Post-Sharing Economy

We live in the ecomony of lies. It all starts with ‘little white lies’, and then somehow mushrooms into ‘big audacious lies’. And that’s…

Photo by Alex Bunardzic

We live in the economy of lies. It all starts with ‘little white lies’, and then somehow mushrooms into ‘big audacious lies’. And that’s pretty much how we got where we are today.

For example, we’re all used to getting charged sales tax on top of the price of goods we’re purchasing. I wasn’t acutely aware of that issue until I went overseas and spent some time in a different country. While being there, I got slowly used to the situation where no additional sales tax was charged on top of the price I was paying at the cash register. Upon returning home, I was shocked to be exposed to this ‘hidden’ cost. I remember getting into a store and buying some product which had a $87.00 price tag, and then being charged over $100.00 at the cash register. It really came as a cold shower at that moment, as I caught myself thinking “why am I paying over $100.00 for something that was tagged as costing only $87.00?”

That’s what I’d call a ‘little white lie’. Yes, the true price of the item that the customer pays at the cash register is over $100.00, but because there is a legitimate loophole, we can lull the customer into thinking that they’re paying less than a $100.00.

Big Audacious Lies

Soon after experiencing the minor ‘cold shower’ shock with different price tag at the cash register, I got exposed to a somewhat bigger ‘cold shower’ shock. This time, the ‘little white lie’ ballooned into a ‘big audacious lie’.

I bumped into a young entrepreneur who was pimping his startup called Share Shed. He came on strongly with his “what’s mine is yours” mantra, which sounded intriguing. I think he also called it ‘collaborative economy’, or ‘sharing economy’, or some such buzzword. Intrigued, I decided to chat with him:

“So, what’s the business model your Share Shed is built on?” was the first thing I asked him.

“It’s all about sharing outdoor equipment.” he replied.

“You mean like tents and bikes and the like?”

“Exactly! You can post your tent or a canoe or any other piece of outdoor equipment you’d like to share on the site.” explained the young ‘sharepreneur’ (I think that’s how he was calling himself, if I’m not mistaken).

“So you mean if I have a tent I’d like to share, and you have a canoe you’d like to share, then we can barter?” was my next question.

“Well no, not really. You can put your tent up for rent!” replied the enthusiastic sharepreneur.

(Dead silence) I thanked him and left.