CuteGeek

For a bit of a departure this Wednesday, I thought I’d share a site that I recently discovered through The Consumerist (who in turn found it from the Boston Globe) called Rentalic. Similar to the business model of other famous sites such as Rent The Runway and Bag Borrow or Steal, Rentalic is an online marketplace that lets communities rent out items and simple services that they need. Need a rake? Instead of buying one and throwing it in the garage for storage most of the year, why not rent one?

Here’s the story of how the little ingenious idea came to be:

Some time last year, our founder was faced with a common problem that many people in our society face. He was re-doing his backyard and needed a wheelbarrow. Even though buying a wheelbarrow is not expensive, he did not want to own one because it takes up space to store it. He knew that his neighbor has a wheelbarrow just sitting in their backyard, but felt bad borrowing it yet again for free as he has already borrowed it a few times. He started thinking: ‘What if my neighbor rented it out for a small fee?, then I would not feel bad about borrowing it again, and the neighbor gets the added benefit of making some extra cash from an item that just sits in their back yard’.

I find the whole online borrowing concept really interesting. I wonder if it would take off like the next Netflix for household items. When you think about it, you could rent the place you live, rent everything you own in it and have nothing belong to you…not even your clothes! What do you guys think? Would you use a service like this, or has the loaning culture of the Web started to get a little crazy?

The Internet is a big place. There are so many sites to read, widgets to play with, and viral videos to watch. In the midst of all the trending topics and links being sent around, sometimes there are those little tidbits on the Internet that go unnoticed. Have something to share? Drop me a line at Shay@cutegeek.com!