Steely Dan

i've found that it's VERY easy to merely ask at the store if it's ok to bring my bike into the store in question. if they balk at all, i make up some sob story about how i forgot my lock today and i just need to run in and grab something real quick and they give in.

asking if it's ok typically goes A LOT further than assuming it's ok.

fietsbob

boro

What are the policies in that land so many look to.... the Netherlands?

fietsbob

I took my Brompton in, and folded it up, and stowed it in the Bar, while there,

Until I was admonished to not, then I locked it up outside.

fietsbob

Not a Policy quotation, but an observation, The Ring lock fixed to the frame
is common in NL bikes, so they don't roll off, wheel wont turn.
as is a big heavy chain,
to lock it to something like one of the bridges over Amsterdam's Canals.

AlmostTrick

It would have been funnier (to us) if he would’ve placed a “For Sale, Dirt Cheap” sign on it instead.

P.S. Stay in school.

markjenn

Gotta go with the majority on this one.

#1 - It is not a right for a bike rider to be able to bring a bike into a store. It's a private business that the owner can run as he sees fit for the good of his business. If this means the policy is that bikes stay outside, that's their prerogative as it is the customer's to take their business elsewhere if they like. That the neighborhood is bad or locks are heavy is immaterial.

#2 - No business has the right to pick up and hide/move someone's personal property without making an effort to find the owner and have them handle it.

In this case, all that needed to be done was for the employee to inform the rider that they aren't allowed to store their bike inside and that they needed to keep it outside. A good business would further make some effort to make an exception for this one case or offer to secure the bike this one time in some way to allow the bike rider to do their business.

It's all about being reasonable, on both sides.

- Mark

yep202

Update thanks for the advise. I will be calling to speak with a manager and will nicely advise them on how the situation was handed badly. Hopefully next time someone outs thier bike into that store the bike leave in the owner's hands and not someone else. Thanks again also I will not be shopping at the kroger store any longer. There is a marsh about 5 miles fron my apt. I went there after the kroger store and had no problems with any employees or managers at that store so from now on that's where I go. If they tell me I can't bring my bike in that store then I might store thinking about getting a lock of I might be checking other smaller stores to shop at. Hey it will save me about 20-40 dollars so why not. Thanks again

boro

A lock is standard equipment, imo.

tjspiel

My guess is that bikes are to be kept outside. It's one thing to allow a few people to bring their bikes into a business. It's quite another once you get the point where 30% or more of your customers got there on a bike. It's no longer practical.

lostarchitect 

Do what you will, but eventually you will find yourself in a situation where you NEED a lock and you won't have one. It'll end up costing you a lot of time or at worst, your bike.

Puget Pounder

A non-issue for the convenience and security of saving your bike.

Doohickie

Reading your prose is giving me a headache.

Cool story though.

I sometimes take my bike into a store. If I do, I keep it with me, rolling it through the aisles. So far no one has challenged me. I usually lock it up outside though.

recumbenttoad

The grocery store where I shop doesn't have anything to lock a bike to by the door. The only rack is as far away from the door as you can get and in a very dark area after the sun goes down, so, it would be easy to strip a bike if you were fast enough. I never realized they had this rack until after my bike was stolen from in front of their store. I had a u-lock through the wheel and frame and ran in the store for roughly five minutes. When I came back the bike had been carried off. I believe I would have caused great bodily harm to the mouth-breathing weasel if I would have caught him.

Now, I pull my bike inside the store. So far no one has said anything to me, but if they do I will not shop there. If they want me to lock it up outside, they can provide a rack that is in a safer area than the one they have now. And, if someone at the store would have physically moved the bike and hid it from me, I would have threatened to whip his backside. I live in a very bike-unfriendly town even though there are three universities located here, so, very few places will accommodate cyclists in any way. It's funny, you'll go downtown (and a few other places) and find a painted bike lane that starts in the middle of nowhere and ends a block later. I guess that makes the powers that be feel like they are doing something.

nubcake

Agreed, In Knoxville I would take my bike into food city and leave it (unlocked at that) near where they store the carts, there was a ton of open room, it blocked nothing and they had no bike rack outside. They never once complained, and all I heard about it was, "your gonna carry all that on a bike?" and random questions about my xtracycle. Always friendly so they kept my business.

Here in Colorado Springs, I have a massive chain and lock (similar to the faghetabout it) and a standard cable lock to run around the rear wheel when I go anywhere downtown. The massive chain and lock combo cost about $30 total and the guy at the hardware store let me try to cut it with a 3-4ft long pair of bolt cutters and if someone gets through that I will be very impressed. Part of commuting by bike is needing to lock your stuff up outside of buildings for different lengths of time. Get a good lock, take the easy to remove accessories in with you like light, water bottles, computer, etc. or at the least add a zip tie so you can not just slide them off real quick. Most bike theft is opportunity based and if it looks like your bike will be hard to profit from they will move on to the next one. Just think out run the other guy, not the bear.

nubcake

I forgot to add, the dude in the store was being a complete prick. I would call the manager and calmly explain if they do not want bikes inside you would be happy to comply but there is no need for the employee to have set your bike outside making it an extremely easy target for theft when a simple, could you please take your bike outside would do.

If he honestly seems apologetic I would not worry about it too much, if he tries to defend the employee tell him you are happy to take your business elsewhere and do just that. Like someone said, voting with your dollar is a great way to make a point.

mijome07

OP, take a chill pill and call me in the morning.

DX-MAN

OK, people....

Stores have the right to say that you cannot bring your bike into the building; it's their store, their business. Ideally, they would say something upon your entry into the store about it.

THEY DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO PUT HANDS ON YOUR PERSONAL PROPERTY AND RELOCATE IT WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE/CONSENT.

Because I HAVE done it before, I will relate this:

I go to where I left my bike, and it's not there; some 'employee' is hanging around expectantly. My reaction:

"WHERE THE F*** IS MY BIKE? DID YOU MOVE IT? YOU DON'T F***ING TOUCH MY BIKE, I WILL HURT YOU! OH, MY BIKE ISN'T ALLOWED IN HERE? FINE, COME TELL ME AND I'LL MOVE IT, YOU DON'T MOVE MY SH**! MOTHERF***ER, YOU TAKE YOUR LIFE IN YOUR HANDS WHEN YOU TOUCH MY PROPERTY! YOU JUST LOST MY BUSINESS, AND EVERYONE ELSE'S WHO I COME IN CONTACT WITH!"

I don't care; you will deal with me correctly, or you will get embarrassed, to say the least.

You want to call the cops because I said "hurt"? Try and detain me while they come, see how that works for you.... I'll GLADLY leave your damned store, never to return. You ALWAYS have competition who'll be happy to have my business. I'm a combat-trained old soldier with PTSD, I've sat down across from a three-star and stood up in front of terrorists. . . what've you got to impress me with?

(Yup, I get a little heated every now and then....)

Doohickie

Why all the hate?

DrJerry

In Amsterdam and a few other larger cities, you will sometimes see U-locks attached to a wheel and the rack. Nothing Else! In many of the smaller towns and villages I have stayed in, where crime rate is close to 0%, it is common to just lean your bike up against the front of your house. I told a friend in Eindhoven that if she just leaned her bike on the front of her house in USA, it would be gone before she could get back in the house.

Artkansas 

I'm not a lawyer, but as far as I know, if you have put your property on their property without their consent you don't have much of a case for bailment, and the restrictions on what they can do are pretty low. I think if they took your bike outside and parked it and said that is where they expect bikes to be, and someone came along and took your bike, the police would side with the store owner. It's your neglect for not locking your bike. If they physically threw the bike into the parking lot where the paint got scratched and the saddle torn then you might find them partly at fault. Store owners have a lot of latitude to do as they see fit in their establishment.

cyclokitty 

If a store has a "no bikes inside" policy then I expect to be told about it, either by a sign or I will ask upon entering. Most often I lock my bike outside but on occasion bring her inside if there is nothing to lock her to outside. It's rare but sometimes the area bike racks are full or there are none or there isn't sign nicely bolted into the concrete. So fair I've been told twice not to bring in my bike and I left. No problem. No big deal, only inconvenient but such is life at times.

But if an employee took my bike and moved it outside? Well, someone just cracked open a big can of Whoop Ass. I would be furious and I would not care a wit who heard me.

I also don't like it when store employees grab my arm and try and drag me to another cash line up or (the gods help the last person who did this) to an in store demonstration of egg filled hot pockets.

Digital_Cowboy

Slim,

That may be how things are done where you live, but I have been instructed by the owners/management of various businesses to bring my bike inside their stores. It could be that they recognize that I am riding a bike of better quality then the usual run of the mill box store bike. Or they are truly a bike friendly store. There is even a grocery store that allows me to bring my bike inside even when I'm towing my trailer.

Digital_Cowboy

Sadly, not all stores have someplace for people to lock their bikes to. One of the grocery stores that I go to has been doing a major remodel and there is no longer a bike rack in front of the store. It used to have one of those sine wave type of racks. Now it has none. What I do when I go there is to take my bike inside the vestibule and lock it to a piece of metal that runs the perimeter of the vestibule and is bolted to the floor. Before this when the bike rack was simply blocked by equipment and/or materials I would take it inside and park it by where they store(d) the shopping carts.

It also probably didn't hurt that while I was bringing it inside that I was also shopping fairly late at night and they weren't too crowded with customers.

Digital_Cowboy

See my previous post about not all stores/businesses having places for cyclists to secure their bicycles while doing business with them.

Agreed, or even their own shopping carts or a baby stroller. The real irony is that there are baby strollers that are being used that have a larger footprint as it were then most bicycles and are actually (at least in my opinion) more of a danger to other customers then a bicycle is/would be.

Oh, and let's not forget those folding "old lady" carts that most grocery stores sell and allow people to use in lieu of the shopping carts that they normally provide.

Any business that provides shopping carts for their customers or allow their customers to bring in baby strollers shouldn't have a problem with a customer bringing their bikes inside the store. Particularly as I've said given the fact that too many of them do NOT currently provide a secure location for cyclists to secure their bikes.