[Burnette]

Edited for compliance. Please read:

"To me, it doesn't seem like it should be a niche, but in fact it's a micro-niche. That's never been more obvious than it is nowhe thing is, I think all this stuff--from steel frames to friction shifters to lugs and saddlebags--should be the universal defaults.

Mark's cut back his pay 40 percent to reduce our payroll, but he seems to have cut his hours back about 10 percent. Spencer raised his hand to cut back as much, too. Robert and Jenny are down to 40 percent, too (related to not enough boxes to ship out). I've cut my pay significantly but am working the same hours. Isn't that how it's supposed to be?

Now is what counts, and how do we keep it going, keep these jobs and all of us together? Bikes and bags and bars? If not those, what?

It's not easy to find (1) a buyer; and (2) a buyer who understands that it's the people that matter most, and keeping "the culture" as it is, at least insofar as the culture helps and doesn't hurt. When you sell you can't dictate that. You can refuse to sell, but at that point what's Plan B?

Plan C is giving it to the employees. Do they want it? I don't know. They'd probably rather have some kind of job security than an albatross around their necks.

Would it be overwhelming? Are they looking for other work now, and I'm just super deluded? Does "the mission" carry any weight? Is it bad or brainless of me to think I hope it does? It's too much of a burden, to put that on them.

Plan Z is an angel investor who buys Rivendell and supports it and perhaps supplies a benevolent genius administration that can snip a few nose hairs, lance a boil here or there, and polish it up all shiny and keep it going."

So no, things aren't ok and weren't done right and no, it's not just Amazon and accessories here.