Rentoid - Loan neighbours your stuff!
We did an end-of-year rock gig for work last month and I needed an amplifier/speaker … so I went to eBay, found a speaker and bought it. As it turns out there were delays with shipment and it arrived the day after the gig. Luckily we managed to get by with a smaller bass practice amp I had and no foldback, but it would have been nice if it had turned up on time.
But I really have no use for a PA/DJ speaker in my home music recording studio, so did I really have to buy my own speaker?
I was listening to Cameron Reilly’s GDay World podcast (on The Podcast Network) on the bus today and heard about Rentoid.com in his interview with Rentoid’s founder Steve Sammartino and was really impressed with the concept (and Steve’s enthusiasm - it’s contagious).
Rentoid is a place where you can list and find items, not to purchase them but to rent them. You can upload photos of items you list and set your rates for daily, weekly and monthly hire plus a bond, the availability of the item and pick-up/postage options … although the philosophy of the site is more aimed at your local neighbourhood and building geographically localised communities of sharing, so people won’t be shipping lawnmowers across the country.
Rentoid will charge the person loaning an item 5% of the rental fee which when we’re talking about rental rates and not the full value of the item actually is a very low and reasonable cost. That is payable when you agree to loan someone an item, and then you can work out the payment of the lease fees however you want - cash, PayPal etc.
So how about we heed Australian Government Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan’s advice and start spending less and rent instead! OK I’m kidding about taking the Treasurer’s advice - but seriously, don’t waste your money on things you’re only going to use a couple of times a year. And share what you have got - great way to make a little extra cash and help your neighbour. As I said, it’s about local communities, so it’s reasonable to expect that any transaction should take place within 24 hours. You need a lawnmower? You should be able to find one Saturday morning and have it in time to mow the following day.
I’ve already listed 3 items this evening - that very speaker I mentioned earlier, my bass amp and a Meraki Mini unit (see my Free Canberra Wireless blog for more information about the Merakis).
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