Rejecting the Ownership Society

In America, we have a strong ownership society.  Everything is geared towards owning, from mortgage interest deductions to loose borrowing standards.  Renters get no tax breaks for renting, but people who are already financially fit enough to buy a home get to deduct their interest.  Is ownership really that beneficial?

I stood amongst the mob at REI today, looking for a new tent.  My old half-dome is too small for my new married life.  I was prepared to spend about $400 for a nice, 6 person tent, which could accomodate me, my wife, and any future members of the family.  Only a few tents were set up, so it was difficult to really tell which one I would like.  The REI assistant mentioned to me that they rent tents - I could just rent one and try it out.  A three day rental would cost me $35.

Happy to forestall a purchasing decision and a large cash outflow, I decided to rent.  As I was filling out the paperwork, I thought about the break even point for purchasing.  At $35 dollars per camping trip, it would take 11.5 camping trips until renting the tent was more expensive than owning.  Assuming 3 camping trips a year, that would be nearly 4 years worth of camping where it is cheaper to rent the tent than to buy.  That is also assuming no repair costs on the purchased tent.

There is also the opportunity cost of having that $400 dollars tied up in a tent, when it could go somewhere else needed.  Then there is the flexibility issue.  If for some reason I were to come upon hard times and needed to cut back, I could always not camp and save the rental cost.  If I owned the tent, leaving it in my garage will not save me anything.  (I could sell it for a depreciated value though.)

Then there is the efficiency issue.  If I average 3 camping trips a year, 3 days each, the tent is in storage for 356 days a year, not being used.  If I rent a tent from REI, it is being used while I am not camping.  Assuming a 70% utilization rate, that's 255 days a year it is being used.  If each person that had rented the tent instead purchased one, they would need 85 tents total to replace one tent that was being rented and shared.

85 tents versus one shared tent.  That's a total of $34,000 spent if everyone purchased a tent, and just $2,975 if everyone rented.   Then there is the raw materials and labor that could be put to another use.  And that is just tents.  Think of all the other often purchased but rarely used items.  Tents, boats, heavy duty trucks, power tools, yard equipment such as rototillers and chain saws are usually just rusting somewhere.  How much of our national GDP and net worth is tied up in the garages of America, not being used?

I am in no way advocating socialism here.  :-)  I'm just talking from an efficiency standpoint.  Why are we so obsessed with owning things we don't use on a daily basis?  It seems a bit wasteful, and can act like a large financial anchor.