Tuesday, July 29, 2014

the secret sharer

A 10 question pop-quiz about the sharing economy

1.      If a four-star restaurant auctions its unsold daily specials on the internet half an hour before closing time, it is

A: sharing food and doing its part to feed the world
B: being environmentally friendly by making use of food that would otherwise go to waste
C: earning at least a little from what would otherwise be a total loss
D: doing what it always does: selling meals

2.      If someone rents out an unused corner of their basement so someone else can store things, he or she is

A: sharing an unused space and making the world a less cluttered place
B: providing a needed service to a neighbor
C: getting some added income that can help them avoid foreclosure
D: operating a self-storage business with one storage locker

3.      Renting out your apartment for a week on Airbnb for more than you pay your landlord per month is

A: sharing your home with others
B: helping tourists feel at home in your city
C: natural capitalism that is boosting your income
D: simultaneously raising rents and ripping off visitors.

A: an excellent service to all people
B: a great opportunity for elderly folks on fixed incomes who spend all day staring out at the street to make money from what they do naturally
C: privatizing the street
D: making money off the public domain, like the railroad barons of old

5.      What’s the difference between picking someone up at the airport for a fee and picking up your grandmother for free?

A: none; they’re both extremely generous acts
B: there’s no middleman taking a cut of the cash your grandmother gives you on your birthday – and that’s the only reason you’re waiting for the old bag anyway.
C: your grandmother is an über-baker and makes much better apple pies than anyone to whom you've ever given a Lyft.
D: there’s no profit in pimping your ride for your nana—and anyway, she’s too old to slide into the Maserati you bought with profits from picking up people in your beat-up ’89 Toyota.

6.      I feel your

A: pain
B: need
C: ability to supplement my income
D: wallet getting thinner

7.      Sharing is

A: its own reward
B: a generous act
C: never having to say you’re broke
D: a profit-making enterprise

8.      The sharing economy is different from the rest of the economy because

A: it encourages equality
B: through peer-to-peer contacts it boosts community and connectedness
C: it breaks down overpriced monopolies
D: it allows you to sometimes make a buck, rather than always paying for stuff

Calling selling sharing is

A: valid and true
B: a natural extension of the free market of words
C: just as logical as a phrase like ‘the internet of things’
D: Orwellian in the extreme

10.  The best slogan for The Sharing Economy is

A: ‘from each according to availability, to each according to depth of pockets’
B: ‘the invisible helping-hand of the market’
C: ‘there’s a profit-center born every minute’
D: ‘Micro-Capitalism Über Alles!’

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