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If I understand this correctly, it's a great idea. Can anyone comment if this is a new idea or are similar things available? Someone has likened this to Loot C

If I understand this correctly, it's a great idea. Can anyone comment if this is a new idea or are similar things available? Someone has likened this to Loot Crate (a 'consumerism-as-a-service'/we send you things every month deal), but my impression is different: it's about RENTING the non-disposable items your child needs. Bottles, clothes, toys, car seats, age-appropriate toys, etc. As I see it, you have you currently have two options: 1. Purchase nice new things for baby and then dispose of them when you don't need them. Expensive. 2. Trawl charity shops, eBay, etc. for second-hand bargains. Time consuming. This provides a third option that will ideally be between the two price-wise, and add extra convenience and assurance (promises to quality-check and sterilise everything before sending it back out) over DIY second-hand. Is this about right? Additional opportunities could include: * Up-selling consumables - they could deliver nappies/formula * Product testing - partner with manufacturers to get stock for free/cheap in return for evaluating their products. (Not sure how valuable or practical this is in practice.)

cfeduke 11y ago
As a user of second hand shops for babies it is not time consuming - at least not where I live in Virginia. These stores do excellent business because the market in used infant through toddler clothes and toys is HUGE.
- ajford 11y ago
  Location factors in to this a LOT. When I lived in south Texas, the second hand market was thriving (at least in clothes and some less expensive toys). I now live in Puerto Rico, and second hand shops don't exist as far as I can tell (cultural thing - second hand items go to relatives and friends). I had family in the central TX area, who would find higher value items at second hand stores (cribs, car seats, even an entire toddler room furniture set) for very reasonable cost, which didn't appear often in my area. I even had them start calling me when things would appear, and in a couple cases I had them purchase and hold items until I could make the trip to pick it up from them (and pay them back).
hoopism 11y ago
"As I see it, you have you currently have two options:" My wife and I have a 2 year old and we did #1 till we were broke. We're having another in June and have used FreeCycle and friends this time around. We have far more useful items this time around and have spent nothing. New parents are scared and research and buy everything. Smart parents borrow and inherit. We have gotten some amazingly (expensive) and useful items on FreeCycle (including all the baby room furniture. We'll be passing it along when we are done as well). No offense to the creator. But as a parent of young kid(s), this makes me cringe. I think clutter-crate might be a better name.
- alexhawdon 11y ago
  So do you think you might have been a good target for this service? As a new parent, would it have allayed your concerns and been an acceptable alternative to new items? And as a smart parent would this be sufficiently more convenient than sourcing things yourself?
  - hoopism 11y ago
    My wife spent a stupid amount of time researching everything and then finding the absolute best price (which is like saying you are a savvy lamborghini consumer). So as new parents, I doubt we'd consider it (tho my wife did do a trial of some curated eco-toys... we did not sign up and we did not find it useful). So I would say no. We actually dread parties and holidays as it brings a huge influx in new toys that our daughter will likely never use or clothes she will outgrow in a few weeks and/or never wear.
ashark 11y ago
#2 isn't actually time consuming, at least for clothes and toys (the things you'll be buying the most often--it's not like you have to go buy more bottles or another car seat every three months). Huge lots of kids' clothes are available on Craigslist for something like 1/20-1/10 of what they'd cost new. Every few months you just check craigslist for a couple of days until one pops up with the rights sizes, then buy it. You can go out any Saturday morning and round up a mountain of toys from garage sales with no special planning, and any thrift shop will have tons of them at any given time. And, again, Craigslist (and other similar services--my wife uses some Swap Shop thing that's AFAIK tied to Facebook even more than she uses Craigslist these days) When you're done with the clothes or toys, sell them the same way you bought them. All that stuff ends up being very cheap when you do it this way. It's easier than buying stuff new. The only time it's maybe more difficult is if you want something specific (e.g. LEGO bricks) (mid-size city. Maybe it's different in small cities or big cities)
alexhawdon 11y ago
> If I understand this correctly I didn't. I've since followed the link through to their Crowd Rise funding page and their idea is indeed Consumerism-as-a-Service. They are delivering consumables. If there are things you don't want or haven't used, you can return them and they will redistribute the items to the less fortunate; a social responsibility gesture. Personally think my misinterpretation makes for a more novel business idea.

cfeduke 11y ago

As a user of second hand shops for babies it is not time consuming - at least not where I live in Virginia. These stores do excellent business because the market in used infant through toddler clothes and toys is HUGE.

ajford 11y ago
Location factors in to this a LOT. When I lived in south Texas, the second hand market was thriving (at least in clothes and some less expensive toys). I now live in Puerto Rico, and second hand shops don't exist as far as I can tell (cultural thing - second hand items go to relatives and friends). I had family in the central TX area, who would find higher value items at second hand stores (cribs, car seats, even an entire toddler room furniture set) for very reasonable cost, which didn't appear often in my area. I even had them start calling me when things would appear, and in a couple cases I had them purchase and hold items until I could make the trip to pick it up from them (and pay them back).

hoopism 11y ago

"As I see it, you have you currently have two options:" My wife and I have a 2 year old and we did #1 till we were broke. We're having another in June and have used FreeCycle and friends this time around. We have far more useful items this time around and have spent nothing. New parents are scared and research and buy everything. Smart parents borrow and inherit. We have gotten some amazingly (expensive) and useful items on FreeCycle (including all the baby room furniture. We'll be passing it along when we are done as well). No offense to the creator. But as a parent of young kid(s), this makes me cringe. I think clutter-crate might be a better name.

alexhawdon 11y ago
So do you think you might have been a good target for this service? As a new parent, would it have allayed your concerns and been an acceptable alternative to new items? And as a smart parent would this be sufficiently more convenient than sourcing things yourself?
- hoopism 11y ago
  My wife spent a stupid amount of time researching everything and then finding the absolute best price (which is like saying you are a savvy lamborghini consumer). So as new parents, I doubt we'd consider it (tho my wife did do a trial of some curated eco-toys... we did not sign up and we did not find it useful). So I would say no. We actually dread parties and holidays as it brings a huge influx in new toys that our daughter will likely never use or clothes she will outgrow in a few weeks and/or never wear.

ashark 11y ago

#2 isn't actually time consuming, at least for clothes and toys (the things you'll be buying the most often--it's not like you have to go buy more bottles or another car seat every three months). Huge lots of kids' clothes are available on Craigslist for something like 1/20-1/10 of what they'd cost new. Every few months you just check craigslist for a couple of days until one pops up with the rights sizes, then buy it. You can go out any Saturday morning and round up a mountain of toys from garage sales with no special planning, and any thrift shop will have tons of them at any given time. And, again, Craigslist (and other similar services--my wife uses some Swap Shop thing that's AFAIK tied to Facebook even more than she uses Craigslist these days) When you're done with the clothes or toys, sell them the same way you bought them. All that stuff ends up being very cheap when you do it this way. It's easier than buying stuff new. The only time it's maybe more difficult is if you want something specific (e.g. LEGO bricks) (mid-size city. Maybe it's different in small cities or big cities)

alexhawdon 11y ago

> If I understand this correctly I didn't. I've since followed the link through to their Crowd Rise funding page and their idea is indeed Consumerism-as-a-Service. They are delivering consumables. If there are things you don't want or haven't used, you can return them and they will redistribute the items to the less fortunate; a social responsibility gesture. Personally think my misinterpretation makes for a more novel business idea.