collaborative consumption

Collaborative Consumption

Pros:

• It saves customers money! One of the most expensive bags for sale on Bag Borrow or Steal is a blocky Chanel handbag for $5,265. To borrow that same bag, from the same website, it is only $425/month.

• Provides jobs for those who are unemployed or underemployed. Rachel Botsman outlines this in her TedTalk where she describes how a man on using taskrabbit makes $5000 a month doing household tasks for others.

• Reduces waste. Through collaborative consumption one man’s garbage is exactly what another has been looking for. Those two people are brought together for mutual benefit and that product is kept out of landfills and reused.

• Limits consumption because services are valued over actually buying and owning goods. If my dad uses his chainsaw twice a year, at most, collaborative consumption and shared economy would allow him to rent it out when he’s not using it or not even buy tools like that and just lease or use shared tools.

• Creates a sense of community that was slipping away in the age of technology. Relationships between good, trustworthy people are fostered globally. Airbnb is connecting like people all over the world in remote areas that would have never met before.

• Increase in efficiency. Companies are not wasting time, money, or energy producing new products but are spending their resources more efficiently. They are creating good quality products and services that are long lasting and reliable.

Cons

• Privacy issues. Privacy becomes an issue when putting any personal information online. Through reviews and profiles online there is a lot of vulnerable information out there.

• Personal safety might be at risk. Putting a picture of your house on Airbnb with a general location could be a very dangerous thing. Likewise, sleeping in an Airbnb hosts house, sometimes in the same room or just down the hall from them, is a very vulnerable situation to be in.

• Quality could be compromised when sharing products or receiving services from non-professionals. On Bag Borrow or Steal the handbags are cleaned professionally after every use but some normal wear and tear has to occur. Therefore the quality of the product is slightly different from buying something new.

• If you’re a “digital ghost” you cannot build a reputation in the collaborative consumption sector online. This idea relies on access and knowledge of technology which is still not globally universal.

• Trusting strangers could lead to getting burned. The person you’re doing business with is likely a stranger and might not be 100% trustworthy. If it’s peer to peer lending they may not pay back the loan. The petsitter from dogvacay.com might not be feeding your dog regularly.