Our new delivery vehicle and how it came to be...

So what do you do as a company who's goal is to reduce its footprint as much as possible while still being able to deliver our services? You adapt of die, that's what you do. Ok, I know dramatic phrasing, but seriously, you do have to adapt or die. You have to think of something so simple that when people see it they think "damn why didn't I think of that?"

So what's a company to do if "delivery" is part of your company culture? Do you buy/rent/lease the baddest truck on the market? Do you go with a Hybrid vehicle not designed for towing and make it fit? Or do you "keep it simple stupid" (K.I.S.S.).

We choose to "KISS" and use a product not originally designed for the task at hand but made obvious sense to us. We choose the Piaggio MP3-500 as our tow vehicle and boy was that a fight! The dealer thought we were crazy and quite frankly going to "get ourselves killed!" The engineers & Designers from Piaggio just shook their heads at the very thought. They didn't think it would last as a tow vehicle much less do what we envisioned.

But that's the thing about thinking outside the box. Most people don't, engineers never envisions their creations being used for some of their most popular purposes outside of just a weekend ride. But when someone like me gets it into his head that "this makes sense." Well, it takes a bit more than the extreme to change my mind. Now I just have to figure out how to attach a damn hitch so could pull our existing x3-rail trailer, another "engineer head smacking notion!"

Luckily for me some fabricators I had worked with in the past on other "impossible" projects took one look at the vehicle asked me for x3 days alone with it and bam! I had a working hitch connection that just needed some expert wiring by my dealers service manager and I/we would be in business.

One short coming of using a vehicle like this was people's lack of respect on the road for motorcycle and bicycles. I thought I would change that equation by adding x2 130 d air horns to "get peoples attention" last thing I need to do is end up as someone's "hood ornament" in 5' o'clock traffic.

So what does a 500cc motorcycle look like after 20,000 miles of towing?
X3 rear ties
X1 pair of front tires changed
X2 motorcycle accident repairs (x1 to the Tupperware, x2 to the front bearings)
X3 oil changes
X1 clutch part changed cause it was showing signs of wear-&-tear and bound to fail. So we changed that part before it happened in a spectacular fashion.
X1 belt failure in the speed lane @70mph that left the belt shredded! With no internal damage!
X1 idiot driver stopping on a yellow light with x2 50cc vespa's being towed

And endless stares, pictures, and people hanging out their windows to video me at highway speeds. No speeding tickets, a couple parking tickets, no flat tires (knock on wood). No breakdowns during service but I did have to wait almost 13 weeks to get on the MP3 after being hit on a 50cc vespa on Valentines day of all days to get hit. Laying in the ER for x5-hrs before they will let your wife in to see you is NOT. A way to spend valentines day!

So what does a 500cc bike get for gas milage pulling a trailer and upwards of x3 50cc vespa's daily? 25 mpg on a throttle heavy day mixed in with strong ocean winds and 42 mpg on average! I once got 63-mpg but that's without the trailer and I was baby sitting the throttle all day!

Conclusions?
We will continue to use the MP3 as a delivery vehicle because its daily operating cost not including labor is $3.81 per mile (including repairs/maintenance)!! Yep you heard me right $3.81 per mile! He'll my gas cost per day are only $1.84 per day! You can't beat those kinds of cost. And why others aren't following suite is a mystery to me. It how our business is able to survive wave after wave of attacks from others trying to replicate our success. Except they don't understand one simple business premise keep your cost low, your prices competitive and your profit margin healthy!