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12 Renting to other groups

The Baker Lighting System and its various bits and pieces has off and on been rented out to other colleges and campus groups over the years. The main thing which has not always been successfully accomplished is getting the loaned materials back. The person who loaned them out forgets, or graduates, and the materials end up becoming the property (at least in their head) of whoever has them. For this reason anything that you loan out should be clearly labeled as the property of Baker College, don't assume that anyone even yourself will remember.

Should you charge for what gets loaned out? It depends, if the group you are loaning things to has things that you will want to borrow in the relatively near future or if you have borrowed from them, then probably not. It also depends on the magnitude of the borrowing. If they are borrowing a substantial chunk of the system they should pay you something. I priced what a comparable rental would cost on the commercial market, and our system would go for about $2500 per week. Obviously no one will rent it from you for that much, but you should be aware (even if they aren't) of how much money you are saving them, and why you should not feel bad for asking for some sort of compensation.



Chris Martin<chris@physics.ucsb.edu>
Last Modifed: Mon Aug 14 1995