The Uberfication of everything: sharing economy is here to stay

What the Uber taxi service, arriving in London from San Francisco, says about the future of commerce

WHAT if everything you owned, but didn’t use all the time, had a value? The sharing economy – supported by mobile phone applications, ratings systems and instant, digital payments – means that it does.

You can go into business renting your ladder, a seat in your car, your off-street parking place, a desk in your garden shed to someone around the corner and the space by the radiator in the utility room to his or her dog.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Edie Lush is a journalist and communications coach. She is executive editor of Hub Culture and has been associate editor of Spectator Business, a political analyst for Hedge Fund Omega Partners and UBS, and a reporter for Bloomberg Television.