3 ms·
I don't know if this is more of a European thing but it used to be the case that unless you were wealthy you rented your fridge, cooker, TV etc. or at least bou
by red_admiral 9y ago
I don't know if this is more of a European thing but it used to be the case that unless you were wealthy you rented your fridge, cooker, TV etc. or at least bought them on some kind of hire-purchase agreement.
In Switzerland you even used to pay a monthly subscription to the PTT to rent your landline phone, separately from your phone line subscription. If you paid a bit more per month you got one of the fancy models with buttons instead of a dial. [source in German: https://www.srf.ch/sendungen/kassensturz-espresso/themen/serien/espresso-retro/die-evolution-von-der-waehlscheibe-zum-funktelefon-2 https://www.srf.ch/sendungen/kassensturz-espresso/themen/ser...]
The whole service economy thing looks to me like it's going back in the direction of the times when various versions of "servant" were a common occupation.
- tauntz 9y agoThe concept of renting a fridge, TV or telephone is something that I haven't even heard of before and I also live in Europe (though, Eastern Europe). Might it only be a thing in Switzerland or in some Western European countries?
- tonyedgecombe 9y agoWe used to have it in the UK, I think Rumbelows was one of the bigger vendors. Cheap consumer goods killed its business.
- red_admiral 9y agoI presume it's more of a western thing.
- sweden 9y agoI have lived both in the south west of Europe and north of Europe and I have never heard of renting electronic appliances.