Berlin 'borrowing shop' promotes the benefits of sharing

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Nikolai Wolfert, who started the Leila 'borrowing shop' in Berlin, says drills are among the most popular items. Photograph: Christian Jungeblodt

The most popular items in Berlin's first "borrowing shop" are the electric drills. At least one of the local people who have registered with Leila – a little shop on Fehrbelliner Strasse, north-east of the city centre – seems to be continually fixing shelves or hanging pictures.

But it's not worth buying that person their own tools, said founder Nikolai Wolfert. "The average electric drill is used for 13 minutes in its entire lifetime – how does it make sense to buy something like that? It's much more efficient to share it."

Wolfert, 31, came up with the idea for Leila after the Green party failed to win the 2011 Berlin elections and he started looking for ways of doing politics at a more local level. Four hundred residents have signed up to the project, which he says is less a charity shop than a "library of things".

Members can borrow anything from board games to wine glasses, fog machines to hiking rucksacks, juicers to unicycles. All they need to do to become members is drop off an item of their own. "This is not just about doing charity out of magnanimity – the shop makes sense because it's more efficient," Wolfert said. "We think in a decentralised way – that's how the big supermarket chains think too."

Since its launch in June 2012, Leila has inspired imitators across the country. Borrowing shops are under development in several Berlin districts, with similar projects being set up in Kiel and Vienna. Würzburg has its own Leihbar, or "borrowing bar", and a cafe in Berlin-Wedding has set up a Dingeschrank, or "cupboard for things". Other collaborative projects with an emphasis on sharing resources are popping up all over the German capital.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/17/berlin-borrowing-shop-benefits-share-leila

Edited March 26, 2014 by Porterhouse

[Danno 1,228]

Great idea.

[Ban Hammer 13,332]

"The average electric drill is used for 13 minutes in its entire lifetime"

bunch of wanna bees. i've got 3 and they get that much usage each in a year.

[Sousuke 1,214]

bunch of wanna bees. i've got 3 and they get that much usage each in a year.

I was going to say, mine has a battery life of about 4 hrs…I've charged that thing like 10 times.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

bunch of wanna bees. i've got 3 and they get that much usage each in a year.

Not wanna-bees, renters. This is Berlin you're talking about. Most people live in rented apartments where there is limited use for tools such as a drill. If you have you own house, then you probably get decent use out of tools - I know I do - but when you live in a rented apartment, then there's only so much to do in there. The necessary work would be done by contractors that are hired by the landlord.

[Ban Hammer 13,332]

Not wanna-bees, renters. This is Berlin you're talking about. Most people live in rented apartments where there is limited use for tools such as a drill. If you have you own house, then you probably get decent use out of tools - I know I do - but when you live in a rented apartment, then there's only so much to do in there. The necessary work would be done by contractors that are hired by the landlord.

the story clearly stated ""The average electric drill is used for 13 minutes in its entire lifetime"

why you think that above is about electric drills owned by renters is a mystery to me.

[Darnell 8,478]

what's the profit model look like for this shop?

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

the story clearly stated ""The average electric drill is used for 13 minutes in its entire lifetime"

why you think that above is about electric drills owned by renters is a mystery to me.

Why you think I thought that is a mystery to me. The point I am making is that naturally, when you're a renter, you have much less use for a tool like that than someone that isn't a renter. The 13 min is a mere average meaning that some are used more and some are used less. Renters will use it less. That's all I'm saying. Not sure why you would want to read anything else into that.

what's the profit model look like for this shop?

I wondered about that, too.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Real Murikans don't rent their drills.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Real Murikans don't rent their drills.

Real Germans don't do that either. Only cityfolk would do such a thing.

[UncleBeer 244]

Betcha it turns out like the White Bicycle thing Amsterdam had years ago:

The earliest well-known community bicycle programme was started in the summer of 1965^[21] by Luud Schimmelpennink in association with the radical group Provo in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.^[22] This so-called White Bicycle Plan provided free bicycles that were supposed to be used for one trip and then left for someone else. Within a month, most of the bikes had been stolen and the rest were found in nearby canals