Originally Posted by
Hida Yanra
Pretty much... shop employees get good deals, but they typically aren't OMGAMAZING.
Many shop employees live on small salaries, drink whatever the cheapest beer is, live with 4 roommates in close quarters, and have their bike(s) as the only nice things in their life.
I'd know - this last year I went from being an architect (decent money) to being a full time bike shop employee (less than amazing money)
While the deals I get are pretty good now, I'm barely making enough to live in Seattle (a pricy town), and that's without drinking or paying for a car.
Oh, and for tyres, my race tyres used to be Schwalbe Ultremo HTs... frequently 170ish at in-store-retail local LBS.
Drop that on your wallet & smoke it... (well, I didn't pay anywhere close to that price... but high performance tyres for road or track cost lots more money than the ones you bought)
I worked at a shop for about six months. I paid cost plus 10% and was able to do employee purchases directly through the manufacturer like Zipp, Reynolds, and Specialized. EP for anything under the SRAM brand is OMG pricing...
Yes...the pay is low. I don't see how you can survive on shop pay.