'big concept' of the week
Writing the same things over and over again can sometimes get a bit boring, so I've decided to add to my blog a "big word" or concept that relates to something that I have read in my readings.Â
And todayâs concept isâŠ
COLLABORATIVE CONSUMPTION
In a nutshell, âCollaborative Consumptionâ is when people share a good or service rather than owning the good or service themselves. A good example of this, which relates to a lot of Uni students, is renting a textbook rather than purchasing one.
There a number of different benefits of this â not only is it cheaper to share goods and services with a lot of willing people, but it is also more âgreenâ. When I first heard of Collaborative Consumption, I didnât think it would work. More so when I was younger, my mentality towards purchasing products was always âI want to buy things for myself and I donât want to shareâ. I could never see the benefit in sharing a car, a bike, textbooks or clothes because I didnât understand how it worked.
There are obviously some things that you can share that wonât work for everyone, so the concept isnât exactly perfect, but itâs pretty darn close. For example, I couldnât participate in a car-sharing program because I use my car so much, that it would be more expensive for me to pay the car sharing fees than to own my own car. With that said though, if I wasnât living in suburbia and I was working throughout the week, this program would be very beneficial to me.
At the moment, Iâm really enjoying textbook sharing. In my opinion, purchasing a $150 textbook for three months isnât feasible. Yeah sure, you can sell the textbook afterwards for maybe a quarter of the price, but itâs really not worth it. There are so many companies that offer the ability to rent or share a textbook that is so much more attractive and really fits the needs of todayâs time-poor/money-poor student. If you havenât tried one of these and youâre still in Uni I really urge you to!
Check out some of the sites that I have hyperlinked throughout the text if youâre interested in any sharing programs. This really is the way of the future, soon youâll see people sharing more and more and owning less than they previously would have.
