221–230 of 245 posts
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Doubtful. The largest mail order bike companies are rather upscale. Look at Canyon, Planet X, Rose, Bikes direct, and others for a sampling of the most popular mail deliver bike companies. These aren't fly-by-night sketchy retailers either, Canyon bikes are ridden by many pro teams despite not having a storefront presence.
Majority of bikes we sold at our shop cost around 200-300 USD for us to purchase (retail price would be around 2x that). This was in expensive Norway, and there were plenty of generic sports stores that sold bikes at down to 1/2 of what we did. So for to-retailer price in US, that 120 USD does not seem too crazy. Don't forget that "good bikes" are actually very rare, especially if counted in volume (not price).
You can buy an adult mountain bike for £80 including 20% VAT in the UK. That's $100.
I've used one like this, it lasted less than 6 months of daily use before the sprockets, wheels, bearings and brakes were ruined.
http://www.tesco.com/direct/north-gear-rxt-mens-adults-mount...
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The law does not declare misdelivered merchandise to be a "free gift" like unordered merchandise. In fact, the code states: "Whoever, without authority, opens, or destroys any mail or package of newspapers not directed to him, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both." 18 USC 1703
Does this apply only to USPS deliveries, or are private shippers like UPS, FedEx, etc. included?
Blogspam. Original: https://medium.com/vanmoof/our-secrets-out-f21c1f03fdc8
I should paint a TV on myself for when I'm riding my bike in traffic.
A researcher from Bath University found that drivers gave him less space when he was wearing a helmet. They gave him the most space when he was wearing a long blonde wig. http://archive.cosmosmagazine.com/news/blonde-wigs-safer-hel...
It would be interesting to see if the effect is reproducible under better experimental controls, such as analyzing video recordings from places where there is a lot of mixed car and bike traffic. Of course the analysis would have to be automated to avoid bias.
The data could then be combined with an estimate of the actual increase of crash risk correlated with passing distance, e.g., how many crashes are due to drivers passing too closely. What actual risk is being influenced here?
In my experience (anecdotal of course) of near-misses, the drivers were not aware of my presence at all, typically because they only look for what they expect to see. It's hard to imagine a mechanism in their brains, scanning for helmets but not cyclists.
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Huh. I actually find that figure really hard to believe. 17-ish years ago I got a temp seasonal job at one of UPS's air hubs, and they paid me $8 per hour. $8 in then-money is equivalent to more than $11 in now-money. So you're saying I was better paid as a seasonal temp than people who are much higher in UPS's pecking order than that are nowadays. Now it being part time, yeah, I believe that. Pretty much everyone in…
Very possible. Median real wage growth (inflation adjusted) have been sluggish post recession, and considering the explosive rise in wages in certain knowledge sectors, that must be offset by negative real wage growth sectors elsewhere.
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I worked at a distribution center for a large electronics retailer for 4+ years. It was my experience that a lot of those guys slinging boxes either didn't care, or just didn't have time to care. To the person who's been saving up for that $1200 4K TV, it's a big deal and having it come in damaged is incredibly frustrating and disappointing. To the guy loading his 3rd 58' trailer of his 10 hour shift in the middle of…
> Quotas, deadlines, bottom lines I guess companies can in some cases track damages backwards and add these to the quotas and bottom lines. When I was 18 I worked for a few months on the assembly line at a Motorola manufacturing plant, assembling radio communication devices. It was a shit job with minimum wage and we had to meet strict quotas, but assembly errors were also counted, (the goal was "six sigma", https://…
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I think it likely that if we see a significant amount of automation in delivery, the last mile will eventually see it too. Right now, my neighborhood has grouped mailboxes[1], and anything more than a semi-flat package will not fix. Small boxes that don't fit are delivered to the shared larger compartment, which is locked, and the key is then left in your mailbox. When you use the key, it does not come out of the sha…
Are there really enough individuals (not businesses) that want to-the-door delivery that it's even worthwhile? My shipping experience is a constant fight to get them to hold the package for pickup because I'm not going to be home during their delivery hours (~9-5 Mon-Fri) and I don't want to wait four or five business days for them to make several delivery attempts before I go pick it up.
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In the same week UPS made me sign for a set of $5 kitchen utensils I'd ordered off Amazon but left a Mac Mini on my doorstep no problem.
This is why I get all my packages shipped to work. Since it's a business, they're guaranteed to get delivered and signed for.
Popular Mechanics found different results when they did a similar study [0]. >"One disheartening result was that our package received more abuse when marked "Fragile" or "This Side Up." The carriers flipped the package more, and it registered above-average acceleration spikes during trips for which we requested careful treatment." [0] http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/reviews/a6284/whi...
Across a sample size of 12 trips total.
On the other hand, I doubt this technique has been tried with hundreds of bikes yet either. So everything about these statements could just be worthless information I suppose.