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The Incredible Lightness of Collaborative Consumption

Last week, we had to exchange our defective futon frame for a new one. The store didn't want to cover transport cost in either direction, so we had to figure out how to get our re-boxed frame from Mountain View to Los Altos. If we had a car, it would not have been very simple since we were aiming to buy a small sedan, nothing that can easily carry the frame and its box.

Fortunately, we have a car sharing service that gives us access to a range of vehicles, including a van stored down the street from my building. After work, I grabbed the van, picked up the frame at our place, and then Tara and I drove to the futon to make the swap. I dropped off Tara and the new frame at our place, and then headed back to campus. On returning the van to its parking space, I hopped on a shuttle back to downtown Mountain View.

We were able to do all of this because we're not tied to a specific vehicle for all of our transportation needs. The last car we owned was a van, and it came in handy on more than one occasion. We used it to move our household twice and for several craft fairs and art markets. However, most of the time, it was simply more vehicle than we needed. In the end, we spent more money on gas regularly for the convenience of having a vehicle that accommodated all of our use cases. Collaborative consumption allows us to have the vehicle we need for each case: a small car for most errands and a van or SUV for the occasional cargo load.
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