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Anyone who's rented out homes knows the deal. Family had a ski house out east that was regularly rented out. People are assholes. They steal cheap target thr

by x0x0 12y ago

Anyone who's rented out homes knows the deal. Family had a ski house out east that was regularly rented out. People are assholes. They steal cheap target throw rugs or cheap wall art, break into the owners' closet, leave enormous messes, etc. I'm really not trying to make this sound like, "Well, what did you expect!" -- shit sucks and these homeowners don't need people piling on them -- but seriously, anyone who's rented out homes knows the deal. The reason your book example is misleading is you aren't renting it out for cash to strangers to take to a party with them. If you have a personal connection to people they treat your stuff with more respect because it's tangled up in your relationship. When you let friends use your home, it's personal for both of you. When you let strangers use your home for money, it's personal for you but just business for them. It's an alternative to a hotel and will be treated with the same (lack of) respect, for better or for worse.

wpietri 12y ago
I think that anybody renting things out can reasonably expect error and ignorance, but I think they can and should be surprised and outraged by the extraordinary levels of calculated malice displayed here. (As another data point, my parents have rented out a vacation apartment for a decade and they've never had anything stolen or trashed.) I agree money changes things some, but less and less. And the theory of much of the modern "sharing economy" stuff is that the era of disconnected, faceless capitalism is on the wane. That's certainly been my experience on both sides of AirBnB.
- x0x0 12y ago
  Where is your parents' house? Ski towns attract people there to party, which may be part of the difference. My take on the so-called sharing economy is it's a scam run by uber et al to exploit soft employment in the united states by sidestepping the requirement of being an employer in favor of an exploitative game where you can pretend all your employees are contractors and hence not subject to minimum wages, worker's comp, or the majority of legal protections given employees.
  - wpietri 12y ago
    My parents don't rent a ski house. Neither did these people. So I think your example isn't so useful here. I also don't understand how your (not unreasonable) belief on Uber has anything to do with AirBnB.

by x0x0 12y ago

wpietri 12y ago

I think that anybody renting things out can reasonably expect error and ignorance, but I think they can and should be surprised and outraged by the extraordinary levels of calculated malice displayed here. (As another data point, my parents have rented out a vacation apartment for a decade and they've never had anything stolen or trashed.) I agree money changes things some, but less and less. And the theory of much of the modern "sharing economy" stuff is that the era of disconnected, faceless capitalism is on the wane. That's certainly been my experience on both sides of AirBnB.

x0x0 12y ago
Where is your parents' house? Ski towns attract people there to party, which may be part of the difference. My take on the so-called sharing economy is it's a scam run by uber et al to exploit soft employment in the united states by sidestepping the requirement of being an employer in favor of an exploitative game where you can pretend all your employees are contractors and hence not subject to minimum wages, worker's comp, or the majority of legal protections given employees.
- wpietri 12y ago
  My parents don't rent a ski house. Neither did these people. So I think your example isn't so useful here. I also don't understand how your (not unreasonable) belief on Uber has anything to do with AirBnB.