I was in Michael's today doing some Christmas shopping for myself when a lady who is friends with my mom came along and started to go through my shopping cart. I thought it was kind of odd, but she told me that she and another lady had just opened up a bakery in the town I work in, and that she would rent me some of her pans cheaper than I could buy them at Michael's.

I found that really odd. Do most bakeries and small business rent out their pots and pans? I don't have my own business (I only just started to try out cake decorating!), and I have never heard of any such thing. Am I just still a newbie or is this completely out of the ordinary?

There is a store near me that also rents out there pans


I'd rather buy them cause I could just keep them forever for a few bucks more!!

that is odd. I have a shop and would never rent out my pans. They cost a lot of money and can dented or destroyed with little effort. Plus I need them and can't be bothered chasing someone down to get them back.

They had a lot of things on sale, and I ended up buying a star shaped pan and a checkerboard pan set. So it was those two she was looking at, and not round or square pans.

The thought of renting out pans just sounded really odd to me. It doesn't sound like it would be very profitable, either.

I don't mean any disrespect to anybody, by the way. I'm just new to this and have never heard of anybody renting out their own pans to people!

I've heard of it, but I would never rent mine out. What a pain to keep up with!

Side note: I would not have dealt well with someone going through my cart like that. I have issues with people invading my personal space and that lady would not have liked what I had to say to her about it.

There is a cake decorating store in my area that rents out pans. They mostly do the retired Wilton pans so if you need something that's not available to purchase anymore, that might be a good way to go.

This was really a tacky way of your Mother's friend to to try and drum up business by going through your cart. Her behavior was very inappropriate kind of makes me wonder what she does to attract business in other ways.

I could see renting out shaped pans that aren't used too often (star-shaped, heart-shaped, etc.) but for traditional round pans it just doesn't make sense.

It's quite common in Australia, I would say mostly the Wilton pans and other novelty pans. They are quite expensive for us to buy here, and if you only want to use it once ................ Most places charge a deposit (ranging between the value of the pan and about 3x that) up front and a flat fee per 3 days. I do know of some places that hire out squares and rounds, but even they advise that it's usually cheaper to buy them.

I've had a couple of students ask to borrow things I have. I did it a couple of times, but I realised quickly that it wasn't worth the hassle to get it back in a timely fashion. Plus if you rent/loan something out, then what happens when you get an order and need it?

I've also had students loan each other stuff, and for one of them it took about 3 months for her to get a pan back. And it was a pan that goes for big bucks on ebay, not easily or cheaply replaced.

That's true, but if the pans are rented out to a commercial baker without the packaging or any other indication that commercial use is prohibited, the store is putting itself at risk for contributory liability for any infringing acts that may occur.

With the right coupon, and as long as you are going to buy pans you know you will re-use (round, square, etc), as opposed to buying character pans that you will only use once, it makes no sense to rent someone else's pans.

Theresa

Michaels and the trusty coupon make everything affordable enough that I want to purchase my own. For MY own personal use, only. And it was a bit rude for her to sift through your cart...Lol.

i do rent out my stands and shaped cake pans but have also rented out standard pans. I had one lady want to rent them for her grandsons wedding cake, gave her the price and the deposit, then she goes on to tell me that she also needs to rent a cooling rack, spatulas, turntable, tips bags, plates and pillars and such. I asked her if she had ever decorated a cake before and she says no but she's put icing on her carrot cake and thats what her son wanted. Told her i didn't rent that stuff out. Amazing what some people will do.

I guess I am just used to people going through my cart. I work in retail, and I'm used to everybody looking in my cart to see what I bought and/or while I am checking out.

I am sure my grandmother has all kinds of older Wilton cake pans in her house. She used to bake cakes, and I kick myself every day when I wake up that I didn't take her up on her offer to teach me when I was younger. She has Parkinson's disease and can barely walk across a room by herself.

I actually had never met this lady, but she seemed nice enough. She asked me if she had seen me before (I've been told I look a lot like my mom). They did have a LOT of cake making/decorating supplies on clearance at Michael's yesterday. Just a heads up in case anybody is out shopping this weekend.

Here in New Zealand its common too. Big pans and character pans are expensive to buy and not often used by a home baker so they are rented out. Quite good if just once you need a winnie the pooh or something for your childs birthday. Obviously they are rented out as any other pan to a home baker and they can decorate it to look like the character or not - its just a shaped pan.

"piping all those annoying stars takes a lot longer than they thought."

Carpal Tunnel Stars!

I actually rent 5-10 pans a week out of my supply shop. Lots of hobby bakers may have a child into tractors this year and on to something else next year. Instead of having pans pile up in the cabinets that will never get used again, they will rent one. I only charge $5 for the rental fee and add a damage deposit depending on the pan. You may not think this is cost effective, but I rarely sell cakes from these pans, so once they have been rented a few times and are paid for, this is just extra income I don't have to turn an oven on for. Also I have many older pans that may be very expensive to buy on eBay, so lots of people appreciate that. Just what has worked for me!
Lori

I would TOTALLY rent out my pans I don't use often. As long as I have a deposit to cover the cost to replace them. I have over 100 Wilton character pans, and I bought 4 sets of the Fat daddio's pans, and the Wilton rounds and squares aren't compatible with them. It is a nightmare to try to evenly ice stacked cakes that are not the same size.

My local cake store rents out all her pans, its £20 pound deposit, with a fee for 3 days worth of use . . I have 5 pans, 3 rounds and two squares, any other shapes i hire from her, i cant afford to pay out on big fancy tins that i might only use once in a blue moon , But she makes a good profit from it