Reply With Quote
No doubt. Sounds like both the city and the company got in over their heads. Unfortunate for all.
Assets-Liabilities = Equity
If you find out that what you thought was equity suddenly turns out to be a liability you didn't know you had, that sinks your bottom line pretty quick.
That repayment is also probably why they couldn't get private financing, since a good chunk of any sale price for the company would go back to the government.
This says that somebody needed to be more proactive, and that included the management and the government en ies involved.
I always say that there are two skill sets involved in getting companies off the ground, one is knowing the product/service, and the other is knowing how to run a business.
Start ups require a pretty demanding skill set, especially when it is capital intensive like this. You have to be deft at seeking funding and selling the idea first.
A cautionary tale.
No doubt. Sounds like both the city and the company got in over their heads. Unfortunate for all.
I wonder what % of the population lives within 5 miles of work? I wish I did.
It is actually fairly easy from a construction standpoint to retrofit a building with a shower. No clue about permitting though.
Another barrier would be somewhere with professional attire.
Stuffing dress slacks and a button up shirt into a backpack tends to wrinkle stuff.
To really commit to bicycling in such a case would require a locker and a laundry service of some sort as well.
You can easily get dress clothes in panniers. You really wouldn't need a backpack with a rack and panniers on your back wheel.
I have read statistics that over half of Americans live within 5 miles of their job. I'll try to find a source.
I sweat on the motorcycle and that is not anywhere near as physically demanding as even a leisurly bicycle ride. I want to get one of those shirts that columbia is coming out with next year... the omni freeze ice. Maybe that will help.
Well, with gas getting more and more expensive, the opportunity costs of living far from work go up.
At some point, living closer, even if rent/mortgages are more expensive, pays off.
One might have to spend an extra $300 a month on rent/mortgage payments, but if you save $500 per month in gas and decpreciation (wear and tear/replacement costs) then you have come out ahead.
I always point out that the largest cost of owning a car is replacement, not gas, a fact that surprises a lot of people.
The more you drive it, the faster you have to replace the car, and that adds up.
At some point though, I wonder when gasoline will start passing other operating costs. One can control that fairly easily with smaller, more efficient cars. This is one reason that I don't see CAFE standards as necessary. The market will move on its own, and such standards are poor ways of encouraging efficiency.
Note:
Average cost of operating the average US car per mile is calculated by the IRS, and is used as their mileage deduction.
Currently, I think that is at $0.55 per mile.
Use that as your baseline for calculating how much driving is costing you, adjusting downward for smaller cars.
I would doubt that is the case, since it doesn't jibe with what I understand to be the case, but if you can find a good source that would be interesting.The average United States driver travels 29 miles per day and is driving a total of 55 minutes per day. (This is an average vehicle speed of 32 mph.) US Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics
Good lord. I hate to see you when you work out.
According to this its actually 29% with another 22% driving 6-10 miles one way.
29% is nothing to sneeze at, to be sure, and 6-10 isn't much farther.
http://www.bts.gov/publications/omni...figure_02.html
I have been struggling with this recently (this is the first summer that I have had to ride farther than 5.5 miles for work). I even went to buy some polo shirts to wear to work (I hate polo shirts), because they can go in a backpack more easily and I don't have to worry about folding them back up on the way home (because I can just stuff them in the backpack and wash them at home). The button ups on the other hand do get wrinkled and between kids, 7 month pregnant wife, school and work I don't have the time to iron them back out.
I live 2.5 miles from the office, but wife works 8 miles the other direction. So I end up driving around 25 miles more or less.
Must be nice. That's a one-way trip for me.
Wrinkle Free, IMO.
I'm currently wearing one of my favorite wrinkle free shirts and I couldn't wrinkle it if I tried.
That being said aren't there any bags you can buy that are large storage for a MC?
I do think riding a MC is much better than using a car for such short distances, also.
I am also usually wearing a backpack, so there is no chance at any breeze. I might show up somewhere looking great.... until I take off my back pack and have two wet strips on the front and a large wet rectangle on the back.Good lord. I hate to see you when you work out.
As far as working out, I generally don't sweat a lot, but when I am riding in 104 degree weather in direct sunlight, it can get a little uncomfortable. Also, you have to factor in the unpredictable. Last thursday it took me 46 mins to get from I-10 and Callaghan to I-10 and UTSA Blvd (about 6 miles) surrounded by cars with their engines on and in direct sunlight.
This is one of the biggest factors on overall energy consumption in our country. Its going to hurt for a lot of people living far from work as energy costs get more expensive because our usage is so high.
well I didnt know what panniers are so I looked them up and they look like they are just saddle bags made of cloth. I can use those, but I need to save the money for them.
(when I say "those" I mean actual saddle bags. I don't know how well cloth ones would hold up at 80 mph every day)
Last edited by Drachen; 07-20-2011 at 11:02 AM.
I always rode with a backpack to my last job but my ride to work was downhill (I'd lose about 800 feet in elevation over the 5 miles) and it really didn't require much effort at all to go 20mph most of the way. Its also a lot drier here so I was rarely sweaty when I got to my job. Factor in that I was allowed to wear scrubs and it was pretty damn easy for me.
I did sweat a lot on the way back home seeing as I got to gain those 800 feet back but that was on the way home.
This is California we're talking about. Good luck doing over 15 mph on the freeway.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions