When you buy a bootleg T-shirt on eBay or some phony concert tickets on StubHub, those businesses aren’t responsible: the seller is. What if that principle also applied to sharing economy businesses like Airbnb? That’s what the company is experimenting with, starting in its home city of San Francisco. [More]
sharing economy
Our Government Has Somehow Managed To Suggest An Even Worse Name For The Sharing Economy
By 6.7.16
If you want to bash your head against the closest rock whenever you hear that a new service wants to be the “Uber of [fill in the industry],” you are not alone. Both the industry and the general public have struggled to come up with names for the new model of sharing cars, homes, etc.: there’s the sharing economy, the gig economy, and now, the government has its own idea for a term that might be worse than all the rest. [More]
Airmule: Odd Name For A Real Service That Swears It’s Not A Shipping Company
By 5.19.16
Hear the word “mule” in any context other than the barnyard and you’ll likely think of people shoving illegal drugs or other contraband in bodily cavities in order to smuggle it past the authorities. So when we heard about a new “peer-to-peer” courier service called AirMule, we had to take a closer look. [More]
Airbnb Guests Find Decomposing Body In French Rental’s Garden
By 2.29.16
We’ve heard of Airbnb horror stories before — from nightmare renters who refuse to leave, to guests who find hidden cameras watching them — but this might be one of the worst, and saddest: renters staying at a house near Paris discovered the decomposing body of a woman in the home’s garden. [More]
AirBNB Imposes Taxes And Limits Before Local Governments Can Make Them
By 11.11.15
If home-rental service AirBNB regulates itself, will municipalities stop trying to reach in and regulate it? After voters defeated a proposed law that would have severely limited short-term rentals in the company’s hometown of San Francisco, AirBNB has realized that maybe they should be better citizens of the cities where they do business… and regulate their hosts before local governments do. [More]
Ford Launches Peer-To-Peer Car-Sharing Program
By 6.24.15
Between Uber, Lyft, Sidecar, ZipCar and Car2Go there’s no shortage of ride-sharing and car-sharing services out there to meet your specific needs. But having options is great, too, and with that in mind Ford announced the launch of its own car-sharing program that lets owners of its vehicle rent out their rides. [More]
Nobody Really Knows What To Do About Regulating The Sharing Economy
By 6.10.15
The car in front of you has four wheels and goes “beep.” For a certain fee, its driver will pick you up from where you are now and will shortly thereafter drop you off at the place you want to go. Twenty years ago, that car was an ordinary taxicab that you called on a landline. Now, it’s an Uber you summoned with an app on your smartphone. What’s the difference? In the world of regulation, everything. [More]
Business At Uber In Germany Is Booming, Thanks To Publicity From Ban
By 9.3.14
Yesterday, we shared the news that ride-sharing service Uber had been banned in Germany. The company’s service that lets people summon a limo with a smartphone was fine, but the peer-to-peer, lower-cost UberPop service had to stop accepting passengers under a temporary injunction. A strange thing happened when this story hit the news, though: people in Germany thought that this UberPop thing sounded like a great idea, and started hailing rides. [More]
Kickstarter Suspends Alleged AirBNB Squatter’s Second Game Campaign
By 7.31.14
In Palm Springs, California, a man booked a vacation condominium for 44 days, saying that he would be in town on a business trip. After 30 days, he gained rights as a tenant under California law, and refused to pay rent or to leave. When the story broke, he was discovered to be an indie game developer who has failed to deliver a Kickstarter-funded project. That’s when the justice of the sharing economy kicked in. Kind of. [More]
Lyft Can Launch In New York City, Only Using Commercial Drivers
By 7.25.14
Two weeks ago, car-sharing service Lyft was supposed to launch in New York City, allowing car-owners to receive cash for driving strangers around. The state’s attorney general stopped the launch, saying that the company is a livery service in disguise and should be regulated as one. Today, the AG’s office announced that they’ve come to an agreement with Lyft, which will be able to launch in New York City using only already-licensed commercial drivers. [More]
FlightCar Loses All The Stuff In My Glove Box, Isn’t Answering The Phone
By 7.23.14
What if there were an AirBNB for cars? FlightCar is a startup that aims to connect lonely cars in long-term airport parking with travelers in need of short-term wheels. This seems like a great idea….except, like many “sharing economy” businesses, it’s a great idea until something goes wrong. Just ask reader Evan. [More]
