Saturday, June 18, 2011

News Report : Consumers Renting Rather Than Buying

Interesting article from the Herald Sun - http://www.heraldsun.com.au/money/money-matters/consumer-renting-rather-than-buying/story-fn312ws8-1226062406288

The first note is that frugality is fueling rentals of appliances. I have an issue with this. Anyone that knows anything about being frugal would realise that renting, in the long run (total cost of ownership) is more expensive than buying. I think that it has more to do with credit becoming more difficult to obtain and consumers not having the disposable income that they'd like to.

As the cost of living has increased there is evidence that companies hiring/renting equipment instead of selling it are increasing their profitability. Certainly the department stores are finding trading more difficult as consumers are more and more keeping their wallets in their pockets. People are far more discerning with regards to purchasing these days.

How can a newspaper article expect to be taken seriously when it bases it's argument on a misperception? Journalists need to get the facts straight.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Some people lack the skills you have acquired. They have to pay through the nose to fix things so renting is cheaper for those folks. Take care Hammy, Gill P.S. You are fortunate to be so gifted and talented. You take it for granted. You would have to pay you a great deal for what you are able to do.

Hammy said...

Thanks for the kind words Gill. I guess I've always looked for value in purchases and hated wasting money therefore I hate to be taken in by a bad deal or see people getting ripped off.