Further look into "Collaborative Consumption"

Collaborative Consumption is awesome, there is no doubt about it. It saves people money, it increases the value of products and services if they can be utilized by more people, it preserves resources that might be otherwise wasted, it reduces waste, etc. I was so excited about collaborative consumption after class yesterday that I immediately went online to find as many sharing websites as I could. When I got home, I told all of my friends about them and have already made plans for the future about using/doing as many of these ideas as possible! Just as with all business, people need to go about participating in collaborative consumption in an open and honest manner in order for it to be successful. I was curious if there were any "bad sides" of this idealistic concept, so I did some research and this is what I found:

Sharing is Caring:

Resources if you are interested:
10 Websites for Collaborative Consumption


From The Economist:
"All eyes on the sharing economy"

Collaborative Consumption:
"People are looking to buy services discretely when they need them, instead of owning an asset," (Jeff Miller, boss of Wheelz, a peer-to-peer car rental service in California).

Problems with collaborative consumption:

• Insurance questions
• Legal liability questions
• Services not meeting industry-specific regulations
• Tenants who sublet properties in violation of terms of leases.
• Tax collectors wonder if all income being declared from sharing.

*In mid-2011, a host found her apartment trashed and her valuables stolen. This prompted sharing companies to provide forms of insurance.

*Peer-to-peer car-rental services provide insurance as part of the deal which covers drivers during the rental. There is a question of if this car-owner's insurer is liable in the case of an accident.

*Apartment-sharing services have disobeyed zoning regulations.

*Many American cities ban rentals of less than 30 days in properties that have not been licensed and inspected.

*Airbnb and other similar sites are not exempt from the 15% hotel tax.

Despite all of this, "the fact that regulators, tax collectors and big companies are now sniffing around a model that has been embraced by millions of people is a measure of its value and growth potential."