IF you want to avoid spending a lot of money this year on things that won’t last, like Christmas trees and toys, you don’t have to buy. You can now rent them, enjoying the items in your house but sending them back when you don’t want them anymore.
Sounds like heaven to me.
I first started thinking about this when I heard about a company that rented out toys and collected them for a nominal fee after your child lost interest. Who among us hasn’t had the experience of buying a selection of expensive playthings for our children, only to see them gather dust in a corner in a few weeks — or months, if we’re lucky.
Babyplays.com, which has been around since 2007, offers a single toy for $2.99 to $8.99 plus shipping, or you can buy a $19.99 membership that gives you four toys every other month, said Stephanie Weber, owner of the company. Customers can also pay $32.99 and receive four toys a month. The site caters to children from infancy to about 4 years old. “After that, they usually become more attached to their toys, like action figures or Legos,” she said.
For parents worried about the used toys’ cleanliness, but Ms. Weber said that all items without electronics went through a commercial dishwasher and others were thoroughly sanitized.
But what if your child breaks one? Give Babyplays a call and another is sent free.
“We get it,” she said. “We’re all moms here. It’s only happened a handful of times.”
Interestingly, a lot of people ask for toys to be shipped directly to a hotel or wherever they are staying on vacation. The toys are then picked up at the end of the holiday, which means parents don’t end up lugging them home in the car or on an airplane. You can even rent to own, buying the toys for 30 to 50 percent off the retail cost, depending on how long that toy has been in circulation.
Renting toys may seem strange, but you can also now rent designer-label handbags as well as some truly unexpected items.
Say you want to rent a Christmas tree. If you live in Southern California, you can contact Scott Martin, who started livingchristmas.com in 2008.
The trees, which run about $145 and up for a seven- to eight-foot tree, plus a delivery and setup fee ranging from $30 to $60, aren’t necessarily cheaper than buying, but the appeal is that you’re renting a live tree rather than buying a dying one, Mr. Martin said.
He started with about 70 customers and is now up to around 1,000.
The potted trees are dropped off and reclaimed after Christmas, then moved to a six-acre industrial site that belongs to the Shell Oil Company in Carson, Calif. About 90 to 95 percent of the slow-growing trees, but not all of them, can serve as Christmas trees again the following year. “To be a Christmas tree, you have to be perfect,” Mr. Martin said. “Otherwise you’re just a pine tree.” Families can even order the same tree year after year to see how it has grown.
Need some tools to put together some complex toys you bought? No need to run out and purchase your own. In fact, you may not even have to pay anything. Tool-lending libraries are becoming increasingly popular around the country. To see if one is in your area, check out localtools.org/find/, the newly created Web site.
Berkeley Public Library has been lending tools for 31 years and offers everything from screwdrivers to table saws to plumbing wrenches.
“You can unstop a sink or build a deck with our tools,” said Adam Broner, a lending specialist who has been working at the Berkeley library for about 20 years.
Power tools can be checked out for three days, while smaller tools are available for a week.
The late fees are heftier than those for books — they can be as high as $15 a day — and with the $20,000 a year the library receives from those fines, it replaces worn-out items, Mr. Broner said.
“About 2,000 to 3,000 tools are checked out a month,” he said.
If there is no tool library near you, call a local tool rental company or home improvement store in your area — but be prepared to pay.
Enough about toys and tools.
If you’re a woman looking for something for yourself, say, for a party, why not rent a designer handbag?
E-mail: shortcuts@nytimes.com
Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=b0092183241136ae0e59968f727bc277
Speak Your Mind
You must be logged in to post a comment.