Tom Armstrong's Handyman Service

2012-11-02

Yesterday we received some photos from Tom Armstrong. He uses a Bikes At Work 96A bicycle trailer to carry tools and supplies for the handyman service he operates in Louisville, Kentucky. He wrote:

I am self-employed as a handyman, and use my trailer to get to job sites much of the time. It's not unusual for me to have a hundred pounds of tools and gear in totes, plus a stepladder or extension ladder. I recently hauled a pre-made chain link gate to a job site.

The first month or so that I had the trailer, it hauled bicycles more often than anything else, mostly just a function of what was happening in my life...

I asked him how his customers feel about him using a bicycle trailer, and what effect it has had on his business:

I most often get good feedback. I have not gotten bad feedback from customers, although I suppose some anti-bicyclist motorists would be sure to not hire me. I don't have signs on my trailer (yet)...

I am finding that the bike and trailer make me a bit easier to remember than some of the other guys (always a plus). I have put business cards in a couple of locally-owned hardware stores (with their permission, of course), and mentioned that I typically get to job sites by bicycle, knowing that "green" is a buzz-word these days.

I'm sure you've heard stuff like this before, but: While en route to job sites, I've had at least four motorists make a point of taking pictures of me with their cell phones. Of course, I never see the results. One guy tried for over ten minutes, and was swerving around failing to control his car to the point that I entered a neighborhood to reduce the danger to myself and other traffic.

There is a small (but slowly growing) community of car-free folks, a few of whom own B@W trailers, and folks in that group and the folks surrounding that group see the trailers and see the utility.

Plus you get cheerleaders like me.

Thanks, Tom, for your photos and comments.

Categories: Customers, Cycling for Profit