Did the job requirements specify "reliable" transportation or "secure" transportation? If they said "reliable", but meant "secure", then it's their own fault for not being more specific.

I'm all for trying to reason with an employer, but it sounds like you've been up the food chain a bit already. You have to ask yourself if it is practical to push it. And if you do, then remember, in the midst of widespread unemployment, it is an employer's market and that robs you of a lot of leverage. It is very easy to find unskilled labor these days. And if you irk the wrong people badly enough, it is also pretty easy to find cause to fire someone. But you know them better than we do, so if you really want to stand on principle, go for it. You may want to be looking for another job while you do though.

I agree with those who support your manager's request that you use a car to transport money, particularly with CCrew. I think that it's more secure to transport a large amount of money with a car. The fact that this is to transport my employer's money would make it especially understandable for me to make that personal sacrifice. It sucks to read, but I hope you go ahead and accommodate your employer's concerns at least until you find another job or work out some other solution if possible, probably a compromise, over friendly, professional discussion in the future.

You're not really safer in a car. It's a piece of cake to stop a car in traffic, and then you can't escape. What would be much safer is to have *2* people in the car, one for the driving, and the other one for taking care of the money.

I've done that over the last 2 years - enjoy free parking @work ! Now, it might be difficult if the family only has one car (there *are* families with a single car in the US, right ?)

+1.

that's too bad your Managers are jerks about this, but you kinda have to go along with what they want. my Mom used to carry a money bag to the bank in the Bronx when she was a very young woman, maybe 1937. nothing wrong with feet. I don't think it was more than a few city blocks though.

Is your car the only other form of 'reliable' transport or are buses another suitable method of getting to the bank? On the day you have to get to the bank, just use the bus.

I'm not suggesting you're wrong for using the bike, just saying it's better to go with the flow sometimes.

A thug can't stop a car by sticking his fist out at the right moment, and if you're on a bicycle you can't get away from a thug by driving through them. You can't lock yourself into a bicycle to make it harder for a thug to get at you.

The point is not that it's impossible to rob someone in a car. The point is that it's easier to rob someone on a bicycle.

Look at your contract as a shift manager. If it explicitly states a car mush be taken to make deposits then you have to do it to keep your job, otherwise your managers have no right to tell you how to do it or by what means. If you don't have to and they keep it up call the regional manager and tell them the problem.

And as far as being reliable I would be willing to bet that every bike on the road today has a better start up, more consistently than any car on the road given enough time.

That's what I do when people dog me about biking, I race them to a location down town. I love the look on their face when I'm sitting down completely relaxed sipping on a drink or something. Albeit I do cheat by going on sidewalks and taking rights down other streets to avoid lights and traffic. I have only lost once or twice to date and I could see the people I was racing so my point on time savings still was close.

cycle to work.
If and when you have to go to the bank to make a deposit, call a cab.

Cyril

A sound solution any mediator might find. But, lots of supervisors are not flexible when it comes to problem solving.

If the money does not get there, then it's hardly reliable. So in this case, I'd say the terms are interchangeable.

The insurer would be obligated to pay the claim. Therre is no contractual insurance stipulation that bicycles are not an allowed method of conveyance. The only thing Starbucks legal dept and their insurer would require is the money "messenger" use a private conveyance and the money bag be a secured safety satchel.
Regardless, the employer makes the rules. It's up to the employee to follow them or find a new job.

Why is everyone assuming this has anything to do with security?

He said reliable. A bike, or even in the worst case, your feet are just as reliable as a car.
That said, when they fire you for riding your bike there's not a damn thing you can do about it.

Drive your car to work with your bike. On the bank deposit day, call up your manager and say, "my car has a dead battery down in the parking lot, but my bike is in the trunk. Do you want me to ride to the bank, call a cab, or would you like to come by to do the deposit while I wait on a jump"

The practical approach is doing what they say but lobbying for a better alternative. If they are requiring you bring your car to work, then they should pay the IRS mileage-expense rate, daily. If you are in CA, you can call or go down to the DLSE for free and they can explain your rights under LC 2802, and if you file a complaint you will have some whistleblower protection - though your management career is effectively over. Alternatively, you can reach an agrerment with them to call a cab when necessary to make the bank run. What I've seen other businesses do is to contract with a security-type service that picks you and money up at the business and drops you at the bank, no big deal. Just saying NO is a bad idea.

I say that if Starbucks didn't want me to ride my bike to work for WHATEVER reason, then they need to discontinue their sponsorship of Bike to Work days. https://cbcef.org/btw/btw_day.html

Your managers should also read their own "Corporate Social Resposiblity Annual Report" fy 2001

Transportation

The burning of fossil fuels while transporting raw materials, products and people
is a significant contributor to global warming and other environmental concerns.
Our present focus is on improving fuel efficiency for the modest fleet of shuttle
vans, trucks and other vehicles Starbucks owns and operates. The metric used is
the average miles per gallon (mpg) for our company-owned fleet. Our baseline is
17.48 mpg.
Several years ago we established the Transportation Options Program (TOP) to help
our partners find commuting alternatives to and from Starbucks headquarters.The
program provides subsidies to partners who use commuting alternatives in an effort
to reduce traffic congestion, air pollution and minimize other environmental impacts
associated with driving cars. Approximately 500 of our 2000 corporate Starbucks
partners used alternative commuting options such as biking, carpooling or public
transit in fiscal 2001. Starbucks received King County’s local Commuter Challenge
Diamond Award for our efforts to promote carpooling to work at our Seattle-based

headquarters in January 2001.



fy 2002
Transportation
The company has undertaken specific activities to
reduce the impact of commuting at Starbucks
Support Center (SSC) in Seattle where approximately
2,300 partners work. Starbucks Transportation
Options Program (TOP) provides
subsidies to partners for using public transit and
alternatives such as biking and carpooling. In
fiscal 2002, approximately 600 SSC partners, or
26%, participated in TOP, compared to 25% in
fiscal 2001.
In April 2001, Starbucks contracted with Flexcar,™ an innovative car-sharing network that provides vehicles,
including a fuel-efficient Honda Civic gas/electric hybrid, for our SSC partners during the workday so they can
leave their cars at home. In fiscal 2002, approximately 150 partners participated in the Flexcar™ program.


I would ask them to give you a flex car for your deposit runs.

I know that these reports are from fy 2001 and 2002, but the enviromental aspects of the report should still stand. The most recent report I saw on the website was for fy 2007 https://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/csr...csr_fy2007.pdf

In reality, this is a political thing and it's the boss's attitude. Not reliable is almost certainly just an excuse.

Bikes are more reliable than cars, absolutely. Especially for 2 mile trips, they're faster too. But the real issue is that your boss has decided he doesn't like it, and that's probably not going to change. Personally I'd just leave my car at the starbucks and drive it to the bank as needed.

Getting robbed might be an issue in many towns, I don't know. Personally I used to walk to the bank with thousands of dollars in the bank to do the deposit when I was 17 years old. I wasn't even disguising it, I had a vinyl zip-up folder with the bank's logo printed on it. But I lived in a small town.

As far as what they "have the right to demand of you" - is this an "at will" employment state? Michigan is, and they can fire you for absolutely any reason that isn't protected. Not only could they decide to let you go for riding a bike to work, they could let you go for driving a Honda instead of a Ford. or a blue car instead of a green one. Or that they don't like your shoes.

Virtually all states are effectively "at-will" employment states.

Ride to work.

Call a cab for the bank run, at company expense.

As a messenger I have carried millions of dollars and many packages containing cash deposits that would exceed your daily receipts by a huge margin.

Was never worried as anyone who might try and roll me would have to be able to ride at 50 kmh to catch me and I was always in a very public place which made me a very hard target.

Walking would put one at far greater risk methinks.

I am sure the thieves know how much $$$ the messengers are carrying but we are mean little SOB's and getting what we have would be a tall task.

If you are making regular deposits pay attention to anyone who might be checking you out to determine a pattern... one might want to alternate between nightly and early morning deposits and even better, do them all in the daytime as the night depository is like a beacon to criminals.

I was kinda hoping to take my bike.

Ok.... the troublemaker in me wants to say..... "If you didn't live in the Socialst Repulic of Kalifornia, get your CCL and there should be no comlaint"....... Yeah, like Starbucks would allow an employee to carry a firearm while on the clock!

Anyway you could just borrow someone elses car for the 10 minuets it takes to make the deposit? I'm pretty sure on of the Baristas could loan you there's......

Hope it works out for you.

Billy