Campus Scooter: Green Wheels

Around 2005, friends Colin Shellhorn and Tim Soule of E. Lansing, MI, had a great idea: why not get out of the job rut and start a business selling scooters to college kids? As it turned out, their timing was perfect: in 2005, gas was averaging $1.90 a gallon nationally—during the course of 2006, prices would spike up all the way past $3.20 in some areas of the country. In cash-strapped Michigan, that meant the gospel of cheap gas was suddenly appealing to more than just college students, and Campus Scooter took off.

But Colin and Tim’s vision is as much about going green as it is about the bottom line. With an average 80-100 miles per gallon, their wheels make the Prius look like a Hummer—and for every scooter or moped they sell, Campus Scooter plants five trees through the nonprofit American Forests, underscoring their commitment to the environment.

Their best advertising? The scooters themselves. That’s why every scooter they sell comes with one of their high-quality outdoor green bumperstickers, printed through Custom Sticker Makers. With a classic die cut of a scooter, collegiate text and a Michigan State Spartan color theme, everyone on campus knows where the scooters are coming from - Campus Scooter!

“We chose Custom Sticker Makers because of the quality, price and the customer service,” said Colin. He notes that native Michigander and Infamous Network Co-Founder ( CSM’s sister company), Jon Vander Pol, is also a longtime friend. Colin carries Infamous Network's line of Root Concepts stickers at Campus Scooter, "I remember when they were starting out with this sticker business, Jon would come over with new stickers all the time, so when we started Campus Scooter, I looked him up and he told me about Root Concepts. We found that the Root Concepts stickers were a perfect fit for Moped Bumper Stickers and that Custom Sticker Makers was a perfect fit for creating stickers of our logo. We couldn't be any more satisfied with the stickers and the customer service."