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Comment by lscharen | Hacker News Reader

“It is quite likely that, when you lived in America, you leased everything. You never owned anything, but someone else did and you had to pay for every single thing you used. That's another form of resource ownership that concentrates wealth.”

   — Manna, Chapter 5
   — https://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm

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I'm still not convinced this is good for companies. They think everyone will stick around and keeping paying, unwavering loyalty month-after-month, when in reality, many people cancelled their HBO subscription after Game of Thrones was over. It doesn't really solve the volatility problem for business income. When the next downturn hits, guess what will be the first thing to go? Frivolous subscriptions.

Maybe this is why they are moving to subscription furniture. You may be quick to cut your movie subscription but not your bed or fridge subscription.

I'm sure businesses will experiment with renting all sort of things and see what sticks. The market for less serious rentals (such as entertainment) is probably much bigger than furniture.

Knowing I'm renting a sofa, and that if I spill something on it, I'd be responsible sounds far too stressful (maybe I'm not, but I'd have to find the answer to that). Also, do they deliver and pick up the furniture when I'm done with it? Do I pay extra for that? I have questions about the model. Consumers tend to steer away from things they can't understand.

> Consumers tend to steer away from things they can't understand.

Then why did/do we have a ton of financial non-experts buying financial products that they don't understand?

Subscription furniture has actually been around for decades. The market is mostly corporate. It's useful for relocation packages or something and the customers aren't very price sensitive. For example: https://www.cort.com/

We watched Chernobyl after GoT and then cancelled.

Not all subscriptions are frivolous. I use a car subscription for example. As a startup founder I can't afford a car, still want access to one for hiking trips, and my entire monthly subscription fee including insurance is cheaper than renting twice a month from Enterprise and cheaper than renting for 3 days from Zipcar. (Also I don't believe in a long term future of car ownership -- I think one day it will be unnecessary -- just not yet.)

Not all subscriptions are frivolous, but some are less essential to fulfilling your everyday life than others. The company you're renting the car from is keenly aware the value of cars may diminish with time-- the risk is built into the cost.

It’s not that simple. I choose to rent even though I have the savings to buy a house because I prefer putting my money in more liquid assets like stocks. People can choose to lease certain categories of assets and “own” others (e.g. public stock).

There are tons of hidden costs with ownership like insurance, property taxes, HOA, repairs/maintenance I don’t have to deal with. Plus the opportunity cost of locking $200k+ in an illiquid asset with high transaction fees to eventually liquidate years later isn’t appealing unless you’re buying a home firstly as a permanent home for raising a family and not as an investment.

Not really. Manna is about minimum wage workers suddenly losing all law’s protections and safety nets; and this article focuses on people like “founder of a holistic wellness-focused tech start-up in Los Angeles”

Hire do you think these startups intend to get their hockey stick growth?

These companies don't want to be seen as secondhand shops for poor millennials, they want to be seen as trendy lifestyle outlets for rich people that poor millennials want to emulate. That's branding 101. The reality is something else...

That's exactly right. Rentals of furniture and appliances have been around for years - Rent-a-Center.

It's just like the new 'trend' of Van-Dwellers or tiny homes. Sure, you open up your travel opportunities, but this isn't new. It just used to be called homelessness and low-income housing.

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