OUGD505 - Studio Brief 02 - Community Borrowing Research - Borroclub

Whilst doing further research for Community borrowing I came across the website 'borroclub'.  This is a website which members join and then rent out things they own to others for a set price per day. They can also then borrow items from other members. I like this idea as it benefits all members of the scheme as users can make money from items they have lying around at home as well as borrowing items for cheap. Deals could also be made for how long you need to borrow something for. 

There is not a lot of awareness about this website however, and I think it needs more exposure. It encompasses all of the ideals that I researched for the lending library idea so may be another aspect of the project. 

The problems with this website is people that the 'borrowing community' benefits wouldn't be able to contribute objects to the website. People who own these items are probably more well off and have space and the funds to accumulate these items. Therefore the values behind borrowing from the library style scheme are lost. 

Low income families and students would only be using one aspect of the site, whilst more wealthy members would be making a profit from lending these items out. It also seems less trustworthy and a bit dodgier than borrowing items from an established library. If items were damaged or late to be returned things could get messy between borrowers and lenders. Whereas an actual established system would provide more trust in the community and there is less chance of the project becoming corrupt.