#relayrides

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(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKXmrb5TSTY)

[newstfionline]

Sharing economy attracts older adults

Amy Zipkin, The New York Times, Oct. 23, 2015

William Daub, 63, sold laboratory instruments for several decades, with a salary in the low six figures and access to perks like a corporate jet. He retired in April of last year, after he was laid off.

He began collecting Social Security and enrolled at a community college to earn computer certifications. With those in hand, he applied for entry-level jobs paying $25 to $30 an hour. Younger classmates were hired. He wasn’t. He chalked it up to age.

His wife earns a good income selling computer software. Still, with a mortgaged house in the New York suburbs and a lifestyle that includes a housekeeper, dinners out and brief trips to nearby vacation spots, he was restless and looked for ways to augment his public pension and withdraw less from his 401(k).

By chance, he read about TaskRabbit, one of a growing number of online platforms that match individuals to projects, services and living spaces. Along with Airbnb, Uber and others, it fits squarely into the emerging “gig economy.” Collaborativeconsumption.com, a website that carries news, events and opportunities related to the sharing economy, lists about 1,400 companies.

Before starting with TaskRabbit, Daub passed a background check and a training course. This summer, he began assembling Ikea furniture, a skill he learned as a homeowner. His published rate is $49 an hour, which includes a client services fee paid to the company. During July and August, working five or six hours a week, he earned about $2,000, he says.

“I’m making good money and making my own hours,” he said.

As the stock market seesaws and many retirees struggle to supplement inadequate savings and investments, more older Americans are turning to a variety of methods to earn extra money, keep in touch socially and enjoy experiences that might not be affordable otherwise.

A report released by PricewaterhouseCoopers in April estimated that 7 percent of Americans consider themselves providers in the so-called sharing economy. Of those older than 55, 25 percent do.

A separate report from PricewaterhouseCoopers estimated that the sharing economy, which totaled about $15 billion in 2014, could grow to $335 billion by 2025.

“To participate in the sharing economy, one must have something to share,” Linda Barrington, executive director of the Institute for Compensation Studies in the Industrial and Labor Relations School at Cornell University, wrote in an email. “The assets that older people accumulated and used intensively when first purchased (a large home because they had children) come to have excess capacity over time (the children move out and the car is not needed for so many errands).”

Robert Blunier, 79, of Palm Beach County, Fla., knows that well. Until late 2013, he was general manager at a condominium high-rise. After retiring with a small amount in savings and insurance, he looked to supplement his Social Security payments.

He ruled out positions like Wal-Mart greeter and supermarket packer, which involves bagging and loading groceries. “It’s tough work,” he said. He considered representing roofing and painting contractors to help them pitch their services to condominium managers.

Instead, he decided to rent his 2005 Mustang convertible through RelayRides, a peer-to-peer car rental service based in San Francisco. (The only state it is not available in is New York.)

He charges $39 a day, which includes 200 free miles, and ferries those who rent his car to local airports, charging an additional $25 to $35 depending on distance. “I do enjoy driving back and forth to the airport, and we part on friendly terms,” he said.

In the last year and a half, he said, he has rented out the car more than 50 times. At the airport, a convertible rental can run three times the price or more. An older Mercury Marquis that he owns for his everyday use is also available. In 2014, the car rentals netted about $6,000, he says. This year, he is up $4,100. RelayRides takes 25 percent of the service provider’s revenue.

There’s also savings on vacation. In early September, he and his wife flew to Las Vegas for a tour of Utah’s national parks. Credits on his account allowed him to rent a 2009 Chrysler Sebring four-door sedan from a RelayRides provider at a modest price.

Blunier says running a car rental service has its drawbacks. “RelayRides does tie me down,” he said. “When the car is out, I can’t leave.”

By his choice, the service keeps him from spending more time at a vacation home in Murphy, N.C., that he bought in 2008. “I thought I’d be using it a lot more,” he said. He rents that out, too, and estimates he has earned about $2,000 this year.

Dorian Mintzer, a retirement coach and co-author of The Couple’s Retirement Puzzle: 10 Must-Have Conversations for Creating an Amazing New Life Together, said participating in the gig economy could provide a sense of purpose.

“It’s an opportunity for people who aren’t in the workforce to earn some money, have social interaction and a reason to get out of bed in the morning,” she said.

Lisa D’Ambrosio, a research scientist at the MIT AgeLab, sees other advantages. “It’s a transition to what you do next,” she said. “There’s money, but you don’t need to commit yourself. There’s a great deal of flexibility; you’re not accountable to anyone else about your schedule.”

Despite the advantages that many participants see, experts say providers face a number of risks. “This work is not part of the formal employment sector where labor laws protect workers,” Barrington of Cornell University noted.

Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal research group in Washington, goes further. “There’s unfairness in the competitive business model,” he said.

Still, Daub, who also plans to start an information technology consulting practice, said the opportunity had worked out better than he expected.

“At this point in my life,” he said, “it’s a perfect job.”

[andresrelayrides-blog]

Rent Andre’s Honda Civic for just $35/day, $180/week or $550/month on RelayRides. RelayRides is the nation’s largest peer-to-peer car rental marketplace, featuring an unbeatable selection of vehicles at low prices. Rancho Cordova, CA. 2012 Honda Civic LX beige inside, USB port, AUX. Great thing about it is 30+ mpg in city, you could get up to 36 mpg highway. Will include car charger, android and iPhone 5 & 6 USB cords and AUX cord. Also will include portable car vacuum also you can take any Quick Quack car wash for free it's been paid. Upon advance request car seat can be provided. It's a 4 cyl car 1.8L 140 HP, 5 Speed. SAVES GAS!!!!! Please NO SMOKING SERVICE Dogs are OK, PETS OK (I will provide a beach towel in the trunk) FOOD Everybody eats in their cars...BUT please keep it clean. Will be charged $25 for cleaning fee if it's a mess. EXTRA MILEAGE I'm flexible on mileage if you rent a car more than 3 days you will get 25 EXTRA MILES FREE. We can always discuss if you'd like to rent a car but not sure how many miles will you be driving. I'm flexible but you got to take care of my car! BRIDGE TOLLS All my car's license plates are registered with Fastrak. So no need to slow down or wait or STOP. But I will know the next day if you crossed a toll bridge. Just put $5(cash) each crossing inside the glove compartment. Otherwise a $15 fee will be charged including the cost of the tolls. Have fun and please be safe and recommend friends. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. Thank You & God Bless Andre

Rent Andre’s RelayRides civic. We will deliver to your pick up location free.

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RelayRides reinvents the rental-car relationship

RelayRides reinvents the rental-car relationship

Mark Zeigler was leaving the country a couple years ago and wondering what to do with his vehicle.

So the Denver resident rented his 2008 Toyota 4Runner to a host of strangers.

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[whttl]

Our Epic Travel Journey Using The Sharing Economy

How we saved cash and found an idea worth pursuing as a startup.

My wife and I were planning a trip to Seattle, Washington. We’ve been avid consumers of the sharing economy for a few years, but thought that this particular trip would be an opportunity to take it to the next level. In the end, we used 7 different sharing economy products and services to make this trip happen, and they generally proved to be cheaper and more convenient. Plus, it’s where the roots of my startup, Whttl, can trace back to. Here’s how we did it.

Renting Out Our Apartment on Airbnb

If we leave our apartment on a trip, it just sits there unused, yet we still pay the same in rent. I’ve published previous posts about how we are renting out our place on Airbnb, and making some serious cash in doing so. (Sometimes as much as $2,000 / week) In this particular trip, a last minute booking came in that required us to modify our trip to start a bit earlier. However, the revenue that it brought in paid for the round-trip flights to and from Seattle, including the change fees, as well as the first 2 nights of our hotel.

Rental Car

Evidently, Seattle has huge fluctuations in demand for rental cars, mostly because of the seasonality of the cruise ships during the summer. When I began planning this trip some two months beforehand, I was shocked to see that prices were upwards of $70 / day for even the cheapest set of wheels. Naively, I figured that I would score a better deal if I waited until the last minute and used the Priceline app to reserve a car. It had worked before when traveling toMiami and Chicago, surely it could work here. As I checked rental car prices before boarding the plane, and was taken aback to see that prices were creeping upward by the minute and had now risen to $120 per day.

On the plane, I began searching for cars on RelayRides, a popular peer-to-peer marketplace. I also did a basic search of other services, too, like Silvercar, Zipcar, GetAround, and FlightCar, some of which weren’t available in Seattle just yet, though. I did note to myself that it would have been extremely nice to compare all available options in one place. (Hint, hint for a startup idea!)

When we landed, it was pouring rain. (Imagine that in Seattle!) We made our way to the rental cars as quickly as we could with a baby in tow. I walked up to the first counter, and asked “How much for the cheapest car?” The associate typed in some bits on her computer, and cheerfully responded, “We can get you a car tonight for $175 / day.” Attempting to keep my sheer astonishment at bay, I politely thanked her for checking and transitioned to the next counter, hoping for better luck.

“Hi! How much for your cheapest car?” The gentlemen at the counter let out a chuckle, and then proceeded to check his inventory. “$210 per day”, he said. “Plus taxes, of course.”

As the profanities raced through my head, fortunately stopping just short of escaping my mouth, I thought that the third time would be a charm. I thanked him for his time and walked over to counter number three. By this time, most of the other agents had taken notice of my approach, and the one at this desk beat me to the punch. “If you didn’t like the prices at the other desks, I can assure you that you won’t like this one.”

Feeling disheartened but not defeated, I grabbed my family and exited the building. By this time, it was late at night, and I thought it best to just get to the hotel. We’d figure it out in the morning. But alas, I had to figure out how to make the thirty mile trek there. A cab was out of the question, and I didn’t envision any success with the airport shuttles this late at night. One by one, I opened all of my ride sharing apps to see if I could get an estimate on what the trip would cost, and who actually serviced the area. (Again, I couldn’t help but think that it was a tedious process to check providers individually.) At that point, I didn’t even know what services were offered near the airport, and for that matter, the entire metropolitan area. The big guys like Uber and Lyft were probably here, but what about the smaller players, like SideCar and Instacab? The trip duration was long, so how could I get a price estimate? Even a few cents per mile could really add up with such a long journey.

Some basic research revealed that Lyft was probably my best bet, so I requested a ride and the driver showed up shortly thereafter. I think he was utterly surprised to see how much we had with us, including luggage, stroller, baby seat, and associated childcare paraphernalia. Nonetheless, without hesitation, he helped load up the hundreds of pounds of luggage and clip in the baby seat. As to be expected with most Lyft drivers, our particular wheelman was incredibly helpful. We then set off.

With a crying baby in the back, he assured us that he had two kids, so he’s been down this road before! (Pun intended.) He assured us that we needn’t worry, and also respected that we needed to all be silent in the car when the baby fell asleep. No music, no conversation. But it wasn’t awkward, we felt as though a friend had picked us up.

After about thirty minutes, we arrived at the hotel. The ride ended up being $70, but I’m sure this was far cheaper than a cab, and much faster and more convenient that any other option. We checked in to the hotel and hit the lights in our room. Time for some shut eye.

I was foolish enough to think my route to the bus station was walkable, my wife urged me to get a ride.

By this time, I had booked an all-electric Mitsubishi Mi-EV for just $35/day. Compared to the price shock of what I had seen last night, I was a happy camper. The only problem is that it was located back in downtown Seattle, which meant a return trip. It turns out that Seattle has a very comprehensive commuting bus system, and I could get down there for only $4. I just had to get over to the bus station, which was 6 miles away. So, I would use a rideshare again, but who was up here? Sure, I had used Lyft to get here, but could I find a driver to pick me up way out here? I found out that Uber was in the area, and a driver took me to my bus. It turned out that he was one of just a few hundred people to summit Mount Everest. He was a Sherpa guide for a number of years until he moved to America. I thought this was truly incredible and I almost debated driving in circles just to hear more from him. Time constraints in mind, though, he dropped me off as planned, and the trip total came out to $8. I had free credits that covered the cost of the trip, anyways.

Score some credits for signing up with Uber, Lyft, and others here.

I asked myself, “Do I really just hop in and go?” This was easy.

When I finally got to the address of where the Mi-EV was parked, the owner had left the keys for me. I hopped in the car and turned it on. (Remember, this bad boy was all electric.) As I rolled away, I thought to myself, “Was it really that easy? Am I sure I’m not stealing this thing!?” I called my wife to say “I’m enroute with the, um, Jelly Bean.”

Sidenote: My wife was half expecting that I would show up in the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile. We had quite the laugh when I shared that I was considering renting a car called the Jelly Bean, so I figured I would have fun with it. I told her that the Weinermobile was available for rent, and was a serious contender as our rental.

Dog Sitting

We’ve got a boxer named Harley. For years, we’ve used the same fabulous kennel in San Diego, but I am always unpleasantly surprised to see how high the bill gets when it’s time to pick up the dog. Between the daily rate, the required shots, extra charges for Sunday pickup, etc., it can be an expensive endeavor. For this trip, we opted to used one of the peer to peer marketplaces called DogVacay.

My wife handled this project, and found a suitable host just a few miles away. She did spend more time the necessary on securing a host, though, because she was duplicating her efforts between the two leading services, Rover and DogVacay. During her listing process, she noted it would have been nice to manage both platforms on just one account. Nonetheless, our dog loving hosts took care of Harley for a rate that was about 70% of what the kennel would have been. Plus, now Harley wasn’t subject to the stressful and unfamiliar environment of a kennel. She would be in a home with lots of attention.

Use Whttl to find a dog sitter near you.

Getting Food Delivered

When we woke up in our hotel the next morning, we didn’t have a clue what was around us. For the time being, we were stranded without a car, so we were limited to what was with walking distance. Suffice it to say, there wasn’t much around us in this rural part of upstate Washington. It would have been really helpful to know what services delivered around us. Did GrubHub? Seamless? What about healthy meals like Sprig and Munchery? The only way to find out seemed to be to open the apps one by one. Painless, indeed, but we eventually got some grub delivered. 

Returning From The Airport 

When we landed, we needed a ride home. Lyft was the defacto choice du jour. Yet again, a friendly driver picked us up, in what appeared to be a brand new car. I had a meeting to catch in downtown San Diego, so I had our driver drop me off, and then continue homeward bound with my wife and daughter. It was so incredibly quick and easy to not have to fumble with cash and payment when I was in a rush. Better yet, I had $25 in credits, so the ride was nearly free. 

Cleaning Our Home

One of the mildly unfortunate realities with Airbnb is that upon arriving home, you need to clean the place, change the sheets, etc. To be fair, most of our guests have always left our place so clean that we wondered if they ever even checked in! Nonetheless, it is a sanitary requisite to do a comprehensive clean. But, when you have Homejoy at your side, problem solved! We scheduled a house cleaner to show up right after we did. So, we took our time unpacking and settling in, and in 2 hours we had a clean and tidy home.

Score some sweet discounts for using Handy, Homejoy, and Exec for the first time.

This entire experience taught me a few things. For starters, the sharing economy can be a viable option in what seems like almost any vertical. There’s a another whole world of parallel commerce, and it’s only to your benefit to tap into it. Next, there are so many services popping up, it would be really helpful to have one way to compare and discover them all. So, that’s why I set out to built Whttl with my friend Tim. Check it out here.

Greg Muender is the founder of Whttl, described as the “Kayak.com for the sharing economy.” Use it to compare dozens of different providers and marketplaces at once. Seriously, check it out now. Drop Greg a line via greg<at>whttl/dot/com. 

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Is ridesharing really such a good thing?

Is ridesharing really such a good thing?

If you listen to Lyft, Sidecar, and Uber, the message is that they are a wonderful development for everyone wants to move from Point A to Point B within all our major cities. Yes, these new services are competition with the existing taxi services, but our great nation has always accepted that competition is inevitably good for the economy and the best for consumers. In a free market economy,…

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Eco-Entrepreneurs

There are lots of young eco-entrepreneurs who are starting all sorts of creative services, companies, and apps designed to help build  the new sharing  economy and benefit the environment at the same time.  One of these companies is RelayRides, the nation’s largest peer-to-peer car rental marketplace, a new concept in car rental.  Basically, car sharing is a way to efficiently connect people who…

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RelayRides raises additional $10M for expansion, Android app creation

Image Credit: RelayRides

Investors are really into car rentals right now.

RelayRides just raised an additional $10 million in funding, following a $25 million Series B round that closed just six weeks ago. The reason? Investors were still interested in putting money into the company following the close of the round, according to one report.

The additional money will help the company push forward with its plans to improve its products and get an Android app to market much faster. It currently has an iOS app that lets people set up car rides from anywhere. The company also plans to expand its locations to serve a greater number of airports all across the U.S. Right now, the company has just one location at San Francisco International Airport, but the added funds should enable it to expand its concierge service to additional airports.

To encourage this expansion, the company is adjusting its pricing structure to ensure people who offer up their cars for rental get a bigger cut. It now starts at $0.20 per mile, and those with luxury cars can make $0.40 per mile, but it all depends on how new the ride is. Rental rates are also decreasing considerably. The new daily rate starts at $10.

Canaan Partners led the Series B, and this latest injection of capital comes from Trinity Ventures. Additional investors include Google Ventures, Shasta Ventures, and August Capital.

Though RelayRides’ pricing makes it rather attractive, the company does have some competition, with FlightCar having a bit of a leg up with a presence in three markets already.

... read more »

RelayRides is the world’s largest peer to peer car sharing marketplace connecting people who need a car with vehicle owners whose rides would otherwise be sitting idle. With RelayRides, you can rent a car by the hour or by the day fr... read more »