izzy's playlists!
shark vs the universe
Origami Around
Sweet Seals For You, Always
tumblr dot com
ojovivo
blake kathryn
Show & Tell
oozey mess
we're not kids anymore.
No title available
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
tannertan36
trying on a metaphor
roma★
祝日 / Permanent Vacation
Today's Document
Aqua Utopia｜海の底で記憶を紡ぐ
if i look back, i am lost
★
seen from Canada
seen from Australia
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from Netherlands
seen from Türkiye
seen from Malaysia
seen from T1
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Dominican Republic
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from China
seen from Colombia
seen from Singapore
seen from Malaysia
seen from South Africa
seen from Malaysia
@2cents2share
More reviews and ratings
This blog has moved to www.2cents2share.com It has the intention to grow the amount of reviews and reviewers so it becomes a rich resource for those considering to experience the sharing economy services. You can add ratings and find price comparisons. Do you want to write a review? Please contact me!
Zip through town in an e-Smart from Car2Go
Service: car2go Where available: 16 European and North American cities Category: Car sharing service Sign-up: € 19 (not mentioned anywhere on the website) Costs: per per use; € 0,29 per minute or € 14,90 per hour Shape: Website and app (in local language & English) For whom: Personal and business
Car2go is a city car sharing service using electric Smart cars. This initiative, part of Daimler, started in 2008 in Germany. Members can rent the Smarts, which are parked on every street. Simply locate the nearest car on the street or on an app, then drive it, returning the car anywhere within the work area of that city.
Plus: car2go is suitable for immediate use. If you see a car, just use your member card to check if it’s free and start driving. The car can be parked and returned on any of Amsterdam’s public parking spaces, so it’s handy for short journeys or as an alternative to public transport. There are no parking fees and of course, electrical driving is a good thing to do.
Minus: Registration includes a requirement for a physical meeting, which complicates joining. As the car is electrical, you can only drive short distances so in a city like Amsterdam where public transport is well organised, it’s really mostly for rainy days. Cars are small, fitting just two people with no room for luggage or shopping. Kids can only be transported in a car-seat that works with an active airbag. It also takes a while to get used to how everything works, including charging the car.
My experience
Getting started
I became curious, having noticed car2gos driving through town and registered in August 2012. The physical registration was such a big barrier that I only made it this summer. Be aware that to register you'll need to bring ID, drivers licence bank pass, bank statement (less than a month old) and €19.
Request
Locate the nearest car on the street or via the app or website. If you reserve a car through the app or site, you must wait 15 minutes before you can access the car. You can close the rental at your destination, or if you need the car again later, make a stopover, and the price drops to €0,19 cents per minute.
The rental
I took a car in Amsterdam, near Central Station, heading to the Amstel area. It was free and I hopped in right away. Paid minutes start running immediately, so get driving as soon as possible. It takes a while to figure out what’s what. The key is in the dashboard and the car has automatic gears. There is a screen to show you what to do and how to check for damage. It has a radio and navigation and can call the help desk. There are also special instructions and a card to charge the car or release one that is charging. On driving off, an alarming sound came from the right hand side of the car, and I suspected a problem with the tyre. I couldn’t stop immediately so drove a bit further before pulling over. I called the help desk and in the end aborted the rental, all of which made me lose time. The help desk was helpful and didn’t charge me for the time thus far, but I was now running late so swapped the car for the metro. Later that day, I did have a successful rental however, driving home in the rain and parking right in front of my door!
My 2 cents: In a city like Amsterdam, where everything is nearby and public transport is good, I don’t see many reasons to use car2go. But driving one is fun, and it’s worthwhile if it's raining or if your public transport connection isn’t great.
Shrink that to-do list with Croqqer
Service: Croqqer Where: The Netherlands; Dutch language only Category: Peer-to-peer task marketplace Sign-up: Free Costs: Placing tasks is free, the task-giver defines a value and Croqqers bid for a task Shape: Website For whom: Personal and business
Croqqer is a marketplace for tasks. It lets people outsource their to-do list, or earn extra money doing others tasks. The to-dos can be anything from running errands, to household or garden tasks - even distributing flyers or building websites. The people who undertake tasks are called Croqqers.
Plus: It’s a place where you can reduce your to-do list without having to search different platforms for different task types. Croqqer’s local community managers provide support in their areas, bridging online and offline.
Minus: The website is pretty packed and it takes a while to familiarise and figure out the navigation. It’s not always intuitive either, especially when you navigate categories, or when you click private messages (and find everyone’s irrelevant messages). A lot of functionality doesn’t work yet, like rating. It’s also hard to choose your specialist, as a wide variety of Croqqer’s skills are listed in random order, making it difficult to find what you need.
My experience
Getting started
When I heard about the concept, I was very keen to try it. Who doesn’t burn energy just thinking about their endless to-do list? How great would it be to have specialists taking care of all those tasks? Be aware that if you also want to carry out tasks, you must have a full profile including social media links, skills etc.
Placing a request
I placed a request seeking someone to help make this blog easy to find on the internet (SEO). Without a benchmark or experience, it was tricky to select a suitable price, so I decided to offer €50. Within a day I received two comments and a bid of €50 from a 24-year-old student. The next day I got an offer from an experienced marketer, and a week later, one from a Croqqer who had no profile. Both priced at €25.
The job
I picked the marketer, was brought through to pay for the job and then….silence. The next step was not clear. After a few days the founder introduced the Croqqer and I to each other by email. We took it from there, exchanging emails, and in the end I got some good advice from a positive Croqqer. Again, it was not clear what the next step was – it definitely seems that some important functionality is still missing. The job was closed by the Croqqer and I was asked to send a review by mail, for inclusion in the next release of the site.
My 2 cents: It is a great idea to have a Dutch version of TaskRabbit - it’s like getting a Personal Assistant that saves you time. But Croqqer still needs to improve the user experience, so I’ll park this service for now, until it flows a bit smoother.
Shared car ownership with Greenwheels
Service: Greenwheels Where available: The Netherlands, Germany Category: Car sharing service Sign-up: €20. Free for NS-customers Costs: A once-off deposit, then fixed fee per hour and kilometer Format: Website and app (in Dutch and English) For whom: Personal and business
Greenwheels is a car sharing concept designed to give you access to a car whenever you need one. The service is a clearly recognisable one - you can find Greenwheels’ red Peugeots with their green logo parked in nearly every street in cities where the service is available. Having started in 1995, Greenwheels currently has cars at more than 1.600 locations.
Plus: The fleet is big so that it’s never hard to find a Greenwheels close by. Choose from a Peugeot 107, 207, Volkswagen Up, or Volkswagen Caddy/Peugeot Partner. The cars have designated parking spaces, saving you parking hassle. You can book one minute before you go on your journey, and open the car with a Greenwheels card or smartphone. Payment is per 15 minutes, which makes it affordable for short trips. In addition, cars are mostly quite clean and well kept.
Minus: There is a subscription fee, which adds to the rental fees. The pricing structure on the website is quite hard to understand, as there are so many items, options and exceptions to trawl through. For longer trips it can actually work out cheaper to rent a car. There are also less car types available than with other services. Finally, Greewheels brings new cars into the market rather than tapping into existing capacity.
My experience
Getting started
I joined Greenwheels 5 years ago. My subscription treats the monthly fee I pay as a credit towards kilometres. However, I don’t use it frequently enough to earn back that credit as for longer trips I tend to rent a car. During registration you'll need your NS card details if you have one. It can even become your key. If you register before 11 am, you can drive the same day, but mind the registration fee of €20 and deposit of €225.
Request
Via the app or the website, select your location and the time you will need the car for. The easiest way is to view the cars on a map where green indicates a car is free, and red means it’s booked. Once you select an available car and click ‘book’ it’s done. The confirmation follows by email.
The rental
You can open the car with a key card, the Greenwheels app, or your train (NS) card. Inside the car you will find a key in the dashboard, attached to a little machine which requires you to enter your pin. If you want to close the car during the trip, simply use the normal key. The reservation can be extended per 15 minutes through the app (free) or by phone (€2). At the end of the trip, the machine will ask you to confirm you are back at ‘basecamp’. You then replace the key and lock the car with your card again. In using the service, I did experience some challenges. Once, I left something in the car after locking it and was unable to open ‘my’ car as someone put the wrong car on that location. I’ve also come across a side mirror that had become unattached from the car. On another occasion the motor was making strange noises. I did however, always experience very helpful and friendly customer service staff on these occasions, and if needed they changed me to another car.
My 2 cents: Greenwheels is a very convenient service if you have an immediate need for a car. Because of the subscription fee however, and the fact that there is a range of available alternatives out there, I’d think twice before joining. In general, it makes sense to calculate how often you need a car, and for which purpose, before you select a car service that is suitable for you.
Let's go driving with WeGo!
Service: WeGo Where: Currently Amsterdam Category: Peer-to-peer car renting Sign-up: Free Costs: One-off deposit and variable fee per rental Shape: Website and app (in Dutch only) For whom: Personal and business (sharing lease cars)
WeGo is a service that enables you to rent private cars directly from car owners, without requiring their direct involvement. It’s essentially a marketplace that matches supply and demand to facilitate car sharing by using existing capacity. The service has recently taken off in Amsterdam West and additional cars are being added to the Amsterdam service every week.
Plus: All cars have built in technology that enables you to open and close the car with your smartphone. This means you are no longer dependent on the owner of the car to accept your request and to meet you, making the service suitable for instant travel (15 minutes processing time per request). With the app, you can see the exact location of the car on a map and sync the booking to your calendar. You pay per use only, with pricing per hour (there are also daily and weekly price options) and timing is done per minute.
Minus: As the service is relatively new, there are not many cars available yet. Car reviews are not available either, but this is a feature planned for November. Because the cars are required to have at least auto-lock, they tend to be newer meaning the service doesn’t offer much difference in price relative to similar ones. Petrol is included in the price per kilometer and there are no kilometers included in the rental, which makes this solution more expensive for longer trips.
My experience
Getting started
Riding my bike through Amsterdam, I pondered my experiences with SnappCar and Greenwheels. My conclusion was that a smart combination of both concepts would be perfect: Snappcars use of existing capacity and Greenwheels ease of use (immediate availability and automatic access to the car). So I was keen to try WeGo. You will need drivers licence, bank details and a € 50 deposit to join.
Requesting a car
First I select my settings - a search radius of 2km from my current position and activate ‘sync to calendar’. Through the app or the website I select a date, a ‘from’ and ‘to’ time and then pick the location from where I want to search (my current position). In the app I am presented with a map showing all cars - a series of green pins indicating what’s available for rental at the requested times. On the website you can actually see a list of cars with pictures. I find a SmartFour for €3 per hour plus 0,25 cents per km, which includes petrol, and book it. An e-mail confirmation follows immediately, with the owner in cc.
The rental
My booking time is about to start and I walk to the car, which is conveniently parked around the corner. With the app functioning as a car key, I begin to open the car. First I am asked if there is any new damage, with the existing damage listed in the push message. I check the car, select ‘no’, try to open again and the door opens within a few seconds. Inside I find the car key, papers, and a petrol pass in the dashboard. Ready to take off! During my trip, I simply lock the car with the normal key. When my trip is done, I put the key back in its place in the car and lock the car with the app. According to my TomTom I was not going to make the booked end-time, so I tried to extend the car rental time, which can be easily done by sliding a time bar on the app. If that doesn’t work – as it didn’t for me - it means that the car is booked and you are recommended to contact the next user via the app. It’s not yet possible to give feedback about the car or the service via the app or website, this can only be done via mail to WeGo.
My 2 cents: This is a brilliant example of how technology can help to make services easy to use. It makes renting a private car extremely easy and straightforward. I have to admit though, I did miss the personal connection with the owners!
60% of the Dutch believe the Sharing Economy can contribute to a sustainable future. At the same time there is also a lot of resistance and awareness is still low, 40%. (Article in Dutch)
Coming up soon:
A review on a new car sharing service in Amsterdam: WeGo, stay tuned!
Roadtrip with your neighbour's SnappCar
Service: SnappCar Where: The Netherlands, Germany and soon UK Category: Peer-to-peer car renting Sign-up: free Costs: Variable fees per rental Shape: Website For whom: Personal and businesses (carpool sharing)
SnappCar is a friendly service that enables you to rent private cars directly from car owners. It's a marketplace matching supply & demand, enabling car sharing by using existing capacity, close to home and fully insured. The service is 2 years old and has about 5000 cars registered.
Plus: In city areas you can easily find a car nearby, which is very convenient. There is a wide range of cars to choose from, so you can pick a different car for every purpose and you are not bound to office opening hours. Prices are friendly, you meet people from your own neighbourhood and you are contributing to a better planet by using cars that are already in the market.
Minus: Your request is subject to the reaction(time) of the car owner, making the concept not suitable for last minute travel plans. Compared to traditional rental cars, you may find the cars older, consuming more petrol and less clean. Use for business purposes is not advised and there is no telephone number to call, only for road assistance.
My experience
Getting started
I don't own a car, but sometimes use one from a rental company or Greenwheels. In March I added Snappcar to my range of mobility options and used it about 8 times since then. The number of cars in my area has grown exponentially. Signing up is easy, once you book your first car, you will need to upload your driver's licence.
The search for a car
Cars can be rented for half a day (up to 5 hours) or a full day. Available cars are ordered by distance or price with additional filters like type of car, type of petrol, brand etc. Rental prices (and kilometer charges) are set by the owner and start from € 20 p/day with on average 100-150 kilometers included. It is recommended to make multiple requests and once an owner accepts, you book and the deal is done. You receive a contract with all details of the rental and Snappcar cancels any other outstanding requests for you. It is also recommended to complete your profile and describe the purpose of each rental. My first requests never saw an answer and I had owners requesting more info before accepting my request.
The rental
My first rental was a Volvo 850 from 1995, needed for work purposes. I messed up with the date in the booking and showed up a day too early! The friendly owner was willing to give me the car, but we wanted to be sure it was insured. Snappcar could not be reached by phone, so we mailed them and took the gamble. Before I took off, the owner explained everything about the car and we checked mileage, damgage, level of petrol and both signed the contract. All went smoothly! We agreed I'd pay cash for the petrol by calculating kilometers driven, consumption ratio and the day price of petrol. The fee for additional kilometers driven, are taken from your account by Snappcar after the rental.
More rentals
More rentals followed, I met great people and cars started to pop-up closer to my house with much improved reaction times. I now have my favourite car and some other good options as back-ups.
My 2 cents:
Definitely worth a try! Enlarging your network in your own neighbourhood is a bonus and the service has some nice extra's; like the option to share a car between a group of friends - fully insured.
Tip: Check the charge p/km and ask the owner for the petrol consumption ratio in order to make a good calculation of costs for your trip in advance. In some cases a traditional car rental can work out cheaper.
A personal approach to hospitality with Airbnb
Service: Airbnb Where: Worldwide; 192 countries Category: Peer-to-peer accommodation Sign-up: Free Costs: Variable fee per rental Shape: Website, app For whom: Personal or business
Airbnb is a community marketplace that enables you to stay in over half a million private accommodations worldwide. It has definitely outgrown the early adopter phase since its start in 2008 and it is probably the most successful and known peer-to-peer service so far.
Plus: You are likely to stay in places or areas that have more 'couleur locale' where the hosts make sure you receive a very warm, personal service, making a true difference to your holiday experience. You meet people, make new friends and on average you spend less money.
Minus: Airbnb has grown so big, that it's difficult to keep the spirit of the concept alive and keep the service friendly and safe. There is 'pollution' from non-private offerings and people in it only for the easy cash. Because of the large offering in many cities it is difficult to choose a place. A dependency from your host, who has to accept your request makes your booking never 100% guaranteed.
My experience
Getting started
I joined in May 2012, curious after hearing positive stories. It was already a mature service by then, even if I still know many people who never heard about it. I'll stay in my 5th Airbnb place this week. The image-rich website gives me apetite to travel. Mind that signing up may require various verifications of e.g. ID, telephone and payment checks. You are encouraged to complete your profile and use various ways to build online trust.
Search for places
Searching places is easy. You can browse with or without specific dates. Results are shown on a map and with large pictures. You choose if you want a whole flat, a private or a shared room. There are many other filters to narrow down your search: price, type, area, facilities, language of the owner etc. (try selecting 'treehouse', 'cave' or 'iglo') I take my searches seriously and I often save my first selection to a wishlist, leaving it for a second selection round and ending with a top two, so I have an alternative if the first choice gets rejected.
The requests
My first try was a room in a farmhouse in Belgium, which got rejected, an important lesson for me. The next try - London - was quite last-minute and I therefore sent about 10 messages to hosts asking details & availability first. Reactions and reaction speed varied greatly. I managed to book a room and had to enter payment details although no payment is taken, until the booking has been accepted by the host. With my last three bookings I experienced very fast reactions and availability matching the calendar. And I noticed that prices can vary depending on the dates and that owners can also make special offers.
The trips
Each of my trips have been great! A (living)room in a house or an entire apartment, meeting the owner only at check-in and check-out. All the people I met where open and friendly, including other guests staying in the houses. I met business travellers too, tired of anonymous hotels, looking for a home-away-from-home feeling. Service is personal; I had hosts asking what my breakfast habits were, one getting up at 6 to bake pancakes and one that left a bottle of wine in the apartment for us. The hosts are always a great source of information too, as they know all about the town, public transport and great finds off the beaten track!
Reviews
Airbnb's succes is built on trust and reputation of the hosts and the guests. You rate your stay and the host will rate you. The interseting thing is that getting to know the host and his own house, creates goodwill. And knowing you will be rated too, makes rating likely to be positive, painting a less objective, transparent picture of a place. This makes it more difficult to differentiate between houses while searching.
My 2 cents: You need to be the person that likes to stay in someone else's house. If you feel uncomfortable about being in the same house with the owner, sharing a bathroom with other guests or being less anonymous, don't try Airbnb. But if you are open for the concept, you'll make this your default way of travelling for sure! I don't use it for every trip, but quite often and I love it!
Borrowing next door with Peerby
Service: Peerby
Where: The Netherlands, mainly cities
Category: Peer-to-peer community sharing
Sign-up: free
Costs: none / voluntary contribution
Shape: Online, app
For whom: Personal or business
Peerby is a free service that enables you to borrow (or lend) items you do not need very often from people in your neighbourhood by connecting requesters and owners of various items. It saves you buying more stuff and filling up your house. Think drills, ladders, barbecues etc.
Plus: Great initiative for items you don't often need or use for and also a great way to meet your neighbours and it's free! High chances of a quick reaction because of pro-active request sending. New possibility to get items insured is promising!
Minus: No user profiles & reviews or security checks - everything is based on trust between you and your neighbours. It's not (yet) possible to search on items directly. The use on Mac was not optimal, PC worked much better.
My experience
Getting acquainted
When Peerby appeared on my horizon, I was curious to try it. The idea of having to own less and borrow instead is great, we already have too much! Checking participation in my neighbourhood was a pleasant surprise:
Registration
Quite easy, free, no obligations, Facebook log-in optional (pfew....). You can add a picture, choose a language AND....delete your profile. Quite important and never to be taken for granted!
Requests
Post the item you are looking for on the website, or on the recently launched app
A request is sent to neighbours. They receive an e-mail stating that X is looking for a Y, do you have it? YES/NO/NOT NOW
Your answer is stored in the memory of the system.
Sending continues to a growing circle until you stop the search
It's recommended that you describe what you need the item for, to make it more personal and create goodwill
Posessions
I was presented with a long and seemingly random list of items where I had to indicate which ones I owned. Here, I worried...what to fill in? Who could see this list? Thieves scanning the neighbourhood? I did not tick all boxes and wonder about the purpose of the list as you cannot search or make a direct bid on someone's items - maybe in the future?
The transaction
My first request was for a tent, sent to 109 neigbours resulting in 2 offers within a day. I started a chat with the offering neighbours. Neighbour A. uploaded the tent as a profile picture, so I could see it. We agreed a pick up date and a price: 10 EUR for a long weekend. The face-to-face pick-up was very pleasant and a nice way to meet new people from my area. We did have some issues after the return, as afterwards the tent was sold via 'Marktplaats' and the buyer claimed it was not complete. It made me realise mutual trust can come with risks too. Next time it may be wise to take pictures of the pick up and return of the item just to be sure.
My 2 cents
Definitely fun to try, it won't cost you a single cent or sweat!
What's in a name?
A whole Two Cents worth of opinion! A very modest way of describing an opinion or contribution and sometimes a way to make big feedback sound smaller, a pre-warning. Two cents is meant both seriously as well as ironic.
Seriously: because you can read my review, but it's even better to experience it yourself, never get too hung-up on someone elses opinion!
Ironic: because everyone's opinion is much more valuable than two cents and if as long as we are open to hear someone else's view, we can grown and learn.
Sharing stands for sharing an opinion, helping eachother and for the sharing economy, initiatives I love to test & try!
Enjoy and please contribute, share your Thousends of Cents!
Ananda
Early adopters are people who pay too much for something that doesn't really work yet
Take the risk of giving it a try