Comment on How rental ‘libraries of things’ have become the new way to save money
alekwithak@lemmy.world 4 months agoPretty dumb. I thought this would be about lending libraries -_-
Comment on How rental ‘libraries of things’ have become the new way to save money
alekwithak@lemmy.world 4 months agoPretty dumb. I thought this would be about lending libraries -_-
andrewth09@lemmy.world 4 months ago
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.
alekwithak@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Subscriptions are just as predatory.
sgtgig@lemmy.world 4 months ago
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.
john89@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
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 is also pushed on useful idiots.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
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.