Lending library?

[SteveColes]

A couple of days ago, in the chat room, the idea of a "lending library" ( my words, not theirs) of woodworking DVDs Tapes, etc. was proposed. We are not talking about uploading videos and then downloading them, That could be illegal. I am talking about mailing the media from one person to another. There are several simple ways of semi-automatically creating a list of available materials and an ordered queue of who get's it next.

The real question is, who and how is shipping paid for. Common sense says the receiver should pay for the shipping. But how does the receiver get the money to the shipper? Believe me you don't want to do this COD.

Depending on how the owner wants their media packaged, the costs could be anywhere from $0.75 to several dollars.

Anyway anyone have any suggestions, insights, or just comments.

 

[Phillip]

Steve, sounds like a good idea. does anybody know if there are standard usps boxes for dvds, i know there are for vhs tapes. would shipping everything media mail be acceptable, its the cheapest (and slowest) method, to keep costs down. i look forward to hearing more thoughts on this.

phillip

 

[DaveO]

Media mail is the way to go and it's got a huge range of package sizes/weights within one cost bracket. About the only way I can think that the postage would work is on an honor system. You pay to ship it and then the recipient sends you the postage back? Dave

 

[gator]

Other than the owner/original shipper, whoever receives the items will have to ship it on to someone else. Sooo, for other than the owner, the receiver pays postage eventually anyway. Would anyone here who is the first shipper quibble over a buck or so for shipping the first time? Unless they had 100 items that everybody else wanted to borrow!!


George

 

[DaveO]

George, I thought about that idea also, but didn't mention it due to the original shipper having to pay the shipping. I think it is a great idea, and seeing as I have nothing anyone would want, I am all for it.:lol: Dave

 

[Ken Couch]

Steve
You can do this with Paypal, if you don't mind signing up for it. My wife says that it doesn't have to cost you anything as long as you stay away from credit cards and even then you could just price that in.
Ken

 

[SteveColes]

Would anyone here who is the first shipper quibble over a buck or so for shipping the first time? Unless they had 100 items that everybody else wanted to borrow!!
George

There's the rub. The people who had items had many.

There is also another factor. The person who owns the media is also the first sender. So we would be asking that person to risk their copy of something plus pay for the privlage of doing so.8-O

Please understand that I am not speaking for myself, but more as a devil's advocate. A lot of people might think this but wouldn't post it.

 

[SteveColes]

Steve
You can do this with Paypal, if you don't mind signing up for it. My wife says that it doesn't have to cost you anything as long as you stay away from credit cards and even then you could just price that in.
Ken

Ken I don't know if you mean each person pays a sender through their own PayPal accounts or you meant for this site to have a paypal account, which evberyone could use.

 

[Phillip]

steve, it sure seems a little tricky to set up a library. if all the different media were in a central location it would be easier i think. what about a page that lists interested members and what they have to offer? then the members could work it out through pm or email (or over the phone, etc.). paypal is a good idea but it seems that it could put you, as the administrator of this site, in a difficult position should any disputes arise.

phillip

 

[Ken Couch]

Steve
I was thinking of it as a central library. Then the librarian could be paid in advance that way and send things out at the user's expense.
If it was as Phillip suggests it would be just person to person and would of course be between them.
In any case it is a terrific idea and I can't wait to see what develops.
Ken

 

[gator]

I have some books (no fancy stuff like DVDs) that if anyone were interested I would be glad to loan. But, I don't think I would like to devoid my bookshelf to put them in some central location so I couldn't refer to them without ordering it back.


George

 

[SteveColes]

I just added a poll about paypal. This is to help me decide how to deal with shipping. Please vote

 

[SteveColes]

Re: Lending library? Poll Change

In the PayPal poll, for those marked, I don't have a PayPal account, please vote again. I changed that into 2 options.


Thanks