Recycle, Reduce … Neighborrow?
I’m sure it’s hardly bearable to have gone so long without the newest and final Harry Potter book, but unless you plan on reading the book eight times like the 12-year-old HP fanatics who camped out at the bookstore to get the first copy sold, is $25 really worth it? I mean, come on, electricity … Harry Potter … which is more important?!
Well, you can stop digging through trash bins looking for recyclables to cash in for money. Mother Earth thanks you, but did you really think you’d ever find $25 worth anyway? Instead, save your money and borrow someone else’s copy!
Neighborrow is the brainchild of a New Yorker looking to capitalize on one of the 3 R’s – REUSE – and save you money! What a nice guy, right? All you do is find a neighborrow-hood near you (or create one), list items you own that you’d be willing to lend to others, and start neighborrowing! It’s that simple, and before you know it that copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be yours … at least until you’re done reading it!
Continue reading to see Earth 911’s interview with neighborrow founder Adam Berk.
As of June 17th 2011 we have upgraded our comment system to use Facebook comments. The below comments are closed and are listed for historical purposes.
derrick
posted on August 8th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
What a great idea- go neighborrow
jcsekhar
posted on August 9th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
When someone neighborrows from you, how do you keep track of the items you lent them? What if they simply.. disappear with the last HP book that you would have loved to read one more time?
Overall, great idea though – and very simple too !
neighborrow
posted on August 10th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
When we designed the site, one of our biggest priorities was to make it easy to keep track of the items you own, the items you have lent out, the items you want, etc. On your homepage, you can see items that are currently checked out, and you can see who has it. You also have a lending history and a borrowing history. Soon, you will be able to map out the exact locations of your “checked out” items as well as the items you have lent out in the past. There will also be a series of reminders and alerts when items are almost due or past due as well as penalties for returning things late (and rewards for being a good neighborrow-er). We may also allow users to charge late fees to other members but it will be a while before we make that decision.