The topic of ownership vs. renting has come up again and again in our private discussions at the Major Spoilers HQ. Is it better to rent the large appliance or own it outright? Lease the car or buy it when the value drops once you drive off the lot? Digital rental subscription service or owning the physical copy of a comic book? The list goes on and on, and in some cases arguments can be made that one is better than the other, which brings us to the Major Spoilers Poll of the Week that spun off from an email from Matthew G.
Robot Overlord
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11 Comments
Hey, my poll!
When it comes to comic books, I definitely want to rent it (or, have a subscription service to check out / check back in). I’m not for keeping things that I enjoy once or twice (*looks longingly at his old DVD collection*), and then have to store. Now, I understand that buying digital copies of things is now something I can do but when it comes to comics I just don’t get into re-reading many series. And those that I do, I would definitely purchase. But – on a weekly or monthly basis? That’s a lot of money to fork out to keep up with a number of various series.
And looking at it – I could “rent” Marvel comics using the Marvel Unlimited program, but that’s just Marvel titles.
I like to write notes in my comic books, so I voted BUY!!!!
You… You like to… whut…
I need to go lie down…
It really depends. In my experience, buying is usually cheaper in the long run. There are of course exceptions, but for the most part, while it might be cheaper in the short term to rent or rent-to-own something, in the long run it is usually costing you more than outright buying the same thing. There are a lot of factors to consider, but this usually seems to be true the majority of the time in my experience.
Of course, as I said, this is just in my experience. For someone else, a similar thing may actually be cheaper to rent depending on various factors.
Well it really does depend. I mean I would say but your car, but just rent the Bouncy castle for example. (although those really are fun……)
Oops, buy your car
This answer depends on what the item in question is. With a car, renting (leasing in this case) is not an option for me. I drive so many miles that a lease is not viable for me as I would go over my miles. I prefer to by pre-owned cars as opposed to new ones and I think you get better value that way. However, with appliances, renting is a very bad idea except for situations where you will only need the appliance for a limited amount of time. Books in general I prefer to buy as I like to annotate them. If I rent or borrow something if I enjoy it I always buy it because I feel like I need to support that endeavor. In general, I always prefer to own the things that I am passionate amount and rent/borrow/check out media that I am experimenting with.
I look at this from an accounting perspective, so items you should buy car, appliances, etc. Because of tax incentives, and the like. But you can rent a movie you haven’t seen, but with the risk of renting from Amazon, you may love the movie, and be forced to double dip to own it.
I’m not a big fan of digital only, I’m paranoid, and I like to have a physical copy of comics, movies I love, etc.
So I went to buy.
Glad I’m not the only one who isn’t too fond of digital only. I’m not really against it or anything, I just personally prefer physical copies of most things (books, movies, etc). Games are a bit of a grey area thanks to things like Virtual Console on Wii, but if/when I get a 3ds, I know I’ll want to own physical copies of the games rather than downloading them to the SD card.
I usually prefer to buy, I prefer psychical copies of comics and movies. I do have a Netflix subscription, but if I really like a movie, I go out and buy it after watching it.
I don’t plan on ever owning a house. They are pretty expensive here in Denmark, and we have great laws when it comes to renting an apartment. If I pay my rent and isn’t a noisy douchebag, it’s almost impossible to throw me out.
I have no plans for a car either, I don’t even have a driver’s license (and I’m 40), because public transport is pretty great here too.