A Dozen Stickers on a Mailbox

Abstract

Many non-profit peer-to-peer exchange arrangements and profit-driven, multi-sided online marketplaces leverage underutilized resources, such as tools, to optimize their use to capacity. They often rely on a digital platform in pursuit of their social aspirations and/or economic objectives. We report on a field study of a local sharing community that employs a set of stickers illustrating different household items, typically placed on community members' mailboxes, along with complementary digital tools. The stickers are used to communicate the availability of resources among neighbors to facilitate social encounters and to encourage sustainable use and re-use of shared resources. Through in-depth qualitative interviews with sixteen participants, we describe the opportunities and limitations of this approach to peer-to-peer exchange. We offer insights for designers of resource sharing communities into facilitating face-to-face encounters and the online interactions needed to support them.