How rental ‘libraries of things’ have become the new way to save money
Aatube@kbin.melroy.org to 
theguardian.com
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.
Always check your public library. The ones in m area have these which cost you nothing to use because they are supported as public services.
Always support public libraries.
It helped me to know that checking out items helps the library.
I always thought of it as being a consumer of library resources, but the fact that the books/movies/library of things items are being checked out helps them prove that their services are useful to the community.
Always support your public libraries, and watch out for companies that want to take this over:
https://fair.org/home/a-for-profit-company-is-trying-to-privatize-as-many-public-libraries-as-they-can/
With the size of housing units they build in condo buildings these days, who the fuck has any room to store appliances?
Plus, we live in an era where we produce too much shit anyway and it's damaging the environment. So by sharing stuff like this, it means we need to produce less.
Indeed, also it's much nicer to use a shared high quality tool than to buy an el-cheapo disposable tool.
Even something simple like a crowbar. I once borrowed a (shorter) professional crowbar after struggling with a (larger) cheap one. The thing I was trying to pry came out like butter.
Even though physics dictates that a shorter lever should be inferior, it just had a much better design and grip.
Better for our wallet, sanity and environment.
Yeah but was it any good for killing head crabs?
This is an outstanding idea for an apartment community. It addresses space issues, cost concerns, and largely prevents abuse from the get-go because you know where all your borrowers live.
In great Montreal area it's more and more enormous, condo 1000sqft+, thousands of them, that people cannot buy because they are too expensive, I don't understand the system
Yeah they built these big ass luxury condo towers downtown and most of them are empty. I know because I can see in them from my office building.
Some argue this allows richer people to move out of smaller units therefore freeing them for others. But instead you have international investors coming in to buy them up as a real tax haven. Or the rich will simply buy them but keep the old ones and rent them at a premium. It doesn't help at all.
You don't have a tax for owning "abandoned" housing (inhabited by noone)? There should be.
There's a tax for foreign ownership now,I think..
*cough* Maestria *cough*
This sounds neat until it's run for profit.
There is a business in my town. There's probably one like it in your town. They rent power equipment. Anything from pressure washers to bobcats to bouncy castles. And as a man who has needed to drill precisely 8 holes into a concrete slab in 37 years, there is a genuine value proposition in renting a hammer drill for an afternoon compared to buying one.
This week's rental for me:
Not going to buy those things or pay someone to operate them. It's a good deal.
We’ve got this & a local option!
Rentals seem extremely expensive in my area. $100/day for a shitty 4" wood chipper, $300/day for 6" chipper. For some tools, it's often about the same price or cheaper to buy a tool from Harbor Freight than to rent.
Ah, but is it? A quick search shows wood chippers ranging from $400 to $2400. If they're renting out the $400 model, yeah, you come out ahead by buying even if you're only chipping things on two weekends (and you could resell on craigslist or something).
But if they're renting out a $2000 model, I'm not sure how fair it is to compare to the $400 model (I'm not a wood chipper expert).
Wood chippers might be a bad example. I'd think if you need one, you need one multiple times -- chipping branches every fall at a cabin, things like that.
But overall, yeah, you make a good point that the rental prices can change the tipping point in rent vs. buy.
Sorry, I was unclear. Chippers are not the tools I was thinking of that would be cheaper to buy (a low quality version of) than rent. Was thinking more about stuff like torque wrenches and rotary hammers. Chipper rental prices were just one thing I was looking at recently that seemed way out of line with what other people from other regions were paying.
Ha, fair enough. Yeah, a quick search shows low-end torque wrenches available for like $25. It's hard to see a rental making sense at that scale.
How would that ruin it?
Modest profit isn't an issue, but most businesses of more than a certain size accumulate MBAs like some kind of parasitic fungus. They then proceed to wring out as much money as possible in the short term while destroying the business in the long term.
If it's just a local guy making 5% or so a year off his one rental shop, that's no problem.
Yeah pretty much. There are behaviors that are profitable but not good for the community.
Competition solves this.
The problem is maintaining competition. Another thing those MBAs salivate over is the idea of buying out the competition, and their squeeze-the-company-dry method can give them just enough money for just long enough to buy a competing business to run into the ground when the original one starts to give out. Like I said, parasitic fungus: move to a new host as the old one dies. Keeping them from spreading can only be accomplished by stronger government regulation than many people seem willing to see in place, alas.
Government regulation is needed for a healthy capitalism country yes.
In a purely profit business, you price things based on how much people are willing to pay for them.
That translates into things never being priced as being “worth it”, but almost worth it, and definitely not worth it for people with tighter budget
There's a local store that rents outdoors gear (climbing stuff, camping supplies etc), it's for profit and it's great. Would be way cooler if it were a library, but the local business is totally affordable and easy.
I've used it several times. My friends and I plan an outing and plan supply pickup/dropoff as part of the outing.
So, the key is to run your business for loss. Wait, that’s called a charity, not a business. How is this thing supposed to work?
Libraries don't make a profit, AFAIK. Non-profits and co-ops are things too.
That’s true. If something doesn’t directly make money, it can still exist because of taxes or another arrangement like that.
Wait is this trying to suggest just renting is the same thing as a library?
The benifit of a library is you share the cost as a group and get some fractional use of it. Like books that you only really need access to for small amount of time.
Its not the same as say Amazon owning the book rental space and choosing, without any choice on your point, on what books are there or who could get access to them.
Tool libraries are libraries, not rentals.
So no, they aren't saying renting is the same thing as a library. They are saying libraries offering more services are a great way for you to save money by not buying a tool you only need once or for a day here and there over the years.
I agree with the first part, but they are using the terms interchangeable of renting and borrowing. Talking about renting and subscription in the same vain as borrowing.
I just don't want the very cool idea of a library economy to be conflated with the "you own nothing" subscription/rent everything economy.
They both have similarities but the actual ownership matters IMHO or else you get rent seeking/enshittification.
That's fair, I'd agree the article does a terrible job of differentiating, and a company calling itself a library in it's name doesn't make it a library, just a rental service playing pretend for profit.
Growing up, there was an association in my area for common ownership of different types of machinery and other equipment for its members. You paid something like $10 a year, and for that you got to borrow all kinds of things you might need as a home owner, like a wood chopper/splitter, high pressure washer, trailers, leaf blowers, cement mixer, scaffolding etc.
I always thought that was brilliant.
Everything as subscription.
Yeah it is seem to be cheap now, until you become dependent on it.
On the flip side, when you lost your job, cancel your home subscription and become homeless.
Oh, I assumed this article was going to be about public libraries. Often public libraries will have things for checkout, like gardening or cooking equipment. Yeah, this is somewhat distopian. These companies will probably make bank off of this. It should be public. We need a larger library system for much more things.
Not sure I agree that it's dystopian. Imagine how much less waste there would be. People with less crowded storage/garages/houses with less junk they use rarely. Like, I have this scroll saw I've used for like one project. Why the fuck do I own this thing?
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.
I guess so, but I just see this going in the direction of not wining anything and needing a subscription service. They end up costing a lot more and nearly killing off alternatives.
Private Equity goes REEEEEE!
I remember when corner stores rented DVDs, this could be another business for them. But...since they haven't adopted it I guess it really isn't that profitable. Power tool prices have come down in price and size.
Ubik was right
What could go wrong with depending on such a service? The things up for rental here are only things that have to be frequently changed or used just once or twice. I don't expect to subscribe to more permanent things as part of the expansion of tool rentals. Yes, some like Adobe have already adopted subscription for permanenty things, but that's different from this topic.
https://youtu.be/gMt-Opo1Ovw?si=kUUwG4InmnP0UkL4
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/gMt-Opo1Ovw?si=kUUwG4InmnP0UkL4
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
I've rented things like carpet cleaners, floor polishers, chainsaws, splitters for the chainsawed wood, generators, a bunch of weird things from a rental place down the street that seems to have at least one of anything I could ever need. It's awesome! Not having to maintain a bunch of shitty two stroke engines is phenomenal.
Kinda off topic, but this reminded me of the lawn mower I bought a few summers ago. It was on sale for like 200, it was an electric Li-Ion battery though.
It was my first Li-Ion mower, but not the first electric and the first electric was just...shitty...pros definitely did not put weigh the cons so I was hesitant, but bit the bullet anyways because that first electric had to have been like 15+ years ago so things must have improved
So glad I did, this MF is so damn quiet, I don't even need hearing protection AND I can mow at like 9PM because it's so quiet that the barking neighbor dogs are louder AND I don't have to fuck with gas and oil. I even picked up the same thing but the trimmer and weed whacker version at a thrift store. So now I don't have to fuck with has and oil and MIXING them just right for 2 strokes.
Even with the big battery they're still lighter than the equivalent 2 stroke.
Tl;Dr FUCK 2/4 stroke engine equipment, I'm never going back lmao
I'm hoping to have bought my last engine. maybe there will be another ICE car or motorcycle in my future, I don't think I'll ever own another airplane and I'm 100% done with gas powered lawn tools. I've got a set of electric lawn tools that do a fantastic job and they don't pack their sinuses with their own shit all winter so they work when it's time.
And my father has fought me tooth and nail the entire way. "You sure you don't want the gas one? It's slightly bigger! Let's get the gas one." Dad, why are we here for the second year in a row buying a string trimmer? "We can't get the old one to start." Wrong. We're buying a new one because we can't get the almost brand new one we bought last year to start. Now what chemical did you consume in the 60's that makes you think a nearly identical one we buy this year will be any different? "Ohh come on." This one works almost exactly like a power drill. When's the last time you put a battery in the power drill and spent an hour failing to get it to start drilling? "Sigh I guess."
It's lighter, quieter, runs on a battery system we're already very invested in, starts every time, requires less maintenance and fueling is a lot more convenient. Every electric lawn tool we've bought bar none works great.
Yeah I love my 40v job too!! I can crush the lawn in record time on a single charge and its whisper quiet.
Dude, I've had my 40V mower for almost 8 years and it's still kicking. So incredibly easy to use. One of my batteries crapped out after about 6 years, but the other still holds a great charge, and I've collected a couple others over the years as I've added the trimmer, blower, and chainsaw from the same brand. In retrospect, my life was terrible in the before-times.
Torque from a high voltage electric battery lawnmower motor just can't be beat in my experience. Just chews up things that would make a similarly priced gas engine stall.
My mid life birthday gift was an electric zero turn mower. Already had all electric yard tools. Will buy Tesla or best option in couple years. Never going to a gas station again!
So indeed, fuck gas
A friend of mine who lived in Berkeley in the early aughts was a member of her local tool library. I thought it was a brilliant idea. You just had to be live in the community and getting your library card was free.
At one point my roommate needed a drill to complete some home improvement, so I got the drill, committing to be the drill guy the buddy that had a borrow-able power drill.
Curiously, when I moved, I needed to reduce my stuff drastically, so my roommate inherited the drill.
Yeah I borrowed a bunch of hand and power tools from the Oakland public library when I lived there in the 2010s. They also had a shit ton of video games
Hopefully opportunity attracted you elsewhere, re: leaving Oakland?
Housing was too expensive and we wanted to move back east closer to family. Most of our Oakland friends took a similar path between ‘18 and ‘22
A huge loss, generally speaking. Darn the almighty dollar!
Obligatory Library Socialism Link: https://librarysocialism.org/
What the fuck is this rent-a-center propaganda?
How stupid are we?
Pretty dumb. I thought this would be about lending libraries -_-
Tf are both you talking about. The article talks about Tool Libraries and The Library of Thing at length. It name drops a few subscription services for reused baby clothes and kids toys but those are still temporary items people need.
Rent-a-centers core business model consists of predatory loans for household appliances that you need continuously. This article talks about rentals for things you only need for a short period of time.
Subscriptions are just as predatory. I won't applaud them.
There is a tool library near me and it is $45/yr. It's amazing. These are really good services and this comment section has no idea what it's talking about.
Hmm. It sounds to me you just don't want to acknowledge when you're being taken for a ride.
But hey, to each their own.
Businesses want a lifeline to our wallets, which is why subscriptions and renting are pushed on useful idiots.
"We can share books if you pay me to maintain the book sharing system via a non optional tax." Universally loved system.
"We can share tools if you pay me to maintain those tools via a non optional tax." A niche program most libraries have.
"We can share tools if you pay me to maintain those tools via an subscription where I have a profit incentive." Literally 1984 and late stage capitalism.
Yep.
I feel like digital software subscriptions have stigmatized subscriptions in general. Subscriptions are great for things that require constant investment to be meaningful. One subscribes to news and receive constant reporting on the latest news; one subscribes to a tool library and get access to nearly every tool one can need. Plus a large part of the article is about non-profit libraries anyway.
The problem is that you're renting access to something you're not actually consuming.
Once you stop paying, you lose access and have nothing to show for it. They still have your money, though.
This is different than, say, paying for electricity which is consumed and no longer available for either party after consumption.
Sorry bud, you're defending being scammed.
Nice talking point just to cover your bum from shilling.
This isn't new, everything has it's place.
We rented a trench digger for the day from Home Depot in the 90s instead of buying one for thousands of dollars. That trench didn't magically go away when we returned the tool. That we didn't have access to the tool anymore was the plan.
Renting a U-haul for a move is incredibly more efficient than daily driving a giant box truck. Somehow, the things stay moved once the truck is returned.
You didn't subscribe to those things.
So you just didn't read the article?
Renting is the "subscription" you're complaining about. You're right that rent-to-own is a scam at best, but unlike most digital subscriptions you're using the thing to do something. Like with all rentals there's a break even line where you would've been better buying the thing if you use it often/long enough. But the service existing is not itself a bad thing.
Oh my god dude renting has been a thing for millenia.
It's not nearly as bad as it is now.
And it was always a scam, even back then.
But you are effectively consuming them. Just like renting books and movies, you nearly always don't need it again after you return it.
Nice talking point just to cover your bum from shilling.
No, you're not. Consuming something means it is no longer available after consumption. We can't "consume" media unless we destroy it afterwards.
Sorry, you've been played by industry talking points just to get you to spend as much money as possible. Now you're doing your part in perpetuating them.
There's a term for people like you, but I'll refrain from using it here.
Goodbye. You may have the last word since you need to push your products on others.
Ah yes, buying everything you don't need too long isn't consumerism but renting and reusing is
They can be, sure, but they can also be a really good deal. If I know I'll need a certain amount of something on a fixed schedule, I can subscribe to it and save money. This helps reduce costs for suppliers because they have a better idea of how much stock they need on hand, so they'll want to encourage you to subscribe with discounts.
Subscriptions are bad when there's some form of lock-in, such as a fee for breaking the subscription, or if the cost is arbitrarily high without the subscription because of a lack of competition. I dislike digital subscriptions in general because of this, since you'll lose access to all of the content you've enjoyed to that point.
But subscriptions to consumables are fine by me.
Stupid enough to wake up in this world. It didn’t happen in one day.
It’s nice however let’s assume that it is the main consumer model. Then everything becomes possibly 20 times more expensive as companies need to keep same profit (shareholders) and now 20 people pool money to share the thing. It’s not a solution to capitalism, however it would work wonders for environment.
Yet it is us doing all the work for the environment while companies don’t lift a finger and get all the profit. Not a viable long term solution to a fundamental problem of wealth.
The companies who have 20x the mark up necessary to survive will quickly see new businesses occupy the space to undercut them.
Yeah, this is the one piece a lot of people miss: in any decently competitive market, individual firms have effectively zero power to set prices; they must instead accept the prices determined by the market.
Knowing that, the solution to that sort of corporate BS, then, is to ensure markets are competitive by busting monopolies, lowering barriers to entry, and getting money out of politics to reduce the effect of lobbying.
Hmmm I wouldn't be so sure... It depends on their position in the market and how well they lobby the government
Not really, not every business is in bed with the politicians. This was a worse case scenario where rentals became the main method of purchasing, so everyone would be on level ground. Those making 20 times profit margins are not everyday businesses, they ae luxury brands who would still thrive on their branding alone.
Which business isn't? I honestly want to know to restore a semblance of hope in humanity
AFAIK, a business that is not in bed with corrupt politicians is because they have ready been beaten or they can't afford it
It's not a solution by itself, but a library economy can form part of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOYa3YzVtyk
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://www.piped.video/watch?v=NOYa3YzVtyk
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://www.piped.video/watch?v=NOYa3YzVtyk
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
"You will own nothing and like it"
I'm so down for this for items that I don't need indefinitely. It reduces waste.
It also allows people to use much higher quality products. She's pulling a power tool out in the picture and goddamn, there's some garbage tools out there, even from quality brands. Renting a $1000 tool sounds better than buying a $100 tool and encouraging the race to the bottom.
Yeah, that's how libraries work.
Libraries don't cost.
My library has a power tools wing. Also a seasonal seeds section. They have gotten very fancy.
Wait for real? Free seeds? That’s rad!
Definitely. A couple of the librarians have been like family friends for I don't know how long anymore, and they keep adding new programs. I keep hearing from them how things are not great at our library (things aren't great at libraries anywhere I hear), but then they keep spearheading projects like the tool and seed libraries, getting them added, and I can't help but think our local library is one of the better ones. We don't have 3d printing but I hope we will soon.
Taxes are a cost.
Well that's just not true..
You pay for them through taxes.
It's interesting how individualism and socialism interact with each other, and how a degree of the latter can promote the former.
There is a “tool library” sort of service (for profit) operating in my area. The prices are absurd—people are charging like $20/day for a tool that would cost $100 new, or half that used on craigslist. My projects often span multiple days, especially if there’s an unforeseen delay—which there always is because I’m a good engineer but a shitty carpenter.
I don’t use the service. I’m all for communal ownership but it still has to make sense.
Wait I am confused
Alright got it.
What
Ok….Why is everybody using the world “library” like it is an even remotely compatible concept with a for profit rental business??!
Is this just capitalism trying to purposefully destroy any meaning behind the word “library”?.
If your service is to rent tools out to places you are a tool rental company not a “tool library”. You would be a tool library if you were a community governed non-profit that let people borrow tools for essentially no money.
sigh it makes me so cynical how clearly libraries would never have been allowed to exist in a time as nauseatingly conservative and capitalist as this if they weren’t already old and boring concepts, the media, corporations, centrist democrats and republicans would all lose their mind about libraries being too radical of a concept if a leftist proposed them as an idea now.
:(
It’s a for-profit service that people use to rent-out, and rent-in their tools. Not a true library so to speak but seeks to accomplish the same. Except that people charging $20/day to rent their battery-powered Ryobi drill is absurd.
So yes this is the same old shit as labeling Uber or Lyft a “ridesharing app” instead of calling it what it is, a taxi service.
The correct name for this type of entity would be a consignment & rental store.
This kind of thing has NOTHING to do with libraries whatsoever in structure but more importantly in intended function and community impact.
Agreed.
Note that the featured rate in the article is "Another rented a planer at £11 a day to fix two doors in her flat after being quoted £245 for a handyman to come in and do the three hour job".
It’s not a fair comparison then is it? $80/hr is an expensive but not outrageously so handyman, plus they have their own tools to purchase and maintain and other business operating overhead (fuel and transportation maintenance) etc.
DIY—if you’re able—is always less expensive.
Power tools, hand tools, clothes, batteries, heavy painters cothes, gloves etc.. do not make the job.
The skill of the handyman who can quickly and efficiently deduce an effective solution (described vaguely by a couple of photos and a description over the phone by someone who doesn't know shit about the problem they need solved) to a carpentry/handyman repair and do it within 3 hours is what makes the job.
People often make the point about learning home repair as a way to save money, and true it definitely is a necessary skill to some degree as a home owner unless you have a lotttt of money... but learning to do your own home repair really isn't "saving money" so much as simultaneously devaluing your free time AND labor time to the point that all of the incurred debt is inscribed into your body and lost time with your family or friends rather than in invoices for repairman. This leaves me hesitant to call doing a significant portion of home renovation yourself ON TOP of holding down a full time job "saving" anything even if it helps keeps monetary expenses down.
Rent-to-Own has always been a scam predicated on people too poor to enjoy a stable life.
Hopefully you have an actually competent and accurately-priced makerspace near.
Not sure if dystopia
It's dystopic if most can only afford to rent what they always need. IMO being able to rent something you rarely need is a good thing.
I'd much rather have my car for day to day driving and rent something with more space the few times I need to move something that won't fit in my car. Even better would be to have ride share programs to use for medium loads and reliable mass transit for trips where I don't have much to move.
it's not dystopic in the sense that companies are selling tools to people who don't need tools for an extremely prolonged time.
That would be fucking dystopic, being forced to buy tools you don't need, because it's the only option to get them.
Even better would be that Arcimoto MUV thing. Sadly it appears they went bankrupt
Cool
These things always fail because ultimately it's just a motorcycle with extra garbage.
And how is that a bad thing?
No one wants it. The people that are comfortable in a car don't want to be outside and will replace their current car with another car. The people with a motorcycle don't want it because they already have a bike. The cyclists would rather just have a cargo bike. Ultimately, there's no market for these things, so they always, always fail.
Ultimately, people would rather buy a Caterham than one of those stupid things for about the same price.
https://caterhamcars.com/en/find-buy?model=Any
There is a roof. People aren't getting exposed. There are also optional door coverings I've seen.
The rest of your argument sounds like it works against any new vehicle purchase, not to mention the added comfort this has over many bikes. At around $19000, the FUV is cheaper than any of these silly, roofless and less capacious Caterhams you've linked. Not to mention gas prices.
LOL mate you don't have to convince me. Your argument is irrelevant [just look at sales.] and I don't give a shit.
Looks a lot like a BMW prototype I saw almost 20 years ago. I kept hoping they'd bring it to market, but I guess it's safe to give up on it by now!
They brought it to market for six glorious years but couldn't achieve mass-production and spent way too much on a ton of SKUs most people don't want before they basically went bankrupt.
Quite the contrary: it reduces wasteful consumption and reducing consumption is a requirement for Ecological recovery.
I would say that buying for very infrequent use or for a temporary need something which can be used with no problems for much more than that, is wasteful consumption at a systemic level - there should be alternatives.
Sure, owning your own personal high powered professional drill satisfies the greedy animal inside, but it's not exactly wise of justified for most of us even just at a personal level. Ditto for quite a lot of other things.
The drive to own lots of shit isn't healthy, both in a personal sense and in a systemic sense (including but not limited to Ecological), though it sure makes a ton of money for those who own most Productive Assets and all the ones is supporting areas such as Money Lenders, that most humans act as Consumers only limited by the maximum indebtness they can get into with their income.
Even if people can afford to own tons of things they barelly use, it would actually be better for everybody if that wasn't common.
The only dystopia element of this is that in Late Stage Neoliberal Capitalism people are being pushed to rent because of the miniscule and worsening share of the wealth produced that workers get - or in other words, shit salaries whilst investment income has never been this good - as they can't afford to own anymore, rather than because of a shift in the way people thing and them actually wanting to rent rather than own.
It’s the cracks in dystopia. Good things that would be awesome without dystopia but wouldn’t start without dystopia. Public libraries are a relic of the gilded age dystopia for example
There's a company in Brentwood Tennessee and online that rents very expensive camera lenses.
So you can borrow a $3000 lens for say $200 for a week.
Renting stuff makes sense, but there are still lots of inherent problems with tool libraries and the like.
They're great for a carpet shampooer or chainsaw you need once a year, but if you actually want to fix and build stuff around the home then booking a tool, taking perfect measurements, hauling your stuff over to a tool library, building it, hauling everything back home to check it, is simply an infeasibly onerous process. The instant you make a mistake and need a different tool, or check a measurement, etc, you're wasting hours of time, which is most often the biggest limiter for home projects anyways.
You also don't get to learn on the same tool and build up instincts and understanding of how it behaves.
I think you ahve a fundamental misunderstanding on how the tool libraries and stuff work..
I'm conflating a tool library and a maker space but the same issues apply to both. Either way, for home projects you end up with a whole lot of extra transportation.
None of this was about a maker space either
Cool beans bro, learn how to read a full comment and you'd see the part where it doesn't matter since theyre basically the same and have the same drawbacks.
No, conflating them doesn't make any sense. You bring home the tool from the tool library, and you bring it back when you're done. It's one extra trip vs. going to the hardware store to buy the tool. The concerns about mismeasurements and extra trips don't apply.
You'd have a point if the thread were about maker spaces, I'll give you that. As it stands, though, I'd say your concerns are misdirected.
You cut the first piece, realize you actually need a different type of saw for the next cut, it's booked out, now your project is indefinitely delayed.
They are similar because in both cases you are sacrificing resiliency (multiple copies of a resource), for efficiency (a singular shared copy).
A tool library is still a great idea / resource for when you're doing a project and need one weird tool that youll never use again, but most people who do any real amount of DIY over their lives will want their own set of tools that cover most of the bases.
Counterpoint: You go to the store to buy the saw you think you'll need, come home, cut the first piece -- boom, same realization. Same time-sink to go back to the store. I don't think that's a concern unique to tool libs.
Well, yeah. We're talking more expensive things that you only need for one project, or maybe a couple of times. Not the screwdriver set that you use for everything from box-cutting to adjusting the screws on your cabinet doors when they seem wonky.
Yes, except that when your buying tools, that only happens once. The next project that happens you have that tool sitting there waiting for you.
By basic DIY tools I don't just mean screw driver, I mean probably something along the lines of: screwdriver set, socket set, hammer, wrench set, drill / driver, circular saw, multitool, jigsaw, tape measures, clamps, level, plus basic painting tools, basic drywalling tools, basic electrical tools.
If you're doing multiple projects where you need that same tool, that does tilt the scale towards buying. Rentals are best for one-off things.
I don't see how going to the library is such a big hurdle? The closest library to me is less than ten minutes drive, and on the way to a lot of stuff. I don't know this seems like a kind of insane objection. If you're poor, it's not like you're just gonna spend $200 on a new tool anyway because you can't. In my experience I'm more likely to just try to make do with the crappy alternative I have available.
This take just seems really privileged. The biggest barrier for a lot of people isn't the time - it's affording the tools in the first place.
I mean if you're trying to learn to be a competent handyman or build a bookcase maybe yeah, but I just need a screwdriver set for like 30 minutes to put something together.
Now a multi screwdriver is something you can buy.
You had it, then you lost it. It's for those things you need only once a year or two years or never again.
Libraries of things should be state run and free at point of use. They should also be integrated into communities in a way that makes them easy to access. Instead of everyone having a lawn mower, you check out an electric mower once a week, on a date that you’ve reserved it, and the entire community uses it, or if in a large community, your immediate neighbors use it, and then it’s returned for the next people to use it.
Libraries of things should not only be for things you use once a year. They should be for just about everything that you don’t use every day.
Usafruct >>>>>> UsusFructisAbusus.
The issue with renting is, of course, just like apartments (or flats if you will), the producers of the items will see the opportunity to inflate the retail costs of the items, the more they see their sales dip due to renting, which will make the price of renting the equipment greater .... and so it goes
A lot of these are non-profit or literally extensions of a public library. My public library has a "Library of Things" that costs as much as it does to check out a book. Free, with late fees if you return it late. It doesn't go as far as expensive power tools, but it has some basic stuff folks might need from time to time, like a basic toolkit.
Yes, private, profit-oriented ones will increase prices to increase profits, but thankfully not all of these are rooted in that.
There are pros and cons to both. Sometimes you should rent, others buy. If you use it every day then buying is often best. If you need it once a decade then rent.
Yes there are pros and cons to both, but that does not mean they are the same or equal.
Renting inherently adds an extra middleman to the process, (someone still has to buy it), who is incentivized to rent-seek and drain everyone from as much of their money as possible.
Renting really only works in scenarios where you have a bunch of different rental companies to drive down costs, but now you're starting to get back to the original problem of duplicating everything.
This is an interesting thought angle, thanks for sharing! Given the conditions you've stated, why haven't books inflated in price given the abundance of libraries in developed worlds?
Libraries are non profits, everyone who works there just gets paid a wage, no one makes more money if libraries make more money.
Or from a systemic standpoint, the library system is effectively separate from the capitalist system we use for distributing everything else. In capitalism if you have no competition you raise prices so you get richer, so functioning capitalism requires multiple copies of everything and a lot of redundancy all actively competing. The library being non-profit sidesteps that effect.
Only if there is a monoboly in place. If there is a market then when they raise rents you just go elsewhere. Since these are items rented by the day it isn't hard to go elslwhere in the city.
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.
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.
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.
I don't really see a problem with a model of companies creating fewer, more durable/expensive items that everyone can share.
Better for the environment anyway.
The one in Chicago is great. They also had a huge collection of free seeds this spring.
Once I started using the tool lending libraries in the San Francisco East Bay, it was a game changer for simple maintenance.
Some bike shops also have public work benches with tools. https://www.boxdogbikes.com/about-1
i thought this was called having neighbors? Nonetheless, i'm not complaining. Less waste is better waste.
This is great! I've rented things from home improvement stores, and it's often half the price of actually buying said thing. Hopefully this can get the price down a bit.
You're literally saying you are happy paying half the price and not owning anything.
You could have at least bought the tools new and sold them after for a net maybe 5% loss...
Time and effort to sell is also cost
Yeah if I see a “used once” tool on Craigslist, I’m not paying 95% of retail for it
You do not understand that capitalism and markets are not the best solution for everyone, do you?
Sometimes it's better than the alternative. If I only need a thing once and I likely won't ever need it again (e.g. a chainsaw when I cut down trees in my backyard a few years ago), I'm willing to make the trade-off. If I bought it instead, I'd still sell for half price and need to spend the time selling it. It's a wash either way, so I'll do the easier thing.
I'll buy other things that I'll use occasionally. For example, I own an angle grinder, which I've used a handful of times. If it was cheaper to rent, I would. But home improvement stores are in the business of selling tools, so they want to increase rent enough that people will lean toward buying instead of renting.
Seems like renting with extra risk and steps
He said the exact opposite.
Priced out of living in communities where you have friends and family to share things with? Hooray! Now you can pay us for that stuff in addition to your increased cost of living!
/c/orphancrushingmachine
I guess it's easy to be cynical, but no, this is not at all orphancrushingmachine material
I hear you. I'm not the everything sucks and nothing matters if it's not complete, type of person. This just seems like a bandaid for breaking up community. It's good to solve problems, but I'm concerned we shouldn't have this problem.
I don't think all friends and family own all these stuff either. And this really does save money. The machine here is at most consumerism, incentivizing us to pay extra and own everything we'll use for like at most a month, which I think is too far of a stretch.
Well put. It's preventing waste and excess for sure. It just seems like a manufactured problem from pushing us apart.
Curious what goods you don't think friends would have back in the day from your perspective
They pay a subscription for this... Home Depot and Lowes have similar programs that only require a deposit when you borrow the tool, which is refunded when you return the tool. And it's not even a super expensive deposit. But it is only tools.
Rent-a-Center is still a better service, since you could eventually own the thing.
The idea is nice, but the cost is ridiculous.
Home Depot and Lowe's charge you out the ass for tool rentals...what are you talking about
It only cost me $50, which I got back, to rent a table saw for a day. The big machines, like a backhoe, are expensive. The smaller tools ain't shit; most are under $50 for a day.
Huh? You’re getting your money back? I’ve rented things from Home Depot and there’s a security deposit you get back, but you still pay to actually rent the tool.
I think you're mistaken...they refund security deposits, but there is a separate fee that scales with how long you keep the equipment. Maybe go back and check your receipts
Home Depot would prolly go outta business in that case heh
Agreed w/checking the receipts per the other commenter
Our library in the last place we lived (Midwest of the US) let you take pans from their large collection of cake pans. It was actually really useful.
Of course a Midwestern library has a cake-pan collection.
For anyone in Germany: https://connect.oclc.org/bib-der-dinge
Sehr stark!
I should start my own rental thing. I tend to buy what I need for DIY projects and I'm on the build up of tools phase. I can pretty much build my own house if I wanted, or fix anything in my car. So I got a number of toys just catching dust most of the time. But toys are fun.
"Honey there's no way I'm letting you pay $200 for that bookshelf I could build myself, once I buy $150 in materials and $700 in tools"
People who own tools tend to build more then one thing.
That's true, but there's plenty of people like myself who buy heaps of tools with the intention of building all the things but just never get around to it.
ok this is an amazing idea
As a Dutchman, do other countries not have rental places everywhere? Over here every diy store has a rental department, I'd guess this is universal?
In North America you don't see many home improvement stores downtown where people are most likely to rent.
Most Lowe's, Home Depots, etc do have tool rental options, but they're located out in the burbs where land is cheap and everyone has space to store tools.
Home improvement stores and autoparts stores will rent out tools for home projects or automotive projects. Looking at my library they also offer kitchen stuff, arts and crafts, 3d printing, board games and a ton more. I have no idea where you'd rent that kind of stuff here in the US.
We do have rentals, but they're more for large things that you'd use once and never again. Paint sprayers, giant floor sanders, etc.
They don't rent things like table saws, thickness planers, etc, which would fall into weekend warrior kind of tools. They want you to buy those.
I learned a lot about your country during the pan when I started listening to the Dutch News Podcast. You had some wild stuff going on and I got to learn about another culture. But I haven't been turning in lately. Life got busier again. Cheers! Oh, and when a German asks you for something, tell them to first give you back your bike once for me!
There always have been some around. Not all diy stores have one but there is always one near from what I've seen. People keep discovering them and thinking they are new.
What would you search for to find one in your area?
drive the retail areas of town and look for the rental signs. yellow pages. They want to be found by locals so look in the places locals might. hardware stores either rent stuff or will tell you if you ask.
That makes more sense to me, thanks.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Warm coats, swimming costumes, sleepsuits, sandals – all can be borrowed for a monthly subscription from any number of services such as Bundlee, Lullaloop and thelittleloop, amongst others.
Clothes rental for children is one of the latest chapters in how “libraries of things” are becoming an increasingly common way to save money, space and waste.
“In summer we see a lot more garden items being used: strimmers, hedge trimmers, lawn mowers, tents for adventuring, ice cream makers and gazebos for barbecues,” says Trevalyan.
“Our data shows we’re increasingly opting to shop second-hand, or rent items for a short period of time, rather than buying outright.
Not that I would have ever spent that much - the clothes I borrow from brands such as Bobo Choses and Tinycottons are much pricier than I’d ever be able to justify, which is part of the service’s appeal.
Meanwhile, companies such as Baboodle let you hire bulky equipment - for example, travel cots, bouncers, buggies and high chairs - so that after a few months of use, you won’t need to buy a semi-detached home with a garage to store it all.
The original article contains 873 words, the summary contains 188 words. Saved 78%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
This is a terrible summary, it feels like you just summarized the first 3 paragraphs.
It's good enough for its method: selecting sentences from the article using some mystery algorithm without any use of machine learning
It provides its method isn't good enough to provide value then and it's just a waste of compute time.
Many of the libraries in my area have all kinds of rental things you can check out! Books, audiobooks, music, video games and movies of course. But they also have a whole tools and homegoods section. Need a weirdly shaped pan for a 1-time birthday cake? Check it out and return it when you're done. Need a drill to hang shelves in your new apartment? Same thing. It's pretty awesome. For me personally I love to bake, but I simply do not have room for every type of pan. I only make angelfood cake once a year or so, and those pans are huge. I just use the library one and then I don't have to store the thing all year!
If you haven't been to your local library in years, you should make a trip there. You might be surprised what they have these days!
36 GBP a month for 10 items of kids clothes? That's 432 GBP a year. I'd think you could easily buy many more than 10 items of clothes for that amount and other than kids under 3 I don't think you'd need to replace them more than annually.
The subscription's 10 items per month, not per year, and return the next month. Babies outgrow really quickly when they're young.
Yeah I could see it for very young babies where you may need to change things every few months. But after 2-3 years old I don't see it making sense.