Listen Now: Rent an Umbrella

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You can rent a car, a hotel room, a bicycle, and now an umbrella. I’m Brian Banmiller on Business.

Rentbrella is an app first launched in 2018 in Brazil. Now it’s setting up kiosks all over New York City, each stocked with 100 umbrellas. According to the New York Post it allows people to scan a code, unlock an umbrella and return it at a different kiosk near their destination. The idea is to help people who left home without their umbrella, or visitors who get caught in a surprise downpour. Plus, it helps you avoid being upcharged by bodegas or stands on the street that will charge $10 to $15 for an umbrella once the rain begins. The first 24 hours of the rental is free and on the second day you get charged $2. Then another $2 on the third day. If you still haven’t returned the umbrella after four days, you are charged $16 and you get to keep it. The company currently has 35 kiosks around the city and wants to hit 100 over the next year. Brian Banmiller, CBS News.

About Brian

CBS News Radio national business journalist Brian Banmiller has spent more than 40 years in the news industry, covering business, politics and the economy on television, radio and in print. Currently, his “Banmiller on Business” reports are delivered to an audience of millions nationwide.