RantCrush Top 5: July 11, 2017

The sharing economy works really well for some things, but not as well for others, as a Chinese startup recently learned. E Umbrella is an umbrella-sharing company. Customers download an app and pay for an umbrella rental. Users then receive a code to unlock an umbrella from a stand. Stands are scattered around some Chinese cities, mainly close to train or bus stations. But the company forgot a tiny detail–it didn’t provide enough details on how or where customers could return the umbrellas. Only three months after launching, E Umbrella lost almost all of its 300,000 umbrellas. “Umbrellas are different from bicycles,” said founder Zhao Shuping. “Bikes can be parked anywhere, but with an umbrella you need railings or a fence to hang it on.”

“guys I’ve got the best idea. It’s like Airbnb, but for umbrellas.” Mind. Blown. https://t.co/duqYiTLFGh

— Nabil Naghdy (@naghdy) July 10, 2017

A customer pays about $2.90 per umbrella and then an additional $0.07 every half hour. But the umbrellas cost $8.82 for the company to replace. However, Zhao hasn’t lost hope. The company will reportedly invest in 30 million more umbrellas to be placed across the country by the end of the year.

The most shocking thing about this story is that there are apparently 14 umbrella-sharing startups. WHAT?! #entrepreneurship https://t.co/0zx6saItkG

— Jenni Dinger (@jendinger) July 10, 2017

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.