Imagine a house-sized (or larger) lot in the neighborhood thats just a shed. You go in, theres a few lawnmowers, a chainsaw or two, all kinds of power tools and hand tools, hoses, a couple of printers. Whatever you might imagine in a hardware store that isn’t bought and immediately consumed, it’s in there, because some neighbor saw the need once, bought it, and stored it. One day you, say, realize you need a voltage tester, and you don’t own one, so you go to the community shed, realize one isn’t in there, buy one, use it, and then put it away in the community shed. No one else in the entire neighborhood needs to buy one, they’ll find it in the shed.
So handy, but it relies on trusting your neighbors. Trusting them to return things, but more than that, trusting them to bother to contribute, help to keep it organized, and to replace things when they break.
Makerspaces and tool libraries, my friend. They are real. Not as common as I’d like, but the more people who know the concept, the more might help put one together. Incredibly helpful
We have governments for a reason, there’s nothing stopping a local government from making a “tool library” where someone who needs a tool can go, get documentation or maybe even training, and check the tool out.
Since it would be an actual government program, we could even have a city worker staffing it.
Like, there’s actual good things we can do with the money we seize from billionaires via taxes.
However you start talking gas powered tools like chainsaws and mowers, and there’s going to need to be a maintenance budget.
There are many maintenance items on electric tools, too. Chainsaws need oil and sharpening, weed whackers need string. All tools need minimal cleaning, etc. Sure, it can be way less than an ICE tool, but it exists.
Naww I actually fully agree with the idea that it could (and should) work in an ideal world. Just that such a plan would still definitely come with some intrinsic cost/effort, even beyond keeping the shed a viable shed.
Also, people DO have access to chainsaws, so if you’re afraid of loons getting chainsaws… you might just be a bigger coward than you are smart…
We couldn’t have such a thing here because the surrounding cities round up and dump all their crackheads and methheads here, meaning nothing that isn’t nailed down can sit outdoors without being stolen within the hour. They’re a plague here and the police are completely and utterly useless.
Idk if it’s so simple. I’m a part of some community efforts along those lines and inventory management still needs done. Not to say “your dream is impossible”, quite the contrary. Recognize the radical template that the library gives us!
Community sheds.
Imagine a house-sized (or larger) lot in the neighborhood thats just a shed. You go in, theres a few lawnmowers, a chainsaw or two, all kinds of power tools and hand tools, hoses, a couple of printers. Whatever you might imagine in a hardware store that isn’t bought and immediately consumed, it’s in there, because some neighbor saw the need once, bought it, and stored it. One day you, say, realize you need a voltage tester, and you don’t own one, so you go to the community shed, realize one isn’t in there, buy one, use it, and then put it away in the community shed. No one else in the entire neighborhood needs to buy one, they’ll find it in the shed.
So handy, but it relies on trusting your neighbors. Trusting them to return things, but more than that, trusting them to bother to contribute, help to keep it organized, and to replace things when they break.
Makerspaces and tool libraries, my friend. They are real. Not as common as I’d like, but the more people who know the concept, the more might help put one together. Incredibly helpful
Some places have tool libraries which work the same way.
Tool libraries are a thing, lots are setup by the community hall.
I mean…
We have governments for a reason, there’s nothing stopping a local government from making a “tool library” where someone who needs a tool can go, get documentation or maybe even training, and check the tool out.
Since it would be an actual government program, we could even have a city worker staffing it.
Like, there’s actual good things we can do with the money we seize from billionaires via taxes.
However you start talking gas powered tools like chainsaws and mowers, and there’s going to need to be a maintenance budget.
There are many maintenance items on electric tools, too. Chainsaws need oil and sharpening, weed whackers need string. All tools need minimal cleaning, etc. Sure, it can be way less than an ICE tool, but it exists.
There’s a lot more issues with an unsupervised and unlocked shed of chainsaws…
I stated the most obvious one, you pointed out a less obvious one exists.
We could keep going forever, listing out every single issue and why this is a bad idea…
But no one will read them, so it’s best to state one clear reason that everyone can understand
Naww I actually fully agree with the idea that it could (and should) work in an ideal world. Just that such a plan would still definitely come with some intrinsic cost/effort, even beyond keeping the shed a viable shed.
Also, people DO have access to chainsaws, so if you’re afraid of loons getting chainsaws… you might just be a bigger coward than you are smart…
Not really sure what you’re talking about honest, but you don’t seem like you’d be receptive to anymore help
We couldn’t have such a thing here because the surrounding cities round up and dump all their crackheads and methheads here, meaning nothing that isn’t nailed down can sit outdoors without being stolen within the hour. They’re a plague here and the police are completely and utterly useless.
my city has bike repair stations that are like this.
after a few months, all the tools are stolen or destroyed. now there are a ton of shitty bike repair stations around the city that are all broken.
What we need is to replace the tools, fix up the stations, add a friendly sign that it’s a community space, and station a sniper on a nearby rooftop.
Communist! Terrorist! Anti capitalist!
This is my garage more or less. I call it Steve’s communist hardware store.
Idk if it’s so simple. I’m a part of some community efforts along those lines and inventory management still needs done. Not to say “your dream is impossible”, quite the contrary. Recognize the radical template that the library gives us!
I would want a community printer!
Lots of makerspaces have 3-d printers! and regular printers too
Your local library doesn’t have one?
Only the central one, a good 20 minutes away.