I'm not sure if this has been brought up before, but I just discovered this website (loanables.com) where you can borrow folks things or rent your seldom used things for a small fee. It seems like it has an uncommonly large number of things in Austin,TX and not so much elsewhere, but as I was in Austin at the time, I was excited. I haven't tried it myself as I've been traveling, but I thought it might interest people here. Maybe you can get it to catch on in your town?