INTRØDUCING: BIG BRØTHER PRØGRAM
Here at HAVØK, we recognize not everyone can afford to start skating with the right gear. Buying a cheap board or scooter on Amazon or at Walmart doesn’t set anyone up for success. And not everyone has the community to borrow good used gear from friends. That’s why we’re introducing our Big Brother Program. Affectionately named after the infamously iconic skateboarding magazine from the 90’s, the Big Brother Program helps us become more of a hub for skaters and helps you give back to the local skate community.
The basic concept of our Big Brother Program is simple: donate your old or used skateboard or scooter parts to HAVØK, we’ll build full setups and give them to future skaters who can’t afford to get started the right way. We won’t take any and every piece of gear that’s brought in, but we’ll carefully inspect and consider what’s worth taking in. We don’t ever buy or sell used gear, but we do offer incentives for those considering donating gear, namely extra SK8 Points.
$1 spent = 1 SK8 PØint
100 SK8 PØints = $5 Øff
The amount of SK8 Points each donated part is worth is determined by the average price of the part when purchased brand new. Example: a skateboard deck currently averages at around $80. Therefore, an old deck can be donated for 8 extra SK8 Points. Purchasing a new skateboard deck and donating your old one would then earn you 88 SK8 Points, pretty close to $5 off for just swapping out a deck!
Below, you’ll find current SK8 Point offerings for donated gear. We’ll make sure to update the SK8 Point numbers every season. Since parts are donated at different rates, we’ll occasionally offer twice as many SK8 Points for a limited time as an incentive for people to donate parts that are especially needed in order to finish building Big Brother gear.
BØARDS
DECKS: 8 SK8 Points
TRUCKS: 7 SK8 Points
WHEELS: 5 SK8 Points
2x BEARINGS: 3 SK8 Points
HARDWARE: 1 SK8 Points
SCØØTERS
DECKS: 20 SK8 Points
BARS: 15 SK8 Points
2x FORKS: 10 SK8 Points
WHEELS: 9 SK8 Points
CLAMPS: 6 SK8 Points
HEADSETS: 5 SK8 Points
GRIPS: 2 SK8 Points
Our SK8 Point system boasts a 3-tier structure that’s built to reward the biggest skaters in the community with 1x, 1.5x, and 2x SK8 Point multipliers and other perks, depending on how much you “support your local skate shop” every year. SK8 Point multipliers also apply to donating old gear, even on top of the 2x multiplier of especially needed parts.
Using the same example from earlier, a top tier supporter with a 2x SK8 Point multiplier purchasing a new skateboard deck and donating their old one while its in high demand would earn 192 SK8 Points. That’s pretty close to $10 off just from swapping out decks!
WHO GETS BIG BROTHER GEAR?
While case-by-case discretion is used when giving out Big Brother gear, there are a few rules we hold to in order to keep ourselves from “cannibalizing” our own business. While gear can be donated in parts, we only give out full boards or scooters, and only to first-time (or first-time-in-a-long-time) skaters. As much as we’d love to support our local skaters by handing out free decks whenever we have a good stock of them, its ultimately not the healthiest of symbiotic relationships.
We’ll do our best to determine who is in real need of that extra financial boost in order to start this awesome skating journey we all know and love. Hopefully, it will only be the start of an even more awesome shop/skater relationship!
