds of bananas because they didn't have that last stage of gassing. In other words, they wouldn't ripen fast enough. Could we give it to the homeless shelter? NOOoooOOOooo. If somehow someone eats them too early and they get sick, we can get sued.

But that must have really sucked to break up bikes on purpose.

That is really as sad a story as I have heard but I am not surprised! Everyone today is worried about getting sued. It really is terrible!

I believe people are afraid without reason. If they donated the bikes to a non profit with stickers on each one saying not to ride them as they currently are broken it would (probably) pass the liability on to the non profit. The non profit should be incorporated and then fix the bikes and if one does break lawyer sues non profit that has a bank account of fifty bucks. Lose the fifty bucks and start another non profit same day. I believe the real reason Walmart won't give them away is that that would lower demand.

Get the attention of the press to help you.

before the Walmart slammers come out of the wood work......Keep in mind they donated $272.9 dollars to charity in 2006. More than any other company in the United States. There are many things we can slam Wal Mart on but I am not sure giving back to the community is one of them.

OH yes they donate but it is also a tax write off.

Maybe they should give to their employees first. Yes, they are a multimillion dollar company but a majority of their employees have to depend upon public services for their health care. Which in reality costs the taxpayer. How many Walmart employees besides management are full time and can make a house payment AND bills without subsidary help? How many WalMart employees have worked over time and not get paid? These are the very people that make the company successful. These are the hard workers that get out there and make the owners richer. Yet they still cannot support themselves fully without help from the rest of us.

WalMart is costing us more than they can ever donate.

Okay. I better stop. Sorry about that. Rant over.

Okay. I better stop. Sorry about that. Rant over.

Rants are good.... :) WalMart employees know the benefits and the pay before they get hired, just like anyone else. It is the employees choice. Besides management I don't think Walmart should be looked to as an employer for the head of the household. It is a job, not a career. Just like flipping burgers at McDonalds. If a WM employee's household budget is based around an hourly Walmart paycheck then they have done something very wrong earlier in life.

Eh, **** bikes with serious flaws to the surprise of nobody. Real good could be done by saving old bikes, fixing them up, and giving them away. Walmart bikes are probably better used as paper clip scap metal.

When you live in a town where WalMart pretty much takes over and puts all the other business out because of their "low" prices (predator pricing), they have no choice BUT to work there. There are many lawsuits still going on today because of the employees not getting the over time although they are told they HAVE to stay or else they lose the job.

Also, I still don't understand why they cannot provide decent affordable health care if they have so much money and say they are so interested in the welfare of Americans. I know they aren't interested in the welfare of those they employ overseas because of the abuses there.

I don't mean to argue, it's merely me just pointing out some things that not all people know about this mega company.

I had been warned before by a mod about getting too much into this WalMart thing so I am going to chill out about this before I get banned.

Keep in mind they donated $272.9 dollars to charity in 2006.

Ehhh?

Walmart......Keep in mind they donated $272.9 dollars to charity in 2006.

$293 doesn't seem like very much money for a company of their size. I'm donating $295 this year just so I can be better than Walmart.

I spent 4 hours hacking away at 30 perfectly good bikes so no one would "steal" them from the trash. Some had bent wheels some were missing cables, or seats, or misc components, but everyone of them could be repaired ....

It seems like you could make about 26 working bikes out of 30. Why wouldn't they have you swap seats and wheels and cables to make salable bikes?

Man got me a part time gig at the WalMart. They made me bicycle builder. I thought I was going to be building bikes. Instead I spent 4 hours hacking away at 30 perfectly good bikes so no one would "steal" them from the trash. Some had bent wheels some were missing cables, or seats, or misc components, but everyone of them could be repaired and given to a kid who could use it. When asked about that they said they donate to the children's miracle network only. I offered to buy the bikes and they donate that money to the network. I offered a hundred bucks, because I felt that was better than trashing them. They said no. I'm baffled. Just seems like a waste that's all. Anyone know anything about bicycle co-ops? Or nonprofit community bike shops. I read about some in magazines, but don't know how to get started.

That's too bad, I'm in a medium sized city - yet we have two organizations that are willing to take the old and ruined bikes that have been sitting in your garages for the last 50 years - and have their group of kids work on them so that the bikes can be donated to a family with children and can't afford a bicycle.

Welcome to America, land of lawsuit mentality.

....I'm going to laugh my ass off when the same people that advocate suing over everything cry because they can't afford anyhting either.

Given I will be half crying too, since those idiots make things harder for me to afford as well, so I have to go through hell just to ensure I'm on top of the game.

that sucks dude - is there any way you can get local news to cover the story without losing your job?

Dude, you need to GO PUBLIC with this. Seriously. WM needs as much anti-WM publicity as they deserve, and sounds like they earned some of that in this case. Your local consumer advocate news person or possibly national news agency would be likely to post a story, how hundreds of perfectly good bicycles were thrown away even where one concerned citizen just wanted to donate them. Just call your local news channel; I bet they listen.

Man got me a part time gig at the WalMart. They made me bicycle builder. I thought I was going to be building bikes. Instead I spent 4 hours hacking away at 30 perfectly good bikes so no one would "steal" them from the trash. Some had bent wheels some were missing cables, or seats, or misc components, but everyone of them could be repaired and given to a kid who could use it. When asked about that they said they donate to the children's miracle network only. I offered to buy the bikes and they donate that money to the network. I offered a hundred bucks, because I felt that was better than trashing them. They said no. I'm baffled. Just seems like a waste that's all. Anyone know anything about bicycle co-ops? Or nonprofit community bike shops. I read about some in magazines, but don't know how to get started.




That's so pathetic :eek: ? Take a flamethrower to the place.. you won't regret it.





(Gasoline bombs or molotav cocktails are good too). :) :beer:

Just a thought - why not print out a disclaimer next time signed by you and the store manager - that you'll take the bicycles and accept all responsibility for them - might keep the lawyers happy and keep the bicycles intact.

alternatively, keep some of the wreckage from this time and use that next time, i.e., keep any future bikes yourself but if anyone asks ther'll still be bits of bicycle in the trash

finally, if there are any legal types who could come up with something more inclusive than
I,....., accept all responsibility for the goods listed below and acknowledge that,......, store manager and walmart corp has no
further responsibility.

It seems like you could make about 26 working bikes out of 30. Why wouldn't they have you swap seats and wheels and cables to make salable bikes?

That was what I was originally instructed to do. We had 45 of them hanging on a long bar with hooks in it in the back room. I made 5 good bikes went to work my other job for the weekend. I come back and they said they needed the space to put more storage racks in. The racks hit the hanging bikes. So I had to get rid of them.


Just a thought - why not print out a disclaimer next time signed by you and the store manager - that you'll take the bicycles and accept all responsibility for them - might keep the lawyers happy and keep the bicycles intact.

finally, if there are any legal types who could come up with something more inclusive than
I,....., accept all responsibility for the goods listed below and acknowledge that,......, store manager and walmart corp has no
further responsibility.

I didn't think of that. I think they also get some sort of credit for the damaged ones. So They still may not have let me. But it's worth a shot for next time. Several of the bikes were just crappy, but some of the higher end schwinn and mongoose, had acceptable entry level components. Either way a single speed bmx or freestyle bike is gold to a kid without a bike. I just thought there was a win win situation there. I'll exhaust all efforts before I blow any whistles.

I worked for Sears and had to "steal" (with bosses permission, as long as I didn't get caught) from the dumpster tool sets that were taking up too much space. I think it must be a right off, and its just too expensive to ship them back to manufacturer. Still sad.


And of course Walmart is supposed to take advantage of all of the government programs etc etc but it has illegally spied on employees and illegally fired 12 employees for starting a union. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Wal-Mart

When you live in a town where WalMart pretty much takes over and puts all the other business out because of their "low" prices (predator pricing), they have no choice BUT to work there. There are many lawsuits still going on today because of the employees not getting the over time although they are told they HAVE to stay or else they lose the job.

Also, I still don't understand why they cannot provide decent affordable health care if they have so much money and say they are so interested in the welfare of Americans. I know they aren't interested in the welfare of those they employ overseas because of the abuses there.

I don't mean to argue, it's merely me just pointing out some things that not all people know about this mega company.

I had been warned before by a mod about getting too much into this WalMart thing so I am going to chill out about this before I get banned.

You got warned for talking about Walmart? WTF? What the hell did you say?

You got warned for talking about Walmart? WTF? What the hell did you say?

I think it involved fingers and flicking :D

WM could donate bikes that need repairs, without any legal liability, and as a benefit also claim some value for donations. Unfortunately, WM's public affairs department would have to use a minimum of brain power to figure it out.

Checking the Web:

http://www.ibike.org/encouragement/youth.htm
http://www.ibike.org/encouragement/freebike-usa.htm#usa
http://www.ibike.org/environment/recycling/index.htm

The county where I live has been fighting to either get or stop w.m. from coming in. Some are for it and some hate the idea.
Latest rumer is that wm bought out the national chain of Gottschalks. The following rumer is that the reason they did this is so they can just slide into retail areas that they have been unable to gain access to before.
It seems they will make Gottschalks a shill for them. Who knows. ;)

Did they buy it out already? I knew they were interested!!

The reason walmart wants the bikes destroyed is so no one can 'return' them. Yeah, that's the mindset.

molotav cocktails are good too

And can actually be made with materials from WM!

at least they were walmart bikes. If you were working for a Trek or Specialized dealer and being told to destroy bikes that just need a seatpost or a cable, it would be much more of a tragedy. Can you imagine being told to take a sledgehammer to a CF bike because it was missing a shifter or something? OH the horror!

and it is too bad about Walmart eating mom-n-pop shoppes like Pac-Man. Americans vote with their wallet, and Walmart always gets re-elected. btw if I could make a house payment and car payment and digital cable payment and afford a nice bike etc... on a burger-flipping job, I'd still be flipping burgers. It wasn't that bad of a job, and free food.

When I worked at a computer store, any items that were determined needing to be thrown away, i was welcome to keep. My boss would hold them over the trash can and say out loud "looks like i'm gonna have to throw away this dvd burner" and let go of it, and i'd catch it if i wanted it. I caught just about everything, then threw them away myself if i couldn't get them working.

...If you were working for a Trek or Specialized dealer and being told to destroy bikes that just need a seatpost or a cable, it would be much more of a tragedy....

The UK distributer for Marin bikes is based in Hastings/St. Leonards(DSS land). Every year you can buy brand new Marin bikes at dealer prices. The catch is you have to prove you live in the area. Any they don't sell are crushed and, yes, that includes the Mount Vision Pros and Stelvios.

http://www.atbsales.co.uk/index1.html

The most painful thing I had to do today was scrap off caulk off of cement cinder block. I ended up scrapping my knuckles on the cinder block. Now I have slightly bloody knuckles.