Renting cupcake carrying cases in Manchester, NH
Friday, February 5, 2010 at 8:16AM Ever winter, without fail, the end of my driveway becomes a sheet of ice. Thanks to a slight dip where the driveway meets the road, the ice here sometimes gets to be a couple of inches thick.
To break up this ice, I usually hit up my boss – a Mainer – once a season for use of his ice chisel:
After borrowing the chisel a couple of times now, I feel guilty asking for it again. I don’t want to be a freeloader. But I also have no interest in buying something I only use once a year, even if I could get one for $35 or so. It just seems wasteful.
That’s why I’m intrigued about new web platforms like Rentalic that enable neighbors to rent seldom-used items from another, items ranging from ice chisels to cupcake carrying cases. I would love to see such a service here in Manchester, N.H.
Rentalic, as well as sites like Neighborrow and NeighborGoods, connects people who want to use things without owning them. Participants can use such sites to request items they need or offer items they own. Is your chainsaw just sitting around collecting dust? Rent it out to a neighbor for $5 a day. It won’t make you rich, but it’s it more of a return on your investment than it just sitting unused in your basement.
As a recent article in the Boston Globe points out, such an idea – paying to use someone else’s stuff – is not an unfamiliar concept, at least for those of us who have ever “rented a car, joined a gym or registered at Netflix.”
Not only do the neighborly exchanges made possible by sites like Rentalic save us money and storage space and give us access to items that are cost-prohibitive to buy, they’re also good for the environment. After all, fewer items produced means a reduction in resources consumed during the manufacturing and shipping processes and less waste in landfills.
Sounds like a winner to me.
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Reader Comments (2)
I wouldn't be able to have my neighbors pay to use stuff. I think the point in owning a thing is to use it by whoever needs it. In our neighborhood we use each others yards and go into each others garages and houses (yes you'll get yelled at for knocking) to borrow stuff that we need. It's polite to return it cleaned, refueled and if it broke when you used it, fix it. Knowing that other people have something we could use and we have something they could use it's assumed that the "renting" of an item is paid by the exchange of items. I also think the value of an item is in the person who needs it not the person who doesn't. I also think it's silly to nickle and dime people for a cupcake sheet. It feels, once money becomes involved a certain amount of personalization seems to be removed like in a business transaction or contract.
In true Mainer fashion, you can borrow my ice chisel anytime. A chainsaw on the other hand is one of those items you just don't want to turn over to a novice. Imagine the guilt one would have knowing they loaned someone a tool that resulted in the lopping off of one's leg. As a true Mainer, you just show up with your saw and take care of your neighbor or friend's tree branch. Somehow a six pack always seems to adequately cover the cost of gas and oil.
One of these days I need to show you the "real" use of an ice chisel.