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Instead of an Airbnb-style bartering economy, I'd expect a Netflix for household items would be more feasible. No worries about strangers using and breaking you
by rubinelli 8y ago
Instead of an Airbnb-style bartering economy, I'd expect a Netflix for household items would be more feasible. No worries about strangers using and breaking your things, no microtransactions to track.
That sounds specially interesting in denser areas. Make it fast and easy for people to request and return stuff, and homes suddenly have a lot of extra space.
- ghaff 8y agoOf course there are already a lot of rental places for expensive but rarely used tools, party equipment, etc. Perhaps there’s the potential to reduce transaction costs but the economics of renting a stand mixer still seem challenging though. I agree with your basic point that commercializing borrowing a tool from a neighbor has been and will continue to be largely a non-starter.
- secabeen 8y agoThe challenge for household items is cleaning and hygiene. If I rent a construction tool, I don't mind if it has dirt and paint spots on it. For kitchen hardware, or many other household items, it needs to be clean. There are a lot of re-intake, cleaning and processing costs that are hard to avoid.
- michaelbuckbee 8y agoOmni is pretty close to that - https://www.beomni.com/ https://www.beomni.com/ - though it does feel like maybe a subscription fee would be better than one off rentals, maybe credits?