YT Industries has chosen to donate 3% of proceeds from bikes purchased within Germany in the latter six months of 2020 to a collection of nonprofits within the bike world – an unexpected ripple effect of the pandemic.
Starting July 1, 2020, the German federal government reduced the standard VAT on purchases from 19% to 16% as part of a 6-month pandemic relief plan. YT, which includes VAT in its online prices, decided to take that extra 3% and donate it to organizations and projects that increase access to the sport and improve trails in Germany.
“We hope that it is in your interest to donate this difference to a non-profit association or institution rather than to invest in the disproportionate effects of the change,” the company wrote in German on its blog in July.
YT followed up Dec. 18 by announcing that the company had selected 17 nonprofits that it believed would have the most impact for youth access and trail advocacy.
From the YT blog, translated from German:
When the federal government decided to reduce VAT from 19% to 16% in the second half of 2020 in order to stimulate consumption, we decided to keep our gross prices and use the difference to promote our sport in Germany.
At the beginning of July, we called on non-profit MTB projects in Germany to apply. And our appeal was heard! We got a lot more applications than we had expected and most of them showed immediately how much passion and love for MTB the people in charge put into their project. Including, for example, the team from MTB-Augsburg, which is not only committed to building a legal trail network, but also to ensuring that all forest visitors can enjoy nature together and considerate. The Albert-Schweitzer School from Gundelfingen, which supports socially disadvantaged kids with bikes and trails, is completely different.
So it wasn't just the large number, but also the quality and diversity of the clubs and initiatives that made it difficult for us to choose. In the end, we decided to fund 17 projects from four categories that we believe would best cover all aspects of our sport and where our donation would have the maximum impact.
The organizations selected are:TSV Eibelstadt, which aims to build an all-abilities flow trail
Schleuseninsel Forchheim, which aims to revive a local pump track
Zweiradsportler Bamberg eV, a trail-building organization in the town of Bamberg
JAM - Bamberg, a resource to provide youth with opportunities
Realschule Höchstadt, a high school that plans to build a bike park
Rollkultur Weserbergland eV, which provides youth trail-building workshops
Anorak 21, which provides rental bikes and trips
Albert Schweitzer Community School Gundelfingen, a school that aims to establish a bike club
MTB-Augsburg eV, a trail advocacy organization in Augsburg
The Esslinger Nordschleife - ESNOS, a club representing a local trail system
Gravity Pilots eV, an organization that advocates for gravity riding in Germany
Fahrvergnügen eV, a trail stewardship crew that hopes to increase youth access to biking
Grüne-Hölle-Freisen, a group that organizes events and aims to spread the stoke
Bikepark Engelsbrand, a young bike park that hopes to expand
Naturfreunde Gersthofen, a group that wants to improve their local bike park and programs
Bikepark Osternohe, a bike park that looks pretty fun if I may say so myself
The government wants to give you a 3% tax break but we're not going to pass it on. We will donate the 3% on your behalf. You're welcome.
I'm not sure that is the case, at lease here in the US it is illegal to collect and keep tax monies collected, as it is to collect taxes above the legal tax rate.
The old Amazon employees YT hired analyzed YT's image and realized they come across as a purely profit based marketing enterprise with little local connections, lots of bad publicity from broken chainstays and customer service issues, and a 'use young talent then get rid of them when they want to get paid" image. Plus the owners semi-racist Nordic tattoos aren't a good look when you are trying to sell bikes worldwide.
So this helps them improve their image in some respects and distracts from all the other problems that have hurt their image. It's a good marketing move, even though it's only the German sales that contribute to it. And people in other countries who just read headlines think it's all bike sales worldwide that help the trails, and if they order a YT they are helping out. So it helps sell bikes to headline-only readers.
www.norwegianamerican.com/viking-symbols-stolen-racists
I am not implying he is racist, but he clearly has made a choice to get tattoos that many people would consider racist. Perhaps he could clarify this in a statement if I'm incorrect. Usually when people get these tattoos and get called out they just claim they like that type of art on their body. Yeah right.
BUUUUT....as always...
There is said if they cross the line of goods sold to another country in UE [35k-100k euros(each country sets it by himself)] they have to use that's country vat fee.
Lets say the sold bikes for Poland under in total price under 100k euros they pay 16% in Germany.
They sold bikes for more than 100k euros they have to pay 23% polish vat.
Do you think that anyone commenting on the holes in your comment about 'semi-racist Nordic tattoos' MUST also be a fractional racist or worse a YT fanboi? It's not that simple.
I've discussed YT on other articles on PB with you before, you evidently don't like the company, and I respect your opinion.
But what you are doing here is weak and mean, instead of calling out your prejudice about YT, you are smearing them, and on a personal level Marcus Flossman, with deeply insulting bullshit like 'semi-racist'.
It not only shows how poor your understanding of racism is, it also shows how poor your understanding of history is.
Have a read about how occult and religious symbols from other cultures were appropriated by the far right in the early 20th century before conflating your prejudice against a company with crude blame-arithmetic for the use of ancient symbols in body art.
Do you rail against Independent Skateboards for their use of a Saxon cross in their logo? I doubt it.
While you're at it have a good f*cking read of my other comments on PB and decide whether you think it right to challenge me as a racist, you might even realise you are picking a fight with the wrong guy.
Your reply was so absurd that I gave you back a taste of it. Stupidity doesn't taste good does it?
I'm not smearing the owner, he's smeared his own image by getting Nordic tattoos and being proud of them. They are despicable and if he doesn't want to be associated with the Nazi types he should have them removed. Here's a little more education for you:
"Viking symbols are everywhere among the ultra-right. When the Unite the Right rally took place in Charlottesville in 2017, some protesters carried banners featuring the Norse god Thor's hammer, popular among the Nazis and neo-Nazi groups.
The perpetrator of New Zealand's Christchurch massacre last year wrote, "See you in Valhalla"-referring to the great hall where heroes of Norse mythology go after they die-at the end of his manifesto.
Closer to home, the Soldiers of Odin-a Finnish white supremacist movement named after another Norse god in 2015-have recently emerged in Alberta and throughout Canada.
"The precedent was set with the Nazis," said Van Deusen. "National Socialism and Hitler idealized the Norse people-those who lived in the Nordic areas. Even the swastika is based in part on a symbol based on Viking artifacts."
A popular text among the Nazis was Germania by the Roman historian Tacitus, who describes Germanic people as a pure, uncorrupted race.
"It laid the groundwork for the Nazis to hearken back to," said Van Deusen.
Many current white supremacist movements are similarly "motivated by their belief in a white medieval past and a pure ancestral race they perceive as under threat in the face of immigration and religious and racial diversity," wrote Van Deusen in an article for the Canadian Historical Association.
"The Viking age and Norse mythology are of particular interest in these groups, who have committed acts of violence against perceived outsiders, such as Jews, Muslims and people of colour."
www.ualberta.ca/folio/2020/07/white-supremacists-are-misappropriating-norse-mythology-says-expert.html
That's a pretty obnoxious way to treat others don't you think?
"In the 19th century, Romantic German nationalism metastasized into the Völkish movement, which was interested in historical narratives that bolstered a white German nation state. The movement rewrote history, drawing on folklore such as that of Brothers Grimm, medieval epics and a dedication to racial white supremacy. Late 19th and early 20th-century scholars simultaneously drew from and reinforced this racialized imagination of the medieval past. Crucially, Vilhelm Grønbach’s multi-volume work Vor Folkeæt i Oldtiden (The Cultures of the Teutons) imagined an ancient Germanic genealogy that ran from Tacitus through the Middle Ages.
German scholarly work during the eve of the Third Reich then added to this idea, with authors like Gustav Neckel and Bernhard Kummer blaming socialism, Jews and class revolutions for the “decline” of a Germanic race they saw descending from this Viking past. Another German scholar, Otto Höfler, who based his work on Grønbach, wrote of the Männerbunde, which the scholar Stefanie von Schnurbein has described as “all-male warrior associations in so-called primitive societies.” His take on Männerbund would become used as an explanation of the past and current Germanic race, and fueled the idea behind Nazi groups such as the SS and SA.
After World War II, despite the defeat of the Axis powers, these ideas didn’t go away. Rather, they saw a resurgence in specific circles, including various far-right neo-pagan groups, like the Scandinavian Nordic Resistance Movement, known for their neo-Nazi violence. Grønbach’s multivolume work, translated and available online, and the works of his contemporaries have also influenced current far-right extremists in Europe and North America.
This neo-pagan resurgence intersects with many facets of extremism today, from eco-fascism — another term the Christchurch terrorist invoked — to groups like the Odinists, who practice a form of white toxic masculinity based on the belief that the “barbaric” warriors of medieval Northern Europe functioned as a violent warrior comitatus. Odinists follow a neo-pagan medieval Scandinavian religion that is unacknowledged by the official Icelandic pagan religion, Ásatrú. The man who is accused of attacking two teenage girls (one in a hijab) and murdering Rick Best and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche in Portland, Ore., in 2017 has linked himself to the idea of “Vinland,” the concept of a Viking North America onto which an imaginary Odinist past has been superimposed.
Communities of color have in the past fought white supremacist medieval narratives at the grassroots by spreading their own counternarratives, from W.E.B. Du Bois creating an African-American vision of the medieval past in Dark Princess to the Asian Americans who pushed back against racist medievalism during the period of Chinese Exclusion. Scholars and historians — not just medievalists — must also interrogate their disciplines from the inside, setting the record straight about medieval race and the Global Middle Ages."
It's not diversity, it's culture theft that is used to fuel white supremacy. Sometimes tattoos do define a man when they are used like this even after we were already supposed to learn the lessons of Hitler and WWII. Based on your logic if you see a guy with a swastika tattoo you don't assume he's racist, right?
www.google.com/amp/s/time.com/5569399/viking-history-white-nationalists/%3famp=true
Here's another article that explains how the Nazi's theft of the Nordic symbols actually helped unify and fuel the Nazi movement:
"This was the way out of political disappointments, an escape beyond human reality, to achieve in the spiritual field a higher yearning for self-realization: the Volk. It became the link between man and superior reality, the tangible and evident vehicle of the life force , a conception close to the future Bergsonian positions and those of G. B. Shaw. Man had to himself be permeated and guided by the natural instinct of his own Volk.
In 19th century Germany, and especially after the defeat of WWI up to the years immediately preceding Hitler, with Fichte, Hegel, Wagner, Nietzsche, and the völkisch philosophers we observe a crisis of rationalism and of the security of the goddess Reason. Along with the frustration of a felt but never achieved unity and the disastrous economic depression, this had a far-reaching effect on the collective unconscious of the Germans.
From this there emerged the instinctive search for a catalyst, a special person, generically called Starke von Oben , (the Strong One from Above); a real messiah of Germany, able to unite the nation, politically and spiritually, and bring the fate of the Volk to fruition.
The absolute power and the consensus that National Socialism acquired essentially derived from having been able to collect this psychological and spiritual impatience and to have given certain answers to the emotional distress of the population. It is no coincidence that the Nazis gathered the largest common consent in the most cultured sections of the people, those who possessed the tools to understand the present status of things and its cultural implications.
This highlights the most extraordinary case of regressus ad uterum in modern times; that is, the spontaneous turning back towards a time and a situation in which a person or an entire people felt like a child in the womb of their mother, safe and realized in following their inner nature. So the legendary myths, the heroes, the Valhalla, and the Norse gods and legends become a model to look at with admiration. Richard Wagner, the true German bard, was able to bring this visionary universe, the Mythos, to the forefront as a part of the collective unconscious of a people-race, the Volk.
Return to Mythos: Wagner, Runes, and Norse Gods
Wagner's dramas, the tetralogy ‘ The Nibelungen Ring,’ were based upon old Norse Mythology and linked the mythical past to the present as the two ends became one in a ring. The past returned to the present in “a ring of eternal return” that took on the appearance of the Nibelungen Ring .
This process was the re-actualization of the mythical act of the hero in illo tempore (the mythical age) every time a public rite was performed, as in the case of the mass ceremonies of the Third Reich. Wagner himself was convinced that some basic (archetypal) characteristics resided in the depths of the German people, and these had not degraded over time. Therefore the old Norse sagas were seen as a way to model the present.
In Wagner’s interpretation of Norse mythology with the magic gold stolen from the dwarf Alberich, a ring is forged, leading to the conquest of the world. Wotan, the god of the gods, finally recovers the gold by throwing a curse on the ring. But the mythical figures of the Valkyries, the dramatic tragedy of the hero Siegfried (Sigurd in Norse mythology), the destructive final burning of the Walhalla (the Norse Ragnarök, the destruction of the cosmos and its consequent regeneration), and from its ashes a new order of Gods.
www.ancient-origins.net/history-important-events/national-socialism-0012706
P..S Where are you copy & pasting all this from, a term paper?
In addition to "freaking out the squares", it can also inspire racist movements as we saw in WWII, which caused 6 million deaths.
Humor Question;
How do you "cancel your record collection?" lmfao
Why would you think it's from a term paper when I posted the links? Do you not understand how internet links work? Or was that just really lame sarcastic humor? (Yes)
Serious questions:
Are you amused in the same way by nazi swastika tattoos? Have you ever heard somebody intellectually justify having a swastika tattoo given what it inspired in WWII?
Do you feel the German owner of YT has intellectually defended his Nazi inspired Nordic tattoos?
Where is the evidence that these tattoos were 'Nazi inspired'? It's not sound reasoning, it's just really low and illogical attribution to harm someone's reputation.
Do you have any evidence other that 'nazi tattoo theory' which links Marcus Flossman to the far right? If not, please consider what you are writing here.
You are associating him with some of the worst moments in recent history without evidence, on a supposition on the intentions of a tattoo.
I hope you can see this, it's one (admirable IMO) thing to stand up against racism, nazism.
It's a whole other crappy and low thing to wipe that shit on someone else cos you don't like their bikes.
I'm at a loss as to why they haven't been in touch or posted something here on PB, probably that terrible customer service again, you know, like the nazis.
Your expectation that some man from a company you have a vendetta against must justify his tatts ( publicly no less) in order to satisfy you, the decider of all that is "racist", is some proper America-centric nonsense. All your arguments on pb seem to be fueled by emotion (hate) with little to no logical consistency. I expect no less from a user that has used screenshots of pb comments to remove those that you don't like.
Maybe get off the Internet for a bit and enjoy a ride? You'll notice once you unplug, sometimes a spade is a just spade and that the world is not burning down, despite what your insta and news feed is telling you.
I think it's despicable for any German to embrace any part of Nazi history in light of how easily the country was manipulated by Hitlers actions.
Sad that YT Marketing fanboys are able to brush history under the rug to justify saving a little money on a mail order bike purchase. It's as if you don't think racism is a problem in the world anymore, and getting the cheapest bike possible on the internet is a more important priority.
Their broken chainstay bikes aren't even that great of a deal anymore. anymore, Vitus is blowing them out of the water.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Percenters
Feast on that....
observers.france24.com/en/americas/20210108-white-supremacist-symbols-us-capitol
I have a new ridiculous conspiracy to indulge in - why did you choose an American location flag, link a French article, and write English with the small but perceptible peculiarities of, say, a junior spytroll practicing interacting with native US English speakers? Eh?
What are your thoughts on that?
They also seem like cheapskates to me, wonder if they use inferior carbon fiber or lax manufacturing techniques to save money? No other brand in recent history that had been not plagued by cracked and broken chainstays than YT. They have bad ratings on various review sites where customer after customer complains about the broken chainstays, complaints about the slow customer service, and various other problems with the e13 components.
The last post I made about the nutty Qanon supporter involved in Trumps insurrection with Nordic tattoos made me think about a Qanon themed YT bike. Bullhorns coming out of the head tube(dangerous, yes but conspiracies are dangerous also), surrounded by animal fur, with a red white and blue lunatic face in the center. Then Trumps wall brick graphics along the top tube, with razor wire on top for the taint(more danger). The downtube is saved for an assortment of the prized Nordic symbol graphics, highlighted in gold. One seat stay says "TRUST Q's PLAN", while the other days "THE STORM IS COMING". The back of the seat tube has a discrete picture of Trump smiling with a match under an American flag. YT designs a custom seat with the letter Q beautifully stitched into it to help keep the butt planted. First 100 orders are hand autographed by American traitor Michael Flynn.
Chainstays are left blank with no Q presence to save on manufacturing costs, since they will likely have to be warrantied later.
Evidence of the tattoos would be a starting point to making your rant seem less like a petulant little tantrum about a bike brand you don't like. Remember going on and on about how unfair YT were with AG? You omitted any mention of their plan to establish a master race in that little spat.
Next up in cogent and coherent reasoning would be to demonstrate that the intention of this as yet unseen tattoo was to convey nazi ideologies through cultural symbolism predating the rise of the nazis. You've made a big deal about how the far right leverage this symbolism but it does not automatically follow that ANYONE with a nordic symbol is a nazi sympathiser, that's just poor didactic reasoning, you're failing 'Debating 101' on that point alone.
Petulant little tantrum? Hypocrisy much, YT Marketing snowflake? I'm being mostly positive here, and have even added some humor to spice it up with the idea of a YT Qanon edition bike. My next idea might be the YT Fuerer edition, since Hitler also had an affinity for Nordic symbols.
The point about Gwin was that YT promised him something and then completely pulled it away a week later. That is undeniable. Wonder how many customers they've done that to?
It's despicable for any German to be celebrating Nazi culture by applying it permanently to their skin and posting it online, especially somebody who is well known. Sounds like you disagree. The Nazi movement in Germany is trying to emerge again in some circles. Do you even care?
Good luck mate, I was actually fairly behind you when you amongst others called out Waki for some of his ill judged rants. I can see now that you are the other side of the same coin.
Except a bike with weak chainstays and your loyalty to the brand that makes you turn the other cheek to issues concerning truth and the tragic history of 6 million Jews.
I've called nobody racist here, I started sharing a theory that nobody here has actually disputed, it got sidetracked into this tatt discussion, and then I explained the history behind why it's offensive for Germans to embrace Nazi history. And you have a big problem with all that, simply and solely because you own a YT.
Lat thoughts on this fabricated 'matter'
1. I had a quick look at Markus' IG expecting to see sleeves of Runes and Viking tombstones - he has neither and not that many tattoos, actually. Neither would make him responsible for a Nazi chainstay conspiracy, however.
2. You're gonna get suspended or banned by PB if you don't start to behave rationally.
3. DL Trailforks and prove you even ride a bike and where in the 'Redmond, Washington' area you ride........Issaquah, maybe? Your online 'presence' here looks like that of a recent troll farm escapee.
Super bummed about being down -voted by YT fanboys. Take light solace in the fact that I'm seeing Nordic artifacts on my Facebook feed after researching it.
Thanks for the laugh.
Hilarious.
Reciting historical facts about the causes of 6 million Jews being killed in WW2, one of which was Germans stealing and embracing Nordic symbols?
When I designed the YT Qanon themed bike?
Or was it the YT broken chainstay jokes?
Disingenuous much?
Quit the nonstop rage posting and go for a ride man. Yikes.
Like I said - "DL Trailforks and prove you even ride a bike and where in the 'Redmond, Washington' area you ride........Issaquah, maybe? Your online 'presence' here looks like that of a recent troll farm escapee."
You behave like a counter-trollbot.
A counter troll bot could never design this bike:
Qanon themed YT bike. Bullhorns coming out of the head tube(dangerous, yes but conspiracies are dangerous also), surrounded by animal fur, with a red white and blue lunatic face in the center. Then Trumps wall brick graphics along the top tube, with razor wire on top for the taint(more danger). The downtube is saved for an assortment of the prized Nordic symbol graphics, highlighted in gold. One seat stay says "TRUST Q's PLAN", while the other days "THE STORM IS COMING". The back of the seat tube has a discrete picture of Trump smiling with a match under an American flag. Comes with a custom seat with the letter Q beautifully stitched into it to help keep the butt planted. First 100 orders are hand autographed by American traitor Michael Flynn.
Chainstays are left blank with no Q presence to save on manufacturing costs, since they will likely have to be warrantied later.
Hey, you're a republican aren't you? I'm curious how you feel about Trumps insurrection at the Capitol last week?
What matters it is that it looks good when someone donated something (but no one knows that is was not his money or is too stupid.)
Most of people don't know about taxes they pay every day. They don't know from who they government has money. It is thought that they just print it and that's whole story.
And in worst scenario the non profit that was donated can be owned by YT owner so ha can pay himself salary as owner of non profit.
The customers paid their bikes with 19% VAT though. The company should pay the government according to the 16% VAT. This extra 3% is already in their pockets. I dont know if it is compulsory or not by THE LAW to return this money to the customer. THOSE money have YT donated and made it look like it was theirs.
That is, if the gross price of the item is €100 and net price is €119 (19% vat), YT strategy is to raise the gross price to €102.85 so net price will still be €119 instead of €116.
It's a freaking scam, on top of that they might even make profit due to income tax deduction, banners at bikeparks, etc. Bikepark Osternohe could also be a conflict of interest since it's where YT holds most of their corporate events.
It's freaking digraceful behaviour and luckily it happened right before I placed and order with them.
I'm all for the giving. Just don't dress it up like it was a huge gesture on YTs behalf.
Bravo Hochstadt
Get tha f*ck outta here!
That's funny, the above makes it look like YT are really nice guys and are donating part of their income but it's actually far from truth.
Basically every customer instead of paying 16% VAT, they are ate paying 19% and
don’t be an ass, dick.
I believe you guys don't quite get because you pay sales tax upon checkout but in EU prices include value added tax (VAT).
So basically if the gross price of a bike was €1000 + 19% tax, the net price would be €1190.
The same bike with a decreased VAT to 16% would be €1160, in this case, YT raised the gross price to €1025.86 + 16% VAT is a net price of €1190.
YT basically raised the price of their bikes so customers can't take advantage of decreased VAT, so a bike with 16% VAT costs the same as previously with 19% VAT.
I don't like anybody imposing where my money should go to, even less when they are actually taking advantage of it, cause there's obviously a conflict of interest on YTs behalf.
If YT would have given the option and said, for every person that donates the difference, we donate the same on top, that would have been something but this is not the case, they are actually earning from it while making it look like they are charitable. It's despicable!!!
Lets say bike costs 1000e without tax so the customer have to add 19% to the price as VAT.
Than we have a taxed price 1190e in 2020 year.
Next year 2021 the government reduces tax to 16% so having the same assumption that untaxed bike is 1000e new taxed price for consumer should be 1160e. So the bike is 30e cheaper and government reduced tax so consumer has to pay less -> more consumer buys -> industry is still working but government makes less money from tax.
But YT wants to donate this 3% points difference. How they will do it?
1. They can give part of their income in this case 30e so they will earn less (970e per bike).
2. They can rise the base price to 1025,86e so after 16% tax price is still 1190e so buyer cant feel the decrease of tax and pays the same as last year but YT has extra 25,86e which they can claim as income or donate somewhere (pays less income tax while doing donations).
Than it is interesting what are those non profits. Who owns them. Remember that non profit commonly pays money for management. Part of donations is spent for the operation of the foundation and part for actions they are involved in.
Only serial worker who makes the dirty job is volunteer and doesn't take money for work because he needs points for college or references for future work.
So if someone likes conspiracy theories than can assume the part of donation will be kept by someone from YT or neighborhood who is owner of non profit and pays himself for ruling the foundation.
If you have too much time read about father Rydzyk and his foundation Lux Veritas, that government pays donations for higher goals but money stays in hands of Rydzyk.
Assuming that the pre-VAT price remains stable* ok?
The final price for the customer (including VAT) remains the same, even if the VAT is now 16%.
The customer pays according to 19% but the VAT is 16%.
This 3% remains in the pockets of YT. This 3% was donated.period.
*The whole game is that the companies have increased the base price. It is exaclty the same game when there is a Black Friday,St.Patrick etc sale..... e.g. 60% on an already inflated msrp value..
www.facebook.com/FlowtrailEibelstadt
We open again in spring! You are welcome!