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Collaborative Economy: Rent or own? The new sharing economy values access over ownership
Christian Science Monitor ^ | September 30, 2012 | Eilene Zimmerman

Posted on 10/01/2012 1:27:45 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

Lisa Gansky likes to share, and usually with strangers.....

•She leaves her house in Napa, Calif.,at 7:30 a.m. and drives to the ferry, parks her Mini Cooper, and takes the 60-minute ride across the bay to San Francisco.

•If it's raining, she'll pull up the RelayRides application on her iPhone and see if someone nearby has a car she can rent to get around that day, usually for less than $10 an hour. If there's nothing available, she'll open the mobile app for Uber and book a ride with a nearby town car sitting idle,waiting for a customer.

•Fifteen minutes later she's at her office, a co-working–or shared–space known as the Hatchery, which is open to those in the social innovation industry. There, Ms. Gansky manages Mesh Labs, an incubator she founded focused on "sharing economy" companies and Meshing.it,a global share-economy business community and directory.

•At the Hatchery she pays about $100 a month for access to a desk, quiet spaces, meeting rooms, drinks, and Wi-Fi. There, she meets with her team – two full-timers and colleagues that include investors, new start-up founders, and friends – but also with others who share the same space. Those working there also share knowledge, feedback, connections, and problem-solving ideas.

•If Gansky wants to meet a friend for lunch and the restaurant is too far to walk to, she'll open up the app for SideCar and search for someone driving his or her car – with an empty seat – in the same direction she's going, and coordinate with that person for pickup.

Welcome to the sharing economy – also known as the collaborative economy or the access economy – where tangible things are shared, like power tools or kids' toys, as well as intangibles like space, time, car rides, and knowledge....

(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; Government
KEYWORDS: economy; privateproperty; socialism; socialmedia
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To: mdmathis6

What a disgusting thought. I guess you never ride on airplanes, either, or go to public areas?


21 posted on 10/01/2012 5:15:44 AM PDT by dinodino
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

WTH is the “social innovation industry”?

“No Mom and Dad, I’m not unemployed. I’m an entrepreneur in the social innovation industry.”


22 posted on 10/01/2012 5:19:34 AM PDT by subaru
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Shared is better====when you don't have anything.

I noticed she is "parking" HER Mini Cooper. Why not leave the keys in it she others can share? Catching rides with strangers is looking for trouble. I feel the same way about renting rooms to complete strangers. Having roommates in a college dorm is one thing. It's a more or less controlled environment. Opening your home to who knows who is another.

23 posted on 10/01/2012 5:19:55 AM PDT by informavoracious (Abortions are unproductive wrongs, not reproductive rights.)
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To: subaru

:)


24 posted on 10/01/2012 5:31:30 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Thank God I live in the country!


25 posted on 10/01/2012 7:35:38 AM PDT by upcountryhorseman (An old fashioned conservative)
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To: dinodino

Airplanes are cleaned between passengers and seats deodorized...with the constant sharing of the “share cars” as described here, one doesn’t know what has been done. As for public areas, some are better maintained then others, one takes ones chances or crawls into a sterile bubble as a hermit!

By the way, I was being somewhat tongue in cheek in my posting, yet at the same time remembering a real life incident that happened to me. It caused the definition of pungency to be made very real to me.


26 posted on 10/01/2012 9:34:59 AM PDT by mdmathis6 (We have grieved the Holy Spirit, with our Dark hearts and dark minds turned against God!)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife; nhwingut; Texas Fossil; blam; pabianice; Travis McGee; 2ndDivisionVet; ...
Our totally corrupt government = Corrupt Congress + Corrupt White House and dishonest thugs running around with bags of money buying votes for crooks that control the Federal Reserve:

Fed Sends Thank You Letters To Congress For Letting Them Ruin Economy In Secret !

27 posted on 10/01/2012 1:20:00 PM PDT by ex-Texan (The Time to "Wake Up" is Over !)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

There are tons of risks with collaborative consumption.
http://tamarawilhite.hubpages.com/hub/The-Risks-of-Collaborative-Consumption


28 posted on 10/01/2012 3:02:07 PM PDT by tbw2
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To: Usagi_yo

Agreed. It’s a stepping stone to communism. You own your car but rent it out, own your home but rent out rooms, but there is pressure to share “because of the Earth”, not profit motive.


29 posted on 10/01/2012 3:14:29 PM PDT by tbw2
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