Core77
Well-to-do parents generally want the best for their children that money can buy. This can be problematic, from a waste perspective, when that object will shortly be made obsolete as the child outgrows it.
"On average, children need a stroller for the age of two to four years," writes Swiss company Loopi. "As your baby grows into a toddler, their needs change, which is why a single stroller is usually not enough. For this reason, 25% of all Swiss families buy more than three strollers. This not only hurts the wallet, but also our environment."
What Loopi offers is strollers-as-a-service. Parents subscribe to the service to receive, delivered to their door, a stroller that's "carefully tested, lovingly maintained and sparkling clean." Service and repairs are included, and there is no extra charge if you return the stroller in rough shape; in fact they anticipate it. "The strollers should be used. There will be scratches, dents and dents. No problem! We'll fix it and your stroller will look like new," the company writes.
The company offers high-end strollers from Bugaboo, and figures parents will save overall by subscribing rather than outright buying. Loopi counts on their maintenance to keep the strollers in good shape so that they can be kept in circulation longer, enabling them to see a profit.
There are now tons of companies trying to get you to subscribe to all sorts of nonsense (monthly surprise gift boxes, "Leggings of the Month," random candy, etc.) but Loopi's application actually seems sensical.
I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.
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Loopi: Increasing the Longevity of Strollers by Offering Subscriptions
I agree that the relative low use a stroller gets is a big problem, but the subscription service is obnoxious to me. Personally I hate all the subscriptions. Great revenue stream for the company but continuous payments and the worry of exceeding wear and tear are anxiety producing.
My idea to solve this problem was to make a kit of parts that can be reconfigured, with added or subtracted components so the stroller's parts can be used to make more products for the growing human or other family members. I imagine starting with the stroller, evolving to a wagon ( wagons, by the way, can do a lot and should never be underestimated) or a bike trailer, a rickshaw like contraption then to a grnddma cart, a hand truck and even more. My concept definitely adds more material in the world but parts can be recyclable and making more products keeps designers designing and the supply chain employed. Also less barf covered stroller parts that will need to be replaced anyway.