Climate-friendly book delivery service with cargo bike

Due to the Covid-19, Michael Terwelp was only allowed to sell newspapers in his bookshop. No books, no games, no hobby & crafting products. Yet customers kept asking for these items. So what was he to do? Become a delivery service! He took the orders and delivered them without further ado by bicycle with his wife Elisabeth.

The problem: the bags on his bicycle only had limited capacity.

That's where Vivian Bruns from Bike Mobility Services GmbH (BMS) came in. She provided the Cloppenburg bookseller with an e-bike. This offers several benefits: Terwelp can transport significantly more books, toys, puzzles or gifts to its customers and also has the “built-in tailwind” with the e-cargo bicycle. “The bicycle has a much larger turning circle than a normal bicycle, but you get used to it quickly. And the electric motor makes driving pleasant and easy,” Michael Terwelp reports enthusiastically. He has set himself one goal: he wants to maintain the delivery service even after the easing of restrictions that has now taken place and also after the pandemic is over. “Older customers in particular find this very good,” says Terwelp.

“Delivery services have been on the rise since the coronavirus hit,” says Lena Kessen, City and Event Manager at CM Cloppenburg Marketing GmbH. The past few weeks have shown that customers are taking advantage of the offer. It is a great service when local retailers bring ordered goods directly to their customers’ doorsteps. “We are currently experiencing that not only online retailers but also local retailers can deliver. This allows local retailers to offer even more services for their customers,” says Lena Kessen.

BMS is a subsidiary of Derby Cycle Holding GmbH and offers employees, self-employed persons, and companies unbureaucratic, legally secure and favourable company bicycle leasing models. “This is good for the environment and the climate, while also promoting health,” says Vivian Bruns.

Photo: from left Michael Terwelp (Buchhandlung Terwelp), Lena Kessen (CM Cloppenburg Marketing

GmbH), Vivian Bruns (Bike Mobility Services GmbH) and Christian Wölbern (Bike Mobility

Services GmbH)