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The team at learning toy company Click-A-Brick welcomes the news that the subscription model for household objects is on the rise, even for toys. They say allowing people to rent objects rather than purchasing them will cut down on the amount of waste produced and allow people to better manage their households and lives.A recent article on the Guardian website says more businesses and consumers are starting to embrace the pay-per-use approach to everyday household appliances like washing machines and kitchen appliances.
Marcel Peters, CEO of Bundles, an Amsterdam-based company that provides high-quality household appliances on a subscription basis, says that giving people the opportunity to rent appliances for only when they need them will lead to manufacturers building better quality components resulting in better quality machines. Peters says in the current model, manufacturers try to produce the cheapest possible machines for people to own resulting in appliances that break more frequently, causing more waste. By switching to what is known as a circular economy, he believes manufacturers will concentrate efforts on building the best quality machines since people won’t be purchasing them, but rather just paying to use them when they need them.
“Customers want solutions for their problems rather than physical products,” the article quotes Peters as saying. “Therefore an increasing number are prioritising experience and performance over possession. With our model, customers experience lower levels of hassle and higher satisfaction. The current model generates an increasing amount of waste. Low-quality products have low levels of reusability, causing material depletion.”
One other company that has embraced the subscription model is Pley, a company based in the United States that rents educational toys to families on a monthly basis. This prevents toys from sitting around unused once children grow bored of them, according to the company's website.
Giving more people access to learning toys while creating less waste is a great idea, say Click-A-Brick Co-Founders Jason Smith and Georg de Gorostiza.
“It might seem counterintuitive for a toy company to be in favor of people renting instead of owning because for most toy companies, the business model is sell as much as you can and forget about it,” Smith said. “We are more interested in having children learn, no matter if their parents decide to buy or rent the toys. Less waste and less focus on accumulating stuff is always a good thing, as far as we’re concerned. The subscription based model of consumerism is a novel approach to using rather than owning what is needed in our lives, including toys. We could all learn a valuable lesson from that.”
Contact Info:
Name: Rob Swystun
Email: Send Email
Organization: Click-A-Brick Toys
Website: http://www.clickabricktoys.net/
Release ID: 133543
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