Do you dread attending events alone? Tired of going stag to weddings or company events? Or do you want someone to accompany you to a restaurant or a movie?
RentAFriend.com has the answer to your single doldrums. Now, you can rent a friend online. However, your newly found plutonic companion will cost you some cash.
RentAFriend.com is a website that allows you to rent local friends. You can rent a local friend to hang out with, go to a movie or restaurant with, or someone to go with you to a party or event. Rent a friend to teach you a new hobby or show you around an unfamiliar town.
The website clearly states that RentAFriend.com is strictly a platonic friendship website. The site is easy to use. Simply enter the zip code of where you are looking to find a new friend and you will instantly see available friends that are located in the area. You can view their photos, read their profiles and see their interests. If you would like to contact the friend, you must register to become a member of RentAFriend.com by paying a small membership fee. Once you become a registered member, you can instantly contact all of the friends on RentaFriend.com.
RentAFriend.com reportedly receives 100,000 views every month and has nearly 2,000 members who pay $24.95 a month or $69.95 a year for a login and password so they can peruse the photos and profiles of 167,000-plus possible pals.
Started by Scott Rosenbaum in Stewartsville, N.J., a former marketer for dating websites, RentAFriend has some competition from offline services that will make platonic matches for a fee, like Rentalocalfriend.com for travelers. The difference is RentAFriend allows the renter to make a pick, negotiating the cost and making arrangements one-on-one through e-mail or phone calls.
Rosenbaum's site has people renting for lots of different reasons. Two students rented parents to meet with college officials after they were caught drinking on campus. A woman once hired a college girl to visit her mother in a nursing home three days a week after she moved away.
Rosenbaum's site rentals skew young, with most ranging from 20 to 35, though there are plenty in their 40s and 50s. Most of the hourly fees range from $10 to a rare $150 but are usually between $20 and $50. Also, almost all friends are willing to negotiate or even waive their fees (depending on the activity).
According to Ori Brafman, co-author of the new book "Click: The Magic of Instant Connections," the danger isn't RentAFriend per se, but rather what it symbolizes. Brafman said. "We purchase fleeting replacements because, as a society, we lack those close, meaningful bonds that are so essential.”
The rent a friend situation recently made its way to the big screen in the 2009 movie "I Love You Man." Groom-to-be, Peter Klaven, realizes he has no close male friends and holds a series of misguided "man-dates" to try to find someone to fulfill the best man role. While funny, the awkwardness that ensues demonstrates that renting a friend or "professional stand-in" may be the more sensible and efficient solution (not to mention far less emotionally draining).
Would you use RentAFriend?
Sources:
Associated Press, Today Show, MSNBC
MC Ortega is the former publicist for the late Walter Payton, Coca-Cola and Dunkin’ Donuts. Ortega is a senior communications and messaging executive specializing in media relations, social media, program development and crisis communications. Also, Ortega is an avid traveler and international shopper. Ortega resides with her partner, Craig, dog, Fionne and extensive shoe collection. Ortega also enjoys jewelry design/production and flamenco dancing.