These items are some of the most commonly used in a bike workshop. Lately I've seen multiple people search for used tubes and brake pads for a half-hour to an hour, and it's kind of heart breaking. Other bicycle collectives I've been a part of bought these items at wholesale and then sold them for a small profit, but still cheaper than new at a bike shop. If the community member at the shop didn't want brand new stuff, they could always look for used consumables. Has this approach ever been tried at MT? @stephenparry, @carol, @robinmiller

Dude, I couldn't agree more. Since last year we've had a stock of new consumables available on the same basis as anything else in the space, i.e. use it if you need it, pay if or as you think appropriate. However, these are now almost completely depleted which sucks because it means we can't do our job properly. Carol has an order rigged up and ready to go, but hasn't made it coz she didn't think we had access to the bank account. I texted russell yesterday who says that him and Nate can authorise a transfer to Carol of whatever amount she expends on her credit card. So there shouldn't be a log-jam here.

Im not sure if the item were ever bought for the work shop, but I agree that sometimes it does seem a bit hopeless searching for the consumables mentioned. on thing that has concerned me on occasion is sending people out on bikes with really shitty brakes. Im sure if we can get wholesale prices, the consumables could be sold for cheap. as for charging people for them maybe a recommended donation price could be made for completed bikes to cover cost of consumables and wear and tear on equipment.

I'm generally positive about this, but there's a 2 things I want to flag and make sure we've thought about before we start buying things.

1. We do have to buy things in bulk. This means that while we get a better price the upfront cost can be a bit hefty, depending on how much money is in the bank this can be an issue. Prices follow below. I do not currently have prices for tubes of ferrules, but can find out easily.

BR4460 SRAM 1.1mm Stainless gear cable 100 $125
BR4462 SRAM Stainless MTB brake cable 100 $143.18
BR4464 SRAM Stainless ROAD brake cable 100 $143.18
BR4470 SRAM Deraill. cable outer 30mx4.0mm $58.68
BR4472 SRAM Brake cable outer 30mx5.0mm $28.64
HSDTR254AKT Aheadset.TD1 1" EC30 threaded $25.0
BBT01290 TV Square BB 113x68E/73mm $12.82
TYREA23 CONTI Ultra Sport blk/blk 700x23 $19.00

All prices are NOT including gst and there will be a $16 freight charge over the top of any order.

1. It is good / important / keeps us from going broke to have (suggested) donations for new consumables, and to be better at asking for these than we are generally are about asking for money. People abuse these or are less cautious about cutting the right lengths etc, if these things are largely free.

At Tumeke and other shops I've been involved with this has worked out by setting a suggested donation for consumables which is cost rounded up to the nearest whole dollar. This works out to $2 a lenght of either cable or cable housing. This is written on the wall, and to make it easier to ask / enforce the money things consumables were kept in a place where people had to ask, rather than just take off the shelf.

This is not to say that I think we should deny all things to people who can't afford them. Insofar as things that can be sources 2nd hand within the shop (ie. tubes) I think we should be sticklers. In the case of calbes and the like, I do not think that we should deny people these, but we should make them aware that they do cost money, and that the shop can't afford to hand these things out all of the time (but with more diplomacy).

I'm definitely keen for the prospect of a suggested koha - what i'm not comfortable with is making it mandatory if only because for a small proportion of our users $5-$10 dollars is prohibitively expensive and I think it's part of our mandate not to turn anyone away (for anything other than oppressive behaviour).

I think this could be a discussion for a new thread as we need to buy consumables ASAP in either event. Order sounds great Carol :)

@stephenparry, I agree that this is part of a larger discussion. I personally don't think that asking for monetary compensation for these items is against our mandate, because there are used options and we're not turning anyone away. But for the purposes of this proposal I'm happy to assume suggested koha is the way to go, if we can reach consensus around some basic rules to figure out if we can afford this purchase. @carol, i think we're fine on some of the stuff on your list, maybe we can do an inventory at the shop tonight?