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How to Get What We Want without Buying Things

There are some things that we don't need to buy

Do you own a video game set? If so, you're probably wishing for a newer version, but your mom is saying there's no room in the house for two machines. In that case, you're probably thinking "If I'd known a new version would come out, I wouldn't have bought this one. What a bummer!"

What about going to the arcade? It has lots of different games, and if you drop a coin or two in, you can play whatever you want. Here, you're paying for the "services" offered by the machine to play a game instead of paying to buy the game itself. Game arcades always have the latest models. If you go to the arcade, you don't need to buy the latest game set for your home, and you won't have to worry about getting rid of your old one.

From the time they come out to the time they're taken away, game machines in an arcade are owned by the arcade. The way it works is that whenever you feel like playing, you can come and enjoy the "services" they offer without needing to own the machine yourself. This same idea can be applied to other appliances, too, even including the things you think people should normally own.

In Sweden, there was an experiment to study what would happen if a company sold the "functions" (or services) of the washing machine to customers instead of selling the machine itself. While people normally own their own washing machines, in this particular experiment, test participants rented washing machines from the company and paid the company only for the use of the machines, depending on the number of times they used them.

What do you think happened? Well, when you use your own washing machine, you don't really think about how often you wash your clothes or what amount is being washed, do you? On the other hand, what if you have to pay for the number of times you use a rented machine? I'm sure you'd be a little more careful, right? The test participants were, too. So, through this rental system we can reduce the amount of water, detergent and electricity people use to do their laundry, which will also lessen the burden on our planet and help save the earth's valuable resources.

Then what about the companies that sell washing machines? If company's goal is to make money selling washing machines, then they'll keep making newer and better machines as a way to get people to replace their old ones. On the other hand, if a company rents out their washing machines to customers, they'll make an effort to develop durable and easy-to-repair machines. In this way, companies don't have to try to sell customers new machines when their old ones still work, but instead, they'll concentrate on making the machines last a long time with steady maintenance. This is the environmentally-friendly way to do things, right?

Maybe in the future, we'll be able to rent video game sets and washing machines. If so, we'll be able to rent them only when we want to use them. Also, when the latest versions come out, we'll be able to exchange our old machines with newer ones or return them when we no longer have any need for them. We'll buy the "services" of machines, instead of the machine themselves. This would make everyone happy, even the earth!

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