Zipcar...cheaper, greener and cleverer

This post is part of a thread on 'collaborative consumption' - look out for a big feature coming soon on what exactly that means and a review of the book Collaborative Consumption.

Zipcar is genius. It saves you money, time and stress and is a more sustainable choice.

It's a car-sharing company. It's hugely successful and growing every year. In fact, a lot of people out there think that companies like this are at the forefront of a revolution in how we own and use things. In the UK Zipcar is currently in London, Bristol, Cambridge, Maidstone and Oxford... so far. In the US, it is in 13 states and has 650,000 members (as of 2011).

Here are a few insightful quotes from the book Collaborative Consumption to get you thinking about what Zipcar might really be about, other than sharing a car:

• Why is it that we spend so much time teaching children how to share their toys nicely but for adults sharing becomes a loaded concept?

• What you really want is the hole not the drill - Victor Papanek

• When you think about it, there is no rational reason behind the notion that sleeping in a hotel bed or using a towel that hundreds of people used is acceptable, but sharing a vacuum cleaner with neighbours is abnormal

So Zipcar is one example of what are known as PRODUCT SERVICE SYSTEMS. That is, a system that offers you the service which the product provides. Getting to your destination - not owning the car that gets you there.

It's not a new idea at all - think about hotels, libraries, gyms.

But there's a new perspective on it - about how we can expand it and save ourselves space, time, stress and money, and help create a sustainable planet too. It's a pretty good combination.

How does Zipcar work?

Zipcar say that the scheme is for you if you:

• Want to save money
• Mainly take public transport but sometimes need/want a car
• Don't want to hassle of owning a car
• Care about the planet

I don't think Zipcar have this
particular model

If you've ever used one of the shared bicycles in London, this works pretty much exactly the same. You sign up, pay an annual or monthly fee (for example in London an annual subscription for occasional use is £59.50), and then you receive your Zipcard. You are now a Zipster! This card unlocks your chosen car for you. You pay per hour or per day for it; charges are around £5/day.

In return for your fees, you get your fuel, insurance, servicing and MOTs and in London, congestion charge all paid for. All the burdens that come with owning a car - taking it to the garage, pretending you know what the mechanic's talking about, worrying about getting the tax disc done... it's all taken care of, and you can still hop in and get where you need to go.

Nor this

Zipcar say that average car users save an estimated £380/month when they switch to car sharing.

It's not only financial, stress-reducing and sustainbility gains you get from it either. Zipcar have many different makes and models of cars, so you get to try out different ones: one of the slogans they use in the USA is:

 "Today's a BMW day. Or is it a Volvo day?"


To find a car, you can just search online (or on their App) on their map using your postcode. The key to Zipcar's success is that they have plenty of cars, so the likelihood is there are a variety near you. As an experiment, I just searched the map to see what was near me: within 5 minutes walk of my flat there are 4 Zipcars: 3 Volkswagon Golfs and 2 BMW 1 series. I'm even more impressed now! 

Who doesn't want an animal-themed car?

Zipcar's CEO says that "access is more important than ownership" [here] and forecasts growth for sharing models of consumption. Since 2001 his company has won a ridiculous number of awards. Fortune magazine called it "the best new idea in business" in 2009.

If you live in a city and don't need a car every day, this idea is well worth giving serious thought to.

youcanarguewithstupid

Further reading:
Zipcar's site is www.zipcar.com and is really user-friendly
Rachel Botsman, the author of Collaborative Consumption, did a TEDTalk - you can watch it here

Why didn't I think of that? ... the WrapnMat

This is one of those genius ideas that really leaves you wondering why everyone isn't using it. It saves money and the environment and looks cool too. In fact, a heck of a lot of people are using them (weirdly they're more popular in the US), so join the wrapnmat revolution!

The wrap-n-mat is a cloth wrapper for your sandwich (or other snack) - one side is plastic so that it's wipe-clean, one side is cloth, they come in a range of colours and patterns and fasten with velcro.


Why is this so genius?


1) it saves you money on foil/clingfilm
2) unlike tupperware, once it's empty it's flat, so doesn't take up unnecessary space
3) no more foil/clingfilm in the landfill
4) it looks cool
5) you can lay it out so it acts as a mat for your sandwich while you eat
6) they cost about £5-10 only and will last you years

I've used these for about 3 years now and they really last - I've bought about 4 in that time but partly because I wanted a different pattern. People always ask me about where they're from and say how cool they are - some people have actually bought their own. I often see people on the tube looking at it curiously.


You can buy them from Nigel's Ecostore here , Amazon here or the American site WrapnMat which has good UK delivery and a great range of materials and also other versions of the wrapnmat for different types of snacks!

youcanarguewithstupid