3 ms·

I thought about this a lot. What if we just share a lot of tools with our neighbors. It will prevent waste and free up space in your house. However, for me, it'

I thought about this a lot. What if we just share a lot of tools with our neighbors. It will prevent waste and free up space in your house. However, for me, it's more convenient to have my own tools. I have the freedom to mow the lawn whenever I want. Also on that sunny afternoon when all the other neighbors also want to mow their lawn. And I want a tool that's in the right condition. When I have time to do a job around the house, my tools should work. Not broken, dirty or missing a part. And I don't want a difficult conversation with my neighbor about it. Sharing and borrowing tools with my neighbors directly is fine for me. Co-owning or continuously renting together is not my cup-of-tea.

freeopinion 5y ago
Absolutely. I completely agree with everything you said. But I still see the benefit in other models. And I wonder what innovation might occur if we spent more time exploring options.
- defenestration 5y ago
  Absolutely! I guess the main innovation will be social. Thinking of a way that people feel responsible for shared tools, a non-awkward way of selecting neighbors who you are willing to share with and some kind of emergency-button if you need a tool now and all the shared tools are taken.
  - freeopinion 5y ago
    So let's you and I spend an hour offline ironing this out so we can pitch HN for $20 million of seed money next week. We'll start with mowers and expand into kitchen blenders and frying pans. We'll displace Amazon in about 15 years!
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  - CogitoCogito 5y ago
    This reminds me of how all the city e-scooters are treated. Those rented by people with apps are treated terribly and thrown around like trash by their operators. Those actually owned by people are treated very well. At it's core it's basically a strong argument in support of private property (at least in this instance). I would love it if you could solve this sort of social issue, but I wouldn't underestimate the difficulty of doing so. Successfully making people feel responsible for shared tools is almost equivalent to "building a better society". It's a worthy goal, but people have been trying to do so for basically all of human history.
TaylorAlexander 5y ago
Tool lending libraries are great! https://oaklandlibrary.org/locations/oakland-tool-lending-library https://oaklandlibrary.org/locations/oakland-tool-lending-li...

freeopinion 5y ago

Absolutely. I completely agree with everything you said. But I still see the benefit in other models. And I wonder what innovation might occur if we spent more time exploring options.

defenestration 5y ago
Absolutely! I guess the main innovation will be social. Thinking of a way that people feel responsible for shared tools, a non-awkward way of selecting neighbors who you are willing to share with and some kind of emergency-button if you need a tool now and all the shared tools are taken.
- freeopinion 5y ago
  So let's you and I spend an hour offline ironing this out so we can pitch HN for $20 million of seed money next week. We'll start with mowers and expand into kitchen blenders and frying pans. We'll displace Amazon in about 15 years!
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- CogitoCogito 5y ago
  This reminds me of how all the city e-scooters are treated. Those rented by people with apps are treated terribly and thrown around like trash by their operators. Those actually owned by people are treated very well. At it's core it's basically a strong argument in support of private property (at least in this instance). I would love it if you could solve this sort of social issue, but I wouldn't underestimate the difficulty of doing so. Successfully making people feel responsible for shared tools is almost equivalent to "building a better society". It's a worthy goal, but people have been trying to do so for basically all of human history.

TaylorAlexander 5y ago

Tool lending libraries are great! https://oaklandlibrary.org/locations/oakland-tool-lending-library https://oaklandlibrary.org/locations/oakland-tool-lending-li...