Tool Lending Libraries: A Product Service System Success Story!
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA 
on 12.29.08
Photo credit: geishaboy500 @ Flickr
Here's a nice story, in the spirit of Christmas and the goodwill of man. TechShop, in Menlo Park, Calif., is "a 15,000 square-foot membership-based workshop that provides members with access to tools and equipment, instruction, and a creative and supportive community" -- many readers will recognize that as a product service system, or PSS, where you purchase the service of a product, rather than the product itself (learn what makes a good PSS if you haven't heard of them before. Anyway, when TechShop first started, there was a concern that some of the tools available for use would follow their users home. The reality, as it turns out, is that the exact opposite is true.
A portion of TechShop's large floorplan
Workshop members started bringing their own tools in, from home, and leaving them there for others to use; TechShop now has more tools than they started with. Jim Newton, TechShop's co-founder, confirmed that the tools are multiplying:
It is absolutely true. People have a real sense of community with TechShop, and bringing in tools from home is one of the ways that it is manifested. Makers are generally much more socially-responsible than outside folk. I think that's largely what drives the way people care for and contribute to TechShop.
So, not only does this PSS work, it might just be working too well. The product service system is a great concept that we really hope will continue to catch on, so it's great to see that it's such a functional idea. Learn more about tool lending (and where to find a library near you) and learn how to start one in your community from Mother Earth News; just don't forget to ride public transportation on your way there. TechShop via MAKE
Read more about product service systems
What Makes a Good Product Service System?
TreeHugger Picks: Why Buy When You Can Rent?
TreeHugger Picks: Product Service Systems (Part II)
Clothing Libraries: Another Product Service System
Tool Libraries: The Sharpest Tack in the Shed
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GREAT idea!
Several years ago, I did a quick life cycle analysis of a power drill, lent out through a tool library. 95% of the impact of the drill was eliminated, and that was fairly conservative.
...only if everyone knows how to use them. You can easily ruin an expensive saw or chisel, and who sharpens it afterward? That being said, including proper use instruction with the loan can foster stronger bonds in the crafty community.
So, it's like a school where students pay tuition for full control of the books and classrooms?
If only our nation's colleges could be so democratic.
That's a neat idea. I wish there were something like near me. I don't have a garage or workspace to store any real tools, but I still get the itch to build projects every so often. Something like this would be the ideal resource for apartment dwellers that get the building itch.
Actually, many of America's universities are more like suburbia than a tool lending library. They exclude by race and income and educate everyone to perpetuate that same unsustainability.(At least Treehugger is like democracy, allowing even wingbat opinions.)
Could have used a batter picture as anything small like that your probably better off buying. Small stuff like a hammer you would waste too much time and fuel going to the rental palce to get. Somehting larger like a cement mixer makes more sense.
We have a place like this in my area of Stow, Ohio. They give classes on the machines and you have to pass a safety test to use each machine so you don't ruin it. It is a great place to go if you have a project that requires a lot of tools you don't own. I have my own table saw, miter saw, band saw, scroll saw but I don't have a lathe, so I have been tempted to go to this place to use their professional equipment for a project.