MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

From everyone at Hereford Pedicabs and Cargo. We finished today in the softly falling snow until the 4th of January, which is probably for the best as we are all nursing hangovers from last nights '12 days of Christmas' fancy dress Christmas party!

See you all in 2010!

Will, Ben, Luke, Tom, Ad, Daz, Mat

Ben lends a hand..

Ben lends a hand.., originally uploaded by Will Vaughan.

Once a year Ben graces us with his chopper..

The Real Value of Jobs

Waste Recycling Workers - for every £1 we pay them they generate £12 of value for society.

The New Economics Foundation has done some interesting research using a form of job evaluation to calculate the total contribution various jobs make to society, including for the first time the impact on communities and environment.

Eilis Lawlor, spokeswoman for the New Economics Foundation, said: "Pay levels often don't reflect the true value that is being created. As a society, we need a pay structure which rewards those jobs that create most societal benefit rather than those that generate profits at the expense of society and the environment".

She said the aim of the research was not to target individuals in highly paid jobs, or suggest people in low paid jobs should earn more."The point we are making is more fundamental - that there should be a relationship between what we are paid and the value our work generates for society. We've found a way to calculate that," she said.

There are a few case studies but most interesting for us is..

Waste recycling workers

"Do a range of different jobs that relate to processing and preventing waste and promoting recycling. Carbon emissions are significantly reduced. There is also a value in reusing goods. For every pound of value spent on wages, £12 of value is generated for society."

Which is really interesting as we've been calculating added benefits for our customers for a while - Carbon Saving, Publicity, Local Employment, Positive Association.

It'll be really interesting to see what happens with this sort of evaluation as things go on. Certainly with more companies and local councils embracing triple bottom line accountancy it seems like there is a change in appreciation of values and total benefit of work types.

Pedicab Riders Wanted

We are looking for weekend riders with opportunities for week time work in the summer time!
We are looking for weekend riders with opportunities for week time work in the summer time!

Over 21?
Got a full driving licence?
Interested in a fun part time job that'll keep you fit?
Want to do your bit to save the environment?

Get in touch and let us know why you'd be great for the job.

Email: info@herefordpedicabs.com
Call - 07718320195

Cheap inner city advertising £20 per week!

We've got an early bird deal for anyone wanting to buy advertising for next year, £20 a week for any number of weeks, usually we only ever come down that low if we take bookings for a long time!




Get in touch for more info - will@herefordpedicabs.com

See the rest of our blog HERE!

Good practice example

about us -here

Pretty cool to be used as an example of what to do right!

Loads of updates to come on solar installation and new projects.

Have a great weekend.


more of our blog here

Sunpipe!

So we finally got round to fitting the sunpipe to the office. I have been pretty sceptical about how these might actually perform and how much of an ordeal it might have been fitting them. But it proved very simpleonce a perfectly watertight shipping container had had a gigantic hole cut in the roof it was just a case of a little fettling and then adding a prism to the super reflective tube and a diffuser inside the office liberally applying sealant and then came the big moment, turn the lights off... shut the door and see if it works... and boy did it work!.. Free sunlight in the office! No power and good enough to supplement some solar powered 12v lights we've got going in next week. Pretty exiting stuff hey!

More of our blog here

Postal Strikes and Pedicargo

Urgent local post solution.

With the Royal Mail strike upon us it's valuable for you to know that Hereford Pedicargo are able to complete any urgent local post on your behalf.

Our delivery area can be seen here

We also have an excellent working relationship with TNT express - TNT are able to manage your postal requirements, whether it be within the UK, or Worldwide

If you have a problem and you think we can help, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Kind Regards

Will Vaughan
Rider and Director
Hereford Pedicabs and Cargo
+447718320195

See our blog here

Fun Green and Honest

So VW have got this viral campaign going, it's about making people proactive about doing good things by making them fun to do...
Hereford Pedicabs have had the policies of being fun, green and honest since our inception, they shape everything we do, in short providing a pedal powered, zero emission taxi, freight and recycling service, keeping things simple and fun, honest and green.... good to know we're barking up the right tree, but then we never doubted that!

The rest of our blog is here you can track it right back to day 1...

Well fancy that..

So the new bike got a new box the other day..

So we thought it was only right to give the new box a new look..

Looks pretty cool, but we were worried the riders might find it hard going so we added some motivational prompts..

Keep you eyes peeled for it!

The rest of our blog

Big wheel..

On the weekend we were at a green transport festival, there was a fantastic clown there who had all sorts of bonkers bikesanyhow.... I just couldn't resist asking him for a go on one of his other contraptions..

Bio Truck Expedition

We've been in touch with these guys - Bio Truck. Driving around the world powered by waste!

They turned this:

Into this !:


Andy Pag 34, the eco-adventurer who drove a chocolate powered lorry to Timbuktu and organised the Grease to Greece rally where teams had to scavenge chip-fat to power their vehicles across Europe, is setting off to drive around the world on an eco-expedition that can best be described as … Rubbish!

Pag has recycled a scrap yard school bus and turned it into a state of the art eco-home using a mix of reclaimed trash and cutting edge green technology. Not only is the 20 year old “Biotruck” made from rubbish, but it’s been modified so it can run on rubbish too, specifically used cooking oil thrown away by restaurants and caterers.

They set of on an their amazing journey this weekend!

Best of luck guys!

Updatearooney

It’s been another great month for everyone at Hereford Pedicabs with new contracts pending and new bikes hitting the road (almost)! I’ve been a bit slack on the blog as I managed to have a little holiday.

Not content with spending everyday on a bike I headed of to the French Alps for some mountain biking. I spent a lot of time on the floor, time relaxing and time on Mont Blanc, nice to have time away to focus on new things for the business.

Our new bike is getting some use but has now gone to have a box made for it so we can use it for secure watertight transit…

A bit of sad news, it’s time to return our ‘Pride of Herefordshire’ award as it now has to be someone else’s turn to hold the trophy for a year and the mantle of environmental champion that goes with it! In honour we took a photo to put up in place of the award..

In actual sad news a local soldier was recently killed in Afghanistan so this weekend the Pedicabs are running collections for Help For Heroes and also for a trust fund for the Soliders son. If you see the bike out there get donating.

Our office conversion is coming on nicely and our solar panels will be in in time for winter…. And complemented with a wind turbine – thank to Epic Electrical for helping us with that.

We’ve just posted three record months so either we’re hiding very well from the recession or doing something right.. one of the two I’m sure! In the mean time we’ll keep on doing things the same, it seems to be working.

Remember to make a donation this weekend if you see out bikes!

Will and all the team.

Interesting things

Pretty exciting to see some big companies making what seems to be some sensible changes in the way they are running some of their deliveries.

Big changes to come over the next few years I think


TNT electrical delivery trucks
Waitrose Electric Bike Delivery

Most interesting for us is that TNT will save 1300 tonnes of CO2 per year by introducing 100 7 tonnes electric trucks.. kind of makes us feel really good about THIS!

New Video

For those of you who hadn't noticed there's a new vid about the company on here, a local film student dropped in and asked if he could do some work for his portfolio. Thanks a lot Tom!

mmmmm new bike....

Just as soon as we finish the office and create some space we'll have one of these puppies delivered mmmmmmmm

Recycling Champions!

On Monday we awarded EFM Asset Management with an awesome home made trophy to say well done for saving a whopping 5.7 tonnes of CO2 eq from going in to the environment by recycling their paper with us!
Between the top three companies - EFM , The Courtyard and Maitland Rachel they saved over 12 tonnes of CO2! Here they all are with our very own Luke Matthews and also Cynthia Palmer (town centre manager) and Alison Holmes from Reprodux.
The big question now is who's going to win it next year!

New stuff....

So we've been up to some pretty excting stuff in the last few weeks, first off we've started to renovate the office, we've got a grant so we can make it habitable (read as grown up) and generate our own power.

So last week, we stripped it empty and with a little help from our friends (and family) we began to line the walls.. After a few more days it looked like this.. and in a few more weeks it'll be painted, have some home made shelves, a desk, some recycled furniture and some all important solar panels to help us be as green as possible.

So as things are going sooo well at the moment we've started to look at some potential new vehicles, as you'll know by now we've got a bit of a thing about these - Larry Vs Harry. So we got in touch with them and they sent the first one in the county to visit us.. and boy did we enjoy it... So to cut a long story short we've ordered one.. but right now we just have to decide on a colour, harder than you'd think!

Any how, so we're really busy and it's a very exciting time for us, right now the days are long but worth it and hey, with the new bike on the way from the factory we can only keep smiling and hoping that however busy we get, we all get a chance to ride it!

Commercial Opportunity

'The key to tackling climate change lies in the hands of private enterprise, in particular persuading business to recognise that the transformation required represents an unprecedented commercial opportunity Sir David King - Smith School of Enterprise and Environment
Good times ahead.

Wimbledon Day..

Squash and strawberry and cream tarts....... don't travel well...

Coolest cargo bike ever?

Bullett by Larry vs Harry I think we might get some..

Stress Release

08:00 - 17:00 work work work, think think think

17:10 get bike out

17:10 - 19:00 play play play, play play play

12 things

Saw a challenge to write down 12 things your want your business to be/want from your business, in a minute, this is what I wrote….

To create a successful sustainable business which has a positive impact on the environment.

We’ll help people to be better at what they want to do.

It’ll be a great place to work, full of opportunity, fun for all involved including our customers.

It will be brimming with enthusiasm and opportunity.

We’ll be different if we need to not because we have to be different.

People will want to work for us, we’ll pay well and value our staff.

Our values will remain key to who and what we are.

Work will be hard but rewards will be earned.

We’ll support local economy

We’ll challenge where we have to and do so with respect.

We’ll lead by example and learn from our mistakes.

We’ll be proud of what we’ve done and what we’re going to do.

Here comes the sun?

Optimistic weather predictions, I can see the point but I think I'd rather some realism, everyday I check and every day I see the sun with clouds and rain, everyday I ride and see the clouds and rain! Anyhow we should have our new rain coats back from the sponsors soon, fancy new kit designed to be worn in the rain is sure to bring us some sun!

Holiday for the right hand man

Luke goes on holiday today, he needs it, he works hard, never complains, embraces the spirit of the company and more than that he's a great laugh to be around. However one thing I wont miss are his shorts

A word from our sponsors

Life is Complicated. Sport is Simple from howies on Vimeo.

We WON! Best Carbon Positive Micro Business in the West Midlands!

So last friday I made my way on the train to Birmingham to the C+ Carbon Awards ceremony. We'd been nominated in the Carbon Positive Micro Business Category, small businesses making big changes, an exciting place to be!

The event was on the eleventh floor and was attended by a lot of very smartly dressed high flying typesThey had been there all day for a number of workshops on carbon reduction, unfortunately I couldn't make it for those. So as the tension in the room mounted we were all asked to take our seats (one had been reserved for me near the front - a good sign) and things got underway.There were a few awards given out an then we were on to the Micro Business Category, after a bit of build up we were announced as the winners, we got a great round of applause and a lovely plaque for the wallI hung around for a while and we linked up with Prince Charles who said well done and that sort of thing, but more interesting was the live link with Pen Haddow an arctic explorer who was out measuring the thickness of the ice
He said that ice is about 1.5m thick at the mo and usually it's 3m so they don't think it will survive the thaw, really interesting stuff.

Anyhow, what a day, I was back in Hereford and on the bike by three o'clock whilst the other winners were swigging champagne, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

West Midlands C+ Carbon Positive Awards

So looks like this one might be a big one!

It's hosted by business in the community who mobilise business for good. They are on of The Prince's Charities.

Soooo we're nominated for Carbon Positive Micro Business, out of the whole of the west midlands... As we mentioned the Awards are organised by Business in the Community, with the support of Advantage West Midlands, Sustainability West Midlands, Birmingham Environmental Partnership, Midlands Environmental Business Club, and Argent.

Nice way to end the week hey!

Dolly Parton, new kit and good skills..

So as we stride in to our second year, confident we are following the right path, and of course enjoying ourselves the whole way, it's good to know that we're not loosing any energy!

Recently we completed a carbon audit for all of our customers, the plan now is to issue them all with a window sticker to tell their customers how good to the environment they've been, it'll look something like this What's missing from that is of course the company name, just for now we're keeping it a big secret who's been our number one carbon saver! We are making an award and of course giving a prize to each and every one of our customers. Local great and green company Reprodux are offering to improve the green printing credentials for our customers. Sourcing them quality papers which are more friendly to the environment, teaching them about vegetable based inks and generally looking at saving them some cash on their print production.

It's been an interesting project to look at how much carbon we really have saved, our recycling operation alone is close to saving 600 tonnes of Co2 eq. !

With lots of new business on the horizon we've had to order some new uniform to keep us operating to our full potential and of course keep us looking good.. Howies have supplied us with some jackets so now we're looking at getting them printed up locally. We're going to stick decals on the forearms and back in a reflective material. You'll also notice that the drawing shows we're having a decal on the back of the hood. We thought we'd harness the imortal words of Dolly Parton and stick them on the back to cheer folk up when it's a bit drab... We'll have to see how that one works out...

Lots more updates to come (we can't really say what about at the moment) but in the mean time why not try some new skills out on your bike: