“Hey neighbor, can I borrow a cup of sugar – and your lawn mower?” We rely on our neighbors for all sorts of things, but we don’t want to take advantage of them. There are many instances where you may need some sort of appliance, gadget, or even furniture, but don’t want to spend the money just to use it a handful of times.
So what if you could rent or lease the things you need from people in your community? For a small fee, you can get the things you need from people in your community without buying them and without imposing on the politeness of your neighbors.
Recently, many web sites have popped up to bring individuals together in this mutually beneficial relationship. For a small fee, individuals can rent or lease things they need from people in their community. The benefits here are obvious, to both of the parties involved as well as to the environment, which can breathe a little easier when you lessen manufacturing demand for products using virgin materials. It is also a great way to make use of the things you may have, but rarely use. Why not reap a small reward from things you already own?
Rentalic.com, recently featured in the Boston Globe, is one of the stand-out renting and leasing sites. Through an online community, Rentalic puts individuals in touch in order to reuse and share goods and services. It’s truly a person-to-person business model that encourages a community economy and sustainable use of existing products. Although they are based on the West coast, Rentalic has listings in cities all over the US. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can post a request to the site.
The concept isn’t new; we are already doing this when we get movies from Netflix or drive a ZipCar. Chegg.com is a fast-growing web site where students can rent rather than buy a textbook to use throughout a semester. Many businesses are exploring this model as a way to make their own businesses more sustainable. This person-to-person model simply seeks to expand on that to bring together members of the community to provide services and products to one another. However you look at it, it cuts down on consumption, that favorite American pastime, and encourages product durability, recycling, and making use of what is already readily available to us. It’s a shift from product ownership to product user-ship.
Recognizing a trend, many other sites have sprung up with similar aims. GoGoVerde, Neighborrow, Bright Neighbor, Wecommune, and NeighborGoods are a few. To borrow from GoGoverde’s philosophy, it promotes a less cluttered, less wasteful, more earth friendly way to live in community with our neighbors. Many of these web sites connect members of the community in more ways than one. On Bright Neighbor, for example, you can request or offer a ride to a local event or even to work. Some of these sites also have listings for local community events that truly bring individuals together.
If we work together, we can get the things we need in any economy. We can live in a more sustainable way by using, rather than consuming things, and sharing what we have with others.
One of the biggest problems that I’ve found is that these sites are difficult to track down unless you have the name, so if you know it, share it with others! As these become more popular options, it will become easier to find them and find the things you want. So start doing your own community a service and spread the word!
Source: BecauseAction.com
