(Photo: TreesByBike.com)
Trees By Bike is now taking orders and their “Riders of Yule” plan to start delivering this Friday. The local business has found a solid customer base after it was started three years ago by Portlander Max Kirchoff.
“Yule Dispatcher” Kirchoff says demand was so high last year that they’re starting deliveries sooner and he’s brought up one of his delivery riders to help him manage the business. They’ve also added a new cargo trailer (the “Bill” model from Surly) that will allow them to carry six trees at a time.
(Photo © J. Maus)
In addition to to Douglas and Noble firs, Kirchoff says they’ll also offer Hanukkah candles and other supplies.
Kirchoff says they delivered well over 100 trees last year and he’s hoping to triple that amount this year. As if having your tree delivered by bike and supporting a local entrepreneur isn’t reason enough to feel good about your purchase, Trees By Bike will give 10% of all revenue to The Dougy Center, a non-profit that helps children and their families deal with the grieving process.
Kirchoff still holds down his day job, even as Trees By Bike has grown by leaps and bounds since 2009. He has big dreams for this tiny business. “I’m working full-time right now; but trying to bring-up the next leadership to make the company bigger… It’s really overwhelming, but fun.”
Order your tree at TreesByBike.com and let the Riders of Yule bring it to your door.
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i hope more people in SE order this year! alas, they’ve collapsed the free delivery service area for SE to roughly 52nd and added a $5 service charge to 82nd. 🙁
I like how the About Us page mentions that he got started doing this because he didn’t think a tree would be allowed on TriMet — the last time my wife and I got a tree, we actually took it home on the MAX. 🙂
But I think we’ll get one through Trees by Bike this year.
and today they’re the Google Offer…
How about live trees? Why continue to support the harvesting of these baby trees, which will only be used for a very short time and then sent to the dump?
Paul, I hear this a lot and I don’t blame people for their skepticism. For one, Portland composts their Christmas Trees (http://www.portlandonline.com/bps/index.cfm?a=109113&c=41471).
The second is that most (I can’t speak for all) Oregon Christmas Tree Farms only exist to be Christmas Tree Farms. They could otherwise be empty land, grass seed farms, or the like. I’m not saying that what we do is saintly, but it isn’t the eco-terror that some believe it to be.
Max, any chance you’ll add potted trees to your offering?
Craig,
It’s something we have considered with serious contemplation. There’s really only two things that have kept us from it so far: 1) we operate on a tiny profit-margin and plotted trees are very exspensive (but we’ve thought about doing pre-order only). 2) we (when looking previously) were unable to find locally-grown / indigenous potted trees – most were from a few states away.
But it’s not off the table for us, I think we just need a little more growth first.
I looked into ordering a live tree one year and decided against it because an arborist told me that live trees don’t transplant well after having been indoors in relatively dry conditions. I’ve decided that I’m fine with buying a tree from a tree farm especially if it’s delivered by bike. This really is an excellent service. Now if only you did pick up on the order end of the holiday….