So am I. Not to say we all aren’t in some fashion or another. Somehow this evening (I’m still trying to retrace my steps) I ended up at Trendwatching.com reading an in depth analysis on a segment of consumers labeled as TRANSUMERS. That would be the Transient-Consumer. Transient can be understood in several ways according to this treatment. Transient in terms of ownership, such as “Been there, owned that, sold it on Ebay for 60% of what I paid” or transient in terms of location/situation.
I find myself primarily in the transient in terms of location group. While I do like the idea of renting an experience such as the 2006 Lotus Elise I almost picked up for the weekend in Omaha from Dollar rent-a-car of all places (had to pass, no room for luggage.) I would say that the description of a Transumer fits me fairly well.
TRANSUMERS are consumers driven by experiences instead of the ‘fixed’, by entertainment, by discovery, by fighting boredom, who increasingly live a transient lifestyle, freeing themselves from the hassles of permanent ownership and possessions. The fixed is replaced by an obsession with the current, an ever-shorter satisfaction span, and a lust to collect as many experiences and stories as possible. In other words; the past is, well, over, and the future is uncertain, so all that remains is the present, living for the ‘now’*.
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As I read this I considered that I haven’t slept in the same bed for more than 2 weeks in better than a year. I have no personal space at my office. I carry with me at all times a vast array of my own personal ‘culture’ of digital music/movies/photos/books and the like. I can work anywhere with an Internet connection and a power plug and be as effective if not more effective than if I had to work on location and in person.
This is normal for me. This is fun for me. In fact, I have carefully created this existence.
The whole article is worth a read. If for no other reason that to have your eyes opened as mine were to the variety of rental services that have popped up. We’ll just have to wait and see if this trend has roots or it is as transient as the consumer group it hopes to target.
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(Oh, and just wait for TRANSUMERS to be amongst the first to accept if not desire virtual goods. After all, the more time they spend online, the less need they have for expensive, fixed, hardly ever used physical goods. But we’re getting carried away here…)