⚡Ciklek

How Ciklek Works

Ciklek is a pickup-and-return tool sharpening service built for professional shops. You hand off your dull tools, we handle everything — pickup, sharpening, QC, and return delivery — then charge you only for what we did. No contracts, no monthly fees, no surprises.

The Business Model

Ciklek operates on a simple pay-as-you-go model:

| Charge | When | Amount | |--------|------|--------| | Pickup fee | At the time of booking | $30 flat | | Sharpening fee | After QC is complete, before return delivery | $15 per blade |

That's it. A shop that books one pickup and sends in 8 blades pays $30 + $120 = $150, charged to their card on file in two separate transactions. No invoice to pay later, no net-30 terms, no subscription renewing whether you use the service or not.

Why two charges? The pickup fee covers logistics cost at the time you commit to a pickup slot. The per-blade fee is assessed after your tools are sharpened and inspected — so you only pay for work that's actually been done and passed QC.

The Ecosystem

Ciklek connects six distinct groups. Here's how each one fits:

🏪 Customers — the shops

Flooring contractors, restaurant kitchens, butcher shops, cabinet shops, metal fabricators — any business that relies on sharp tools to do professional work.

What they experience:

  1. Sign up at app.ciklek.com/sign-up or through a field sales rep
  2. Register their tools once (each tool gets a QR label)
  3. Book a pickup — pick a date and window, card is charged $30
  4. A driver arrives at their shop and scans each tool
  5. Tools go to a local service center for sharpening
  6. Customer gets a notification when tools are sharpened and on the way back
  7. Driver delivers — customer is charged $15 × blade count
  8. Invoice is emailed automatically; full history in the portal

Key portal pages:

  • /portal/dashboard — active orders, tools due back
  • /portal/orders — full order history and status timeline
  • /portal/parts — tool inventory with service history
  • /portal/subscription — billing history, all past charges

Billing: Card is saved during onboarding via Stripe. Both charges are non-negotiable at time of service — no pay-later, no net terms for standard accounts.

🚐 Drivers — the logistics layer

Drivers run daily routes: morning pickup runs, afternoon/evening delivery runs. They work entirely from their phone — no desktop required.

Their flow:

  1. Log into app.ciklek.com/driver from any mobile browser
  2. See today's assigned route and stop list
  3. Navigate to each stop via the "Open in Maps →" link
  4. At a pickup stop: scan each blade QR code, tap "Mark Pickup Complete"
  5. Drop tools at the service center
  6. On the return run: pick up finished tools, deliver to each customer, tap "Mark Delivered"

Important: Drivers never handle billing. The $15/blade charge fires when ops marks the batch ready_for_return (after QC), not when the driver delivers. Delivery is purely logistics.

Their visibility: Only their own assigned stops for today. Admins see all routes.

🔧 Technicians — the craft

Technicians work at service centers. They receive batches of tools, sharpen them to spec, and perform quality control before marking a batch ready for return.

Their flow:

  1. Log into /technician — see their job queue
  2. Scan a blade QR code to pull up the service job card
  3. Sharpen the blade
  4. Mark the job Complete (passed QC) or Needs Attention
  5. When all jobs in a batch are done, the ops processor seals the batch
  6. Batch status → ready_for_return → triggers billing + dispatch notification

Key metric they own: Turnaround time (pickup → ready_for_return target: 24–48 hrs).

🎛️ Operations Team — the control tower

Operations managers run dispatch, monitor the service pipeline, and handle exceptions. This is the highest-context internal role.

Their tools:

  • /dispatch — assign pickups to routes, assign routes to drivers
  • Unassigned Queue — every new pickup booking creates a route stop automatically; dispatch sees it immediately without manual entry
  • Returns tab — batches that are ready_for_return waiting to be scheduled for delivery
  • /processor — seal batches, mark orders ready for return, oversee technician batches
  • /operations — full service center throughput, SLA tracking

The dispatch flow:

  1. Customer books → route_stop created automatically (unassigned)
  2. Ops assigns stop to a route, assigns driver
  3. Driver completes pickup → batch created at service center
  4. Technicians complete → ops seals batch → billing fires → delivery stop created
  5. Ops assigns delivery stop → driver delivers

Alerts they receive: Email when any batch transitions to ready_for_return (sent to faridonfire@gmail.com; configurable via OPS_ALERT_EMAIL env var).

💼 Account Managers — growth and retention

Account managers own the customer relationship from first contact through ongoing health. They onboard new customers (including field sales via tablet) and manage at-risk accounts.

Their tools:

  • /account-manager — customer list with health scores
  • Field sales tablet: app.ciklek.com/field-signup?pin=CIKLEK2026
    • Signs up a new shop on the spot
    • Creates Clerk user + customer record automatically
    • Sets pickup_credits: 1 — first pickup is free (promo credit, no $30 charge)
    • Sends welcome email immediately
  • Invite flow for referrals: /invite with customer-specific link

Pilot program: Customers onboarded via field sales get their first pickup free. They're shown a "skip for now" option on the payment-method step if they have credits.

🧾 Accounting — the money side

Accounting has read-only visibility into all revenue, invoices, and AR.

Their tools:

  • /accounting — revenue dashboard, AR aging
  • /accounting/invoices — all invoices across all customers
  • /accounting/ar-aging — overdue accounts, days outstanding

Revenue flow on PAYG:

  • $30 pickup charge → Stripe PaymentIntent → service_requests.pickup_fee_cents
  • $15/blade charge → Stripe PaymentIntent → service_requests.delivery_fee_cents
  • Invoice auto-generated on delivery completion → emailed to customer
  • Failed charges → automatic dunning (3 attempts over 9 days), logged in Stripe

No subscription revenue: There are no recurring Stripe subscriptions. MRR in the owner dashboard is calculated as the rolling 30-day sum of pickup_fee_cents + delivery_fee_cents across all service requests — it reflects actual usage, not contracted ARR.

📊 Owner / Founder — the P&L view

The /owner dashboard gives a single-pane view of the business:

  • Rolling 30-day revenue (real PAYG charges, not contracted MRR)
  • Active customers (ordered in last 30 days)
  • Avg turnaround time (pickup → delivered)
  • Blades processed this month
  • Cohort retention (w1 / w4 / w12 re-order rates)
  • Churn signals — customers who haven't reordered in 45+ days

Key health indicator: reorder rate. A healthy PAYG business has customers coming back every 2–4 weeks. If a customer's last order was 6+ weeks ago, that's a churn signal for Account Management to act on.

The Full Lifecycle — One Order

Customer books pickup
  → $30 charged to card
  → Confirmation email sent
  → route_stop created (unassigned)

Dispatch assigns stop to route
  → Driver notified

Driver arrives, scans tools
  → "Tools picked up" email + SMS to customer
  → Batch created at service center

Technician sharpens + QC
  → Job marked complete per blade

Ops seals batch
  → $15 × blade_count charged to card
  → Invoice auto-generated (emailed)
  → Dispatch notified: "ready for return"
  → Return route_stop created (unassigned)

Dispatch assigns return stop
  → Driver picks up from service center
  → Driver delivers to customer
  → Order status → "delivered"

Customer confirms receipt in portal
  → Order closes

Service Centers (Servicers)

Service centers are Ciklek's fulfillment partners — the physical shops where blades are sharpened.

  • Each service center has its own batch queue and technician pool
  • When a driver completes a pickup, tools are logged as received at the assigned service center
  • Technicians at the center process their queue independently
  • Service centers are configured in the /admin panel (currently single service center in pilot)

In the multi-partner model (post-launch), servicers will have their own portal to view incoming batches, manage their own technician team, and see their payout schedule.

Pricing FAQ

Is there a minimum order size? No. You can send in one blade. The $30 pickup fee applies regardless — it covers the drive.

What if the driver can't find my location? The driver has your address from your customer profile and a direct Google Maps link in their app. If there's an issue, dispatch will reach out via phone.

What if I want to cancel a pickup? Contact support before the driver is dispatched. Once a driver is en route, the $30 is non-refundable.

Can I pay by invoice? Standard accounts are card-on-file only (PAYG). High-volume accounts can discuss net-30 terms with their Account Manager.

What if my blade comes back unsatisfactory? Raise a dispute in the portal (Portal → Orders → [order] → Dispute). Your Account Manager is notified within one business day.

Do you sharpen all blade types? Ciklek currently handles: chef's knives, cleaver knives, circular saw blades, planer knives, shaper cutters, flooring blades, and industrial cutting edges. Check with your Account Manager for specialty tools.

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