Cityhop is all about sharing a car rather than owning your own. Or owning one not two cars and using ours when you need them. The fancy word for this trend is ‘colloborative consumption.’
The theory behind collaborative consumptionis that we can lend or rent out our underused gadgets, rides in our car, beds in our houses to save money – and the world . The woman behind CC is Rachel Botsman, who co-wrote a book on the subject with Roo Rogers. While you may be familiar with carsharing, what about bedsharing at Airbnb or Coachsurfing.
As Mark Bruce in the Courier Mail asks: do you need to be a hyper-consuming Luddite who likes to own stuff or could you be a sharing, caring modern-day hippie . . . a so-called collaborative consumer.
The Courier story quotes: Gold Coast tech entrepreneur Mark Bathie was an early adopter, a CC disciple. After developing a cloud-computing business in 2002 and selling it to a Silicon Valley company in 2009, Bathie began turning his long-held thoughts about CC into action.
In January, he launched Freegler - a site where you can rent anything from a garden mulcher to a surfboard to a set of golf clubs. And, yes, a power drill . . . for $5 a day. Within three months, Freegler has 400 listings here and overseas. You’re holidaying in San Diego and want to go surfing? Bingo, your local Freegler dude has a board.
Bathie, who exudes more lifestyle cool than corporate thrust, says his motivations are environmental and societal. The more we rent, the less we consume, the healthier the environment, the more we commune.
“I always liked the idea of being able to rent out stuff that you have about the place, whether it’s kitchen appliances or garden tools,” says Bathie.
Read the link for other interesting ideas – like the website where you can find someone to store your stuff for you!
