Friday, November 30, 2007

The long awaited update..

I mentioned earlier on in the week that we'd been a bit slack at writing the blog and that there was plenty of stuff we could be updating you on, well as promised here we go..

Recycling for the City.

Recycling is something we are keen on here at Hereford Pedicabs and recently an issue came to light that we thought we could do something about. Businesses in town have no recycling provided by the Council, if they want to recycle paper and card they have to pay and external company to come in and remove it, this, as you can imagine, is a costly process. What many shops and businesses end up doing is throwing all of there paper waste into the orange Council bags.

There are two things to note about throwing stuff in the orange bags: 1- It all goes to landfill (bad) 2- It costs £1 a bag (lots!), so with the help of a few other companies we think we can provide a solution. we can pick up the paper and card for cheaper than £1 a bag, then a local company who recycle paper is going to place a container at the Courtyard and remove the paper for free. They sell it on, we make our cash out of picking the paper up and hey presto- affordable sustainable recycling of paper and card for local businesses. Less to landfill an better for the environment.

There are some loose ends being tied up now but in the new year we are launching the scheme so if you think you could benefit get in touch - will@herefordpedicabs.com

Recycling with worms!
Some of our paper and card will end up at enviroshred, they turn it into compost with worms! The idea is to turn paper from business into compost which can be used on flower beds in town, we thought that would be a nice idea.

Cargo and Cabs update...

There's been a bit about this already this week so, just a quick one to tell you that the Cabs have taken 7000 customers now and the Cargo has taken over 6000 items, crazy stuff! It's an exciting time for us and we are growing rapidly, thank you to all of our customers and all of our staff, we couldn't do it without you.

Advertising and promotions for customers..

As you can see from this bike (in the process of having ads put on) we have advertising on our bikes now, both of them are covered in all sorts, shops, pubs, gyms and as we get towards Christmas and the New Year something very special will be happening.. If you ride on a pedicab you will get given one of these:It's a sticker and will entitle you to all sorts of discounts and free things in the pubs and clubs of Hereford, cheap drinks, cheap entry and even cheap gym classes to help you burn off all those drink based calories!

New Staff

In the new year we'll have two new cab riders on board - Tom Booth and Matt Pember - both nice chaps who can't wait to come on board!

Movember and supporting beard

Movember (the month formerly known as November) is a charity event held during November each year. At the start of Movember guys register with a clean shaven face. The Movember participants known as Mo Bros then have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their moustache and along the way raise as much money and awareness about male health issues as possible.

My brother Jon has been taking part in Movember, here he is dressed as a Spaceman (answers on the back of a postcard) last week, I think you'll find it's a fine Mo!I was late to join the game, so officially couldn't take part in Movember so I crafted a fine beard in support, i call it the Geoff, named after Geoff from Byker Grove.

So there we have it, you are now pretty much up to speed. It's almost December, so almost time for Christmas trees and Festive Cheers, Sumo (friend of Pedicabs) seems to have both Festive Cheer and Christmas tree sorted in one...

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Lands End to Glasgow

Some of you might know that one of the regular contracts we run is for three council departments moving planning files and building samples about. It means that if you ring up to see a planning application you now get it on the same day instead of three days later.

Well since we started that 15 weeks ago we have moved over 5200 items, what's more we've travelled the equivalent of going from Lands End to Glasgow



We think we'll make John O Groats on Feb the 8th...

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Trial Blog!


If you can see this it means i've cracked Blogging from my mobile, so you can expect more updates as i'm on the move. AWESOME!

Late Entries

As expected, those unable to make the 1st annual 1 minute 1 man 1 horse competition have begun to submit their entries. Unfortunately, they of course cant be graded, it takes a year to assemble the judging panel. Also submission by email can not verify that only 1 minute was spent on the drawing of the horse and that the 'artist' was suitably inebriated. However, it would be unfair not to allow entries under our fun, green and honest policies. So, in the words of the Artist :

"I know that I was absent for the actual competition, but 12 months is a long way to wait for the next one.

Therefore, if you would permit, I would like to submit my entry for marking. I realise that the judges decision has already been made but I would like to use this entry as a gauge to distinguish my potential position in next years competition.

It’s entitled “Lady Boy Horse”.

It’s wearing lipstick, heels, a bra and some knickers."



Please send your entries to - info@herefordpedicabs.com ........

Lycra Hour!!

I've had a fair few weeks not riding, as Ad, Luke and Daz (we miss you if you're reading) have/were cracking on with the shifts themselves. I ride cargo everyday as is it and being so busy it's good to have a break, however, my attention has been bought to this Gem-I remember it well, it was part of promotion Luke and I used to run to increase our tips.. Lycra hour! I'll be back on the cabs over the festive season, roll on the promos!

1st annual 1 minute 1 man 1 horse competition

So Saturday night after a few jars we began the horse drawing competition, 1 minute, 1 horse, 1 person, judged by a panel of up to twelve. The results were impressive, quality was high as always and this year saw a top average score of 7.6, who would have thought it.

Dave's cat 3.1
Pig horse 4.25
Stick horse 4.3
Hamburger horse 4.5
Answers on a post card 4.6
Dragon horse, nice udders 5
Horsey no feet 5.12
Marks for artistic merit 5.2
Lassie 5.72
Lloyd the horse 6
No legs 6.5
Happy Horse 6.6
Cave horse 6.72
Grinning horse 7 (my personal favourite)
Rocking Horse 7
Aardvark 7
The racing zebra 7.5
Classical 7.6

Congratulations to the 1st placed drawer - Lili Weston, of course there is no prize, it's a strictly amateur competition and you have been ousted as a pro horse artist. Better luck next year to all..

Monday, November 26, 2007

A present for pedicabs!

So today when I arrived at our depot someone had been kind enough to leave a present in the form of a smoothie and a kinder bueno, so mystery giver, thank you!

If any one can help get to the bottom of the case feel free to leave a comment.

You may notice that the smoothie has a little knitted hat on, have a look here to find out why..

Blog Drought

Yes, we know, it's been a while, it's because there's just so much going on, this week, i'll be updating you on:

A recycling scheme for the city
Turning paper in to compost with worms
Cargo
Cabs
Advertising
Stickers!!
Movember
Suporting Ginger Beards
New Staff members
lots of other little things,

in the mean time, we had a great weekend, we took elves to Santa's grotto on Saturday and the Panto Dame to switch on the lights yesterday, we never thought it would be like this..

Friday, November 16, 2007

Big Long Week

One of our bikes did 509 items of freight this week.

Time to put the feet up and have a beer.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

What do we carry as cargo

Well all sorts of things, samples, boxes, letters, big things, small things, all sorts. One of my loads today consisted of 15 Boxes and 30 other items, it's like Mary Poppins' handbag I tell you.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

ONE YEAR IN!!

Today is a special day. It is exactly one year since Ben and I had those few beers that got this whole ball rolling - the start of it all.. We can't belive it's gone by this quickly. So much has been achieved since then. We've purchased bikes, managed to get the council to licence them, got Bulmers to supply or depot, recruited riders, developed safe working practices and incredibly.. established a sustainble green company. All the way along we've kept with our three key policies of being Fun, Green and Honest and it's been brilliant. So what next...

Well, we've taken over 6000 customers since April, our Pedicargo freight service has moved over 3500 items since August and now we are on the brink of launching a recycling programme. Last week we recruited a new rider and next week will be the same, the bikes now have advertising on them and a steady stream of new customers, so we're thinking big now. Big contracts for freight, big recycling programmes and hopefully by summer, we'll have many more riders and bikes making Hereford greener by the day!

It's a good thing to be part of. Thanks to everyone who has been of help so far and to all our customers and clients.

Will and Ben
Hereford Pedicabs

Friday, November 2, 2007

Really Really Cool!

It's always been a thought to use the bikes as mobile advertising to let people know what's on and what's happening and today it finally happened check out the first two bits. Both from the Courtyard (we are big fans of them).

One's about open Mic Night and the other is about the Chrimbo Panto! WooHoo