Local Lendables: Frequently Asked Questions

	Local Lendables Helping Small Communities Organize a Lending Circle of Things. Generosity with ease and inventory management!

Frequently Asked Questions about Local Lendables:

	General questions about a Local Lendables site: What are you? ~ Why not just use Facebook? ~ Does it cost money to join? ~ Why are you building this service? ~ ~ Who is allowed to join? ~ What about privacy and safety? ~ Is this a phone app? ~ How do you make money? Will you sell my data to the highest bidder? ~ How many Members are on my site? ~ What if I move? How do I detach from Lendables? ~ How do I find out if there's a Local Lendables community near me? ~ Why did you choose the categories you did? ~ Hmmmm. Can I make money being Manager of a Lendables site? ~ What happens if we stop being able to pay?
	Questions about Lendable Items: ~ Who can see the Items? ~ Who can post an Item? ~ Can I request an Item to Borrow? ~ What does it cost to rent an Item? ~ How do I pay rent for that lawn tractor? ~ Is it only things? Can it be an errand or a task? ~ Why would I lend out my stuff? ~ Do I have to lend out my stuff? ~ What if the thing gets broken?
	Questions about Lendables Communications: What's the difference between Emails, SMS/Texts, Chats, and Alerts? ~ Why can't I send a message to a Group of people? ~ Can I get a copy of all my messages? ~ What parts of Local Lendables are public, and what parts are Member Only?

What are you? Back to Top	Local Lendables is a way for a small community to save money, time, effort, and energy, by creating a private community site for its Members to easily post any stuff that they're willing to lend to known neighbours: a sander, a folding chair, a wok, a Sparx socket -- or post for things they might want to borrow, if anyone has one to lend. Local Lendables lets Members chat with other Members about lending, borrowing, or renting any item, or scheduling an item pickup for a lending period, while maintaining each Member's inventory of the items they've posted, loaned, or borrowed from your neighbors. Free for the Members, no advertising, just a richer local community!

Why not just post to Facebook? Back to Top	Facebook is useful for many things, but maintaining an inventory of Local Lendables is not one of them. Facebook's database of users is global, and they make jillion$ by monetizing giant patterns, and making sure no post lasts for long. That is the polar opposite of a Local Lendables site, where a Lendables community has its own database, and no outside advertising, no scams, no spam, and no strangers -- and an ever-growing inventory of Lendable useful things. A Local Lendables site works as part of an existing defined community of trust.

Who can see my Lendable Items? Back to Top	Only Members of your Lendables Community are able to view the Lendable listings. It is not available to non-Members, or to the larger Internet.

Who can post a Lendable Item? Back to Top	Only Members can see, Lend, Wish For, or Borrow stuff, and only after they've logged in. No outside items are allowed.

Can I ask for an Item I can't find? Back to Top	Yes, you can Ask For (make a Request) an Item, to see if anyone has one to lend. But remember: your Local Lendables is a small community, and while there may be lots of useful stuff, the particular item ("does anyone have a right-hand baseball mitt?") may not belong to any Member, or sadly, may get overlooked by Lefty. We require a time-limit for wishes/requests, since they are usually for specific purposes and events.

What does it cost, to borrow a Lendable Item? Back to Top	Generally nothing. Some items have continuing costs (for example, the annual licensing & maintenance costs for a pull-behind trailer), or might lose actual financial value with every use (for example, a tractor, a rototiller, a log splitter). These might have to have some kind of rent or payment: generosity has limits! Most listed Lendables are offered without charge. (We encourage barter and/or reciprocality, and something like a loaf of banana bread might fit that bill nicely!) Local Lendables itself does NOT get involved in any Lendable transaction, beyond enabling communications and planning.

Why did you choose those Categories? Back to Top	We start with a generic but reasonable list, which can be modified for each community. If there are specific categories that belong to your community, the Manager can add them. Please contact your Manager, and put in any suggestions.

How far ahead can you reserve an Item? Back to Top	A "reservation" completely depends on the Owner of the Item. The Owner has the ability to put a reservation in (for example, "we have a family reunion I'm planning in two months -- can I borrow those folding chairs then?"), but may not be desirable for any number of reasons. Be sure you are clear about communications, since schedules and plans can change, causing hiccups. We hope our systems help avoid most problems.

What do you mean by "a Lendables Community"? Back to Top	A Lendables Community could be the members of a small town, or a suburban church, or an HOA, or an apartment building. It could be a Lion's Club or Eastern Star group, or a neighborhood. It could be a rural Community Hall, or a village committee, or members of a co-op. Any group of people who can organize and invite their community members, and arrange to pay the $50/month software subscription for their community, can become a Local Lendables Community. A Lendables Community is probably smaller than 1000 Members, but larger Local Lendables sites could certainly thrive, if they're well-Managed so as to maintain trust among its Members. The main limits are natural ones: how many people can be part of any "local community" that knows itself? The numbers for any particular Lendables site will be listed on the Member dashboard.

Does it cost money to join a Lendables Community? Back to Top	Individual invited Members have no fees. It costs the community a subscription fee, which is likely paid from a group budget, or by sponsors. There is no charge to join, nor to remain, a Member.

What about privacy and safety? Who's allowed to join? Back to Top	We assume that a real community has invited its Membership into their own Local Lendables site, and that while there might be invited guests, there are no strangers as Members. That assumption means that a reasonably open community can be expected: real names, and real identities, and real people, since they're all from a real community (whether village, or church, or HOA, or Vet's Chapter). In such a situation, fakery or scamming will be found out, since it can be easily identified by the Members -- and if someone is cheating, lying, or misrepresenting, that too will become clear, within the community. In the end, it is the individual Members of the community who will self-regulate; the local Manager and the Advisory Board can respond if a community identifies a stranger who somehow faked their way in. Finally, regarding privacy: Local Lendables does not require Internet ads to stay solvent, and will not sell its accrued data to anyone. We are a little island of noncommercial sanity.

How do I find a Local Lendables community near me? Back to Top	If you have to ask, you probably will have to start your own community's Local Lendables. While not quite "invitation only," a Local Lendables community is "invitation mostly": usually a Manager gathers a small Advisory Board from their community to get it started, and they invite other members -- perhaps all of the members, depending on the community -- to join in. Members can, with the permission of the Manager, vouch for friends and neighbors, and personally invite them in. The community decides those limits. If Local Lendables seems ideal for your small town, or church, or HOA, see if you can find a handful of Advisory Board members, and then contact us; we try to make it easy for you to start one up, if you're serious about it!

Is this a phone app? Back to Top	Local Lendcables is designed phone-first, and functions as an "app", with a logo on your phone, if desired. That said, we prefer a device-responsive Website, where we can stay constantly updated, and communicate with you if needed (by email or SMS, as well as by the site's Chat), and where you can use your desktop or laptop or pad or phone to engage. We're also very small-scale, and this is affordable!

How do I pay for my rented lawn tractor? Back to Top	You don't pay through the site. You pay the owner whatever was agreed-to, either in barter or in $$$. It is up to Owner and Borrower to decide the appropriate currency. Local Lendables does not keep track of any financial transactions.

Why would I lend out my stuff? Back to Top	Humans are by nature generous, and almost everyone likes sharing. But standing in the way is the gritty nuisance of remembering things and dates, and tracking who has what for how long, and who said what when about which thing I loaned...! Ugh! That's what we do -- take the "Ugh" out, using clever software. We make it easy to take pix for and post a Lendable Item, easy to chat with a Borrower about it, easy to Lend an Item, easy to print a quick "handshake" agreement (or do it online), easy to see when it's coming back, easy to return, and easy to record that it's back. Generosity without the grit. What's not to like? Those who don't like sharing are not expected to participate.

Do I have to lend out my stuff? Back to Top	No. There is no requirement, but if you can, it's considered good form to post a couple of your rarely-used useful things -- or simply offer your time to someone who needs it by having "Lendable Time." A helping hand is a wonderful thing to lend, to someone who can use it.

As a business, how does Local Lendables make money? Will you sell my data to the highest bidder? Back to Top	We don't need to sell your data, nor sell you to advertisers. Our income comes from a nominal site subscription cost ($50/month) that lets us provide your community with a unique website, your own database, your own community Membership, all built on the Local Lendables platform. This business model design is intentional -- it allows us to work for our Members, without selling them out. I'm Michael Jon Jensen, the founder (and funder) of the Local Lendables Project, as well as the Commons Communities Project. I'm 67. I don't need, or even want, an IPO. I don't need, or even want, gigantic wealth. I want to see these ideas succeed, and succeed honourably. Succeeding wildly would be nice. I want this project to be financially sustainable, to pay good salaries and good freelance rates, and to be highly effective at saving people money while reducing carbon dioxide emissions, reducing embedded energy and resource expenditures, and building resiliant communities. The world is burning, and this is my drop in the bucket to throw at the fire. If I'm lucky enough to succeed, I will do my level best to build a business model that is equitable, ethical, sustainable, and purposeful. And no, I won't sell your data.

I have something I just need picked up/some handyman work/a ride to a store/a gardener to help me. Can I ask for that? Back to Top	You can ask your community by putting in a "Wish" item, but there is no guarantee that anyone can fill your need. Some people "lend" their time -- kind of like "paying it forward" -- but not all the time, and not every time. This is a system designed to help coordinate generosity in a community, but not for expecting it.

What's the difference between Emails, SMS/Texts, Chats, and Alerts? Back to Top	The system will need to communicate with you somehow, and you can choose what method you prefer. You will receive a weekly email with listings of new items, and a message from your Manager. You may also receive: An Email is sent by the system (your choice of message platforms) to tell you about a communication within Local Lendables (a chat, a request, a wish list match, etc.). A Message is either an Email or an SMS/Text. A Message may also be sent by the system (or only an SMS) to tell you about a Lendables Event -- a request or communication. In each case, at most you'll receive one message per Item per day. A Chat is a one-on-one conversation within the Local Lendable site with another Member about an Item. It serves as the record of agreements and arrangements for Lending and Borrowing an Item. An Alert is a Message that someone is newly interested in Borrowing or Returning an Item.

Can I send a message to a group of people? Back to Top	The base Local Lendables does not enable that by default. If there is great interest, talk with the Manager about the "Groups" module.

I'm moving away from this community -- how do I detach from Lendables? Back to Top	First, tell the Manager of your Local Lendables site; they can help. When you Edit an Item, if you make it "Unavailable," then it will no longer display for others on the site. If an Item is currently out on loan, you can send a request to the Borrower. Once all your Items are "Unavailable" to the Members, you can go to your Personal Profile to change your Status to "Inactive." You'll disappear from everyone else's displays from there on -- and if you move back, you can re-activate your Status, and you can re-activate any Lendable Items still on file.

Can I get a copy of all my messages? Back to Top	We will be developing a bunch of Member tools -- personal statistics, reports and listings of activities, for you as a Member -- and that's among the things that might be useful. If enough Members request it, we will put in the time to produce it.

What if the thing I'm borrowing or lending gets broken? Back to Top	If you were borrowing the item from your next-door neighbor, what would you do? You'd figure out how to make it right. Each Lendables site is a Community's site -- and so, do the same thing here. If it broke because it was old & worn out, it's one thing; if it broke because you made a mistake, it's another. Usually it's somewhere in the middle. First, don't lend anything you really care a lot about. Second, take care of what you borrow. Third, don't forget you both signed a general handshake agreement to work out an "equitable arrangement" in the case of a problem. We are all adults, and can figure it out.

Hmmm... Can I make money Managing a Local Lendables? Back to Top	Probably, with some creativity, you could generate some income. We've designed with volunteer Managers in mind, but if you raise sufficient sponsorship money to pay the $50/month Local Lendables subscription fee, then sponsor support above that can be gravy for you, or pay for any costs you might have had starting it up. Note that a) we are transparent about our subscription fees, and b) sponsorship must be local, and c) any named sponsor advertiser must be an invited Member. Or, you could convince the village council to make a grant to pay you to spend 100 hours starting up the village's Local Lendables site (note: it takes nowhere near that much time). Or, a Member organization could hire you to provide Lendables as a Member benefit, to encourage support from its Members, at a cost less than most newsletters. There are many creative solutions, but that's up to you. Nobody is going to get rich Managing a community Lendables. Mostly, we designed Local Lendables to be fairly effortless for the Manager (once the site is running), beyond promotion and the occasional conflict-resolution. We don't allow actual reselling of Local Lendables. It is a subscription service to a community, only slightly (but necessarily) embodied in its representative, the Manager.

What happens if the community stops paying, for one reason or another? Back to Top	If you're an active site, humming along saving money and energy and time, we'll reach out to you: we know you'll catch up on payments. If the Manager has dropped the ball or moved away and we can't contact them, then we can contact the Board Members. If the site has been made unnecessary, or fallen into functional community oblivion, then reach out to us. We'll send out a "30-day warning" APB to all Members, to see if anyone wants to step in and resurrect the Lendables. If it's time, we'll pull the plug on that Local Lendables. We are a small business, and can figure out how to work with our neighbourhood customers!