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How rental ‘libraries of things’ have become the new way to save money (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

224 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The theory is simple: instead of buying a household item or a piece of clothing or some equipment you might use once or twice, you take it out and return it.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Not exactly. The type of rental discussed in the article is short term, not long term like an apartment.

Also, there will probably be a response in the industry, but it could end up being better overall. For instance, an appliance may end up being designed more for repair and have a longer design lifespan as there are fewer, but more educated, consumers of the appliances. I would expect a steam cleaner that has to run two times a week to be more expensive than one that has to run two times a year.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Also, there will probably be a response in the industry,

I dunno. There have been tool rental places with pro level tools for a very long time, and the tool manufacturers don't seem to have reacted to stop it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

I didn't say tool makers would stop it.

But there is a difference in design philosophy between pro tools and amateur tools. I would expect that, if the market shifts to more kinds of tools, the design of those tools will shift as well.