We've talked around here about the economic meaning of owning stuff.

My generation got brainwashed into thinking that You will own nothing; and you will be happy**** ... and I confess, I'm a sucker for convenience and I swallowed this lie aaaaall the way. (I don't even attach an LN wallet to SN, Solomon! #1439667, and I "rent" my channels from third-party providers... _gasp_!)

Rebelling against that, as every good-natured Bitcoiner does, we overcorrect in trying to own ("own") absolutely everything. But some things (#1456573 #1423402) are better off borrowed, leaving the upkeep and long-term responsibility to others. ... There is definitely something in the thrill of being able to own your money, for the first time in your life, (do you think that's money in your bank account, Neo?) that resonates and we overemphasize/overgeneralize to other parts of life.

Travel Day: Electric ScootersTravel Day: Electric Scooters

Electric scooters have been around Reykjavik forever — and even smaller Icelandic towns. (How they survive winter and don't rust to pieces from the sea air and snow is beyond me). They're pretty convenient, and I and the other carless users (read: teenagers) use them quite frequently. A while back I saw that the app started offering cars too, but I hadn't had a chance to try.... but kept wondering how that made any sense: How far can I go? What's the expense? The capex for the company is WAY more than a tiny little electric scooter!

Today was the day. Arrived at the domestic airport, had some time to spare before I had to be somewhere. Ordinarily, I would have walked 1-2 km to get to a cafe or a friend's house but now the streets were filled with wet snow and the weather was... underperforming (just like bitcoin itself... how appro!) And there was a tempting car RIGHT THERE, beckoning to me.

Everyone who spends time in major cities (not that our Icelandic capital qualifies as "major" internationally speaking, but the same themes apply), having a car is actually quite a nuisance. Going places, you spend more time trying to find a parking spot — or navigate/identify which car park facility to use — than you do actually driving. Uber in New York City is so convenient in that you get where you want to be, no fighting with homeless people in the subway, and you never have to bother about parking. In and out, you done.

Owning a car in these settings is more trouble than it's worth, usually. When you're not hopelessly stuck in traffic in the Lincoln Tunnel, you're circling the block for a parking spot.

The Economics of Renting StuffThe Economics of Renting Stuff

This is slowly turning into the same conversation: money/credit, houses, tools, music, and cars... why own when you can borrow?

There's a satiric Swedish rap song ("Hyr Stället") from 2012 where the singers rap aggressively about the wonders of renting... just don't give a damn

You know, when you own a car // you treat it with some sort of respect — since it's you're car // but when you're renting a car, then you don't have to give a flying fuck // That dude over there looks like he's renting this place!
When you own something, you're holding all this responsibility // but when you're renting, you can act like a Bulgarian!
(Sorry @stack_harder, it somewhat makes sense in Swedish... semi-rhymes with "responsibility")

Transaction costs are the big hurdle (#1405015): We stuff our basements with tools even though we use them about five minutes a year, since the inconvenience of
a) location where (physically and digitally) to rent one,
b) pick it up,
c) return it,

is too much of a hassle. We'd rather just pay for a $5-wrench (sorry, $10, they're in high demand now — lots of Bitcoiner attacks) once and spare ourselves the trouble forever.

Ok so how do electric-rental cars on demand like this make economic sense for the supplier, then? It probably doesn't, and I honestly thought the rent-everything/electric scooter trend was merely a low-interest phenomenon... Worth trying when (venture cap) money was free, I guess, but no way it works out sustainably. Jury still out on Uber; Airbnb might have been the exception that worked.

(Note: I vaguely remember a uni friend in Scotland a decade ago making good use of this sort of car-rent-me app service... never really took off, presumably for profitability reasons.)

Like with the economics of peer-to-peer markets, e.g., Vexl (#1405015), two people need to spend/waste more contracting over money than just... using money as intended. And the buyer/cash-holding guy needs to hold all the extra cash just in case he matches with a buyer.

With scooters, all this equipment needs to be scattered across town — the more, the merrier, and the more convenience the total service — but that angers everybody else, since when you're not using them you're literally just tripping over scooters all day. (And they're physically and financially deteriorating on a company balance sheet.)

With cars, now, you need them scattered across town, if anything making the parking situation even worse: at any given time a bunch of rent-me cars take up parking spots. Not great, or?

The experience itself: MY GOD WAS THIS NIIIIICEThe experience itself: MY GOD WAS THIS NIIIIICE

ok, so I got off the plane and when deciding to try this service, uploaded my driver's licence(!) and a neat lil KYC scan of my face(!!) to a stupid third-party app, had it verified in a few tries — and then the renting app let me book the car. I walked outside, scanned the car open (no keys) and got inside. It was like a traditional rental car without the MASSIVE transaction cost hurdle (offices, booking, gas, keys, pre-arranged days and return location) and MASSIVE price tag.

Sweet!

For a good ~12 minutes I drove over to a coffee store I usually don't frequent (since it's too off the beaten path), spending another five minutes trying to figure out where to park. I had to fork over the lordly sum of $12 — considerably less than what a taxi or Uber (if we had had those!) would cost me, and without the awkward social interaction. It was so goddamn smooth I wanna do this more!

The only worry was... hell, I don't know in which zones I may or may not park?! The T&Cs quickly mentioned that a) all damages to the car are on me — good thing I didn't crash! — and b) you may park in any of the specified zones, parking already included in the app fee. O'really?!

NOW we're talking, efficiency wise.

Parking fees are such a nuisance and a genuine mess for most people. (All my Swedish family have sevenhundred parking apps on their phones, ready to pay at whichever location.) And instead of one spot being charged to several users during the day, the rent-me service can subscribe to them all — probably monthly — and avoid all the annoying one-time transaction costs about parking fees.

So wait, you're telling me a third-party transaction-cost-minimizing software HELPS TO MITIGATE other third-party transaction costs?

Freaking apparently. Renting cars always made sense to me because they're big enough a commitment (money and time) that spending five minutes booking it, or 30 minutes picking it up/filling it up with gas etc, is worth it. For a short-term inner-city rent, those transaction costs need to be SMOOOTHED OUT af...

and I think this service just did that. My god.

Also, TL;DR = I'm turning into a full-on Doug North/Oliver Williamson/Ronald Coase transaction-cost economics dude. LOVE TO SEE IT!