This umbrella-sharing startup fared exactly how you'd expect
To be added to the list of things that sound like good ideas but definitely do not work: umbrella sharing.
Sharing E Umbrella, a Chinese company that modeled its umbrella-sharing concept after the country's successful bike-sharing programs, is learning that the hard way. For a 19 yuan deposit, or about $2.80, the company allows customers to use their smartphones to check out an umbrella and pay less than a nickel for each half hour of use.
But as anyone who has ever tried not to lose an umbrella might have suspected from the start, the company lost almost all of its 300,000 umbrellas in just weeks, Shanghaiist reports:
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Additionally, there are problems with running a rain-fueled business. Chief among them: What happens when it isn't raining? Moreover, Shanghaiist reasonably points out that "in regions with frequent rain, people are more likely to just buy their own umbrellas," which eats up Sharing E Umbrella's ideal user base.
Zhao doesn't plan to give up just yet, though. Shanghaiist adds he plans to release 30 million more umbrellas before the end of the year.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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