As we start a brand new year, one can only hope we've seen the worst of the recession.  Although predictions for the economy are optimistic, the aftermath of last year's layoffs have sent much of the workforce back to school.  Classrooms are crowded and budgets are tighter than ever.  Today's student needs to learn on a dime.  On top of the cost of tuition, supplies, transportation, room and board, textbooks are one of the overlooked expenses students are forced to burden in order to get a quality education.  Students spend an average of $900 per year on textbooks which is 20% of tuition costs at an average university.  There's even an entire campaign dedicated to making textbooks more affordable.  For years, buying and selling used books was an option, but now there's another solution.

Once again, renting comes to the rescue!  Over the past couple years, several startups have emerged to alleviate student wallets by applying the successful Netflix model to textbooks.  A recent USA Today article featured Santa Clara-based Chegg.com, a leader in the growing space of college textbook rentals. Although they are yet to turn a profit, Chegg has raised $25M in venture funding and already has hundreds of thousands of customers on more than 4,000 campuses.  Through the simple idea of renting textbooks, Chegg saves its customers 50 - 70% the cost of buying books new.  That's a lot of money to a cash-strapped college student!

But Chegg isn't the only one.  Similar startups like eCampus.com, BookRenter.com, CollegeBookRenter.com and CampusBookRentals.com attempt to solve the same problem.  Even traditional university bookstores are jumping on the bandwagon to capture a piece of the pie and give progressive students what they're now asking for.  My wife, a PhD student at UC-Berkeley tells me the local bookstore, Ned's Books (which has multiple locations across the country) is now promoting textbook rentals on their homepage and in their store.  I have a feeling this isn't a fad.

It's often the simplest ideas that have the biggest impact.  Rent things, save money.  There's your economics lesson for the week.

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Regardless of how you celebrate the season, one can't help but notice the Christmas spirit in full swing.  Festive decorations, familiar carols, classic specials making their once-a-year TV appearances.  You may have noticed some less traditional signs of the times surfacing as well.  In past years, the season of red and green has been getting a lot greener.  Today's eco-freindly consumer is finding new ways to bring joy to our world.  From LED Christmas lights to buying local to re-gifting, green options abound!  Some of the most popular eco trends to surface revolve around the holiday's centerpiece -- the Christmas tree.  It's estimated that 32M Christmas trees are sold in America each year.  The sheer environmental loss inherent in this statistic is staggering, not to mention the greenhouse gas and landfill implications.  To combat this overwhelming reality, there's now a new option for Christmas tree lovers -- renting.

Several companies have been popping up around the world offering programs for renting (or adopting) living Christmas trees.  The idea is simple.  For under $100, you can have a potted evergreen delivered to your home where you can decorate and enjoy for three weeks time, after which it is picked back up and replanted, donated or cared for until next December.  Ingenious!  The cost is a bit more than what you'd pay to buy, but you can feel better knowing you did a good deed.  Plus, drop-off and pick-up are included -- in a bio-diesel truck, no less!

Below are a few Christmas tree rental companies available by city.  Feel free to add to this list:

• Portland, OR: The Original Living Christmas Tree Company
• San Francisco, CA: Friends of the Urban Forest
• Los Angeles, CA: The Living Christmas Company
• San Diego, CA: Adopt a Christmas Tree

Unfortunately, I didn't know this option existed until yesterday.  But I know exactly what's on my list next year!  For more green holiday tips, check out the Vancouver Sun article, 12 Ways to a Green Christmas or the popular book, Green Christmas: How to Have a Joyous, Eco-Friendly Holiday Season.

Happy Holidays!

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As the founder of a new rental startup, I've always been a fan of the Netflix model.  I loved watching this company shake things up after years of complacency in the movie rental industry.  I enjoyed the David and Goliath style competition that developed between nimble Netflix and monstrous Blockbuster.  And I continue to be impressed by the innovations Netflix continues to push out.  Maybe it has something to do with their unique corporate culture -- if you wanna peek, check out this fantastic Netflix culture presentation.  Clearly, I'm an admirer.  Which is why I was pleased to see a new startup applying this same simple model -- mail-order renting -- to another sector.

A new website, Rent the Runway (RTR) mixes Netflix with high fashion.  Check out this great feature from last week's New York Times.  Geared toward trend-conscious women on a budget, RTR offers dresses from A-list designers at a fraction of the cost.  Rather than blowing an entire paycheck for one night out on the town, RTR provides options for single-use stylings that don't break the bank.  Rentals run between $50 and $200 for four days of use.  The concept is simple: find a dress you love, schedule delivery, wear it, drop it back in the mail.  They even take care of the dry cleaning for you!  The founders, who just finished the testing phase on Monday, were particularly smart with the roll-out of their product -- making it invitation-only, creating a sense of exclusivity and attracting 20,000 women to the wait-list.  Very clever and perfect for the gotta-have-it mentality of the fashion world.  I didn't expect any less from two HBS grads.

Like any startup, RTR has its share of challenges -- quickly changing styles, divergent tastes, covering costs for each dress, delivery fiascoes, sizing and fitting issues -- but I believe they've got something here.  Reminds me of a couple other luxury rental companies I'm also a fan of, Avelle (formerly BagBorroworSteal) and BorrowedBling.  The economics of renting make so much sense, and I think companies like these are opening up opportunities for the everyday person to enjoy the finer things in life.  Kudos.

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