I would assume it'd be pretty easy to have a system to count pieces and replenish lost ones. Actually, I'd be surprised if the German scheme doesn't already work like that. I don't see why it couldn't work.

> that sounds awesome. sad that something like that probably would not work well in USA. don't have the culture for it. too many pieces would get lost.

I think the idea of "Netflix for LEGOs" started where one might expect X but for Y services to start - California.

We used one of these services in the USA somewhere nearing 10 years ago. Looks like they're still around at https://netbricks.biz/ - but I also see https://brick-library.com/ and https://brickdrop.co and wouldn't be surprised if there's more. It worked great. I detected zero incompatibility with my being from the USA. I didn't eat or carelessly throw away a single brick.

From a search it look like Pleygo was the first such startup from 2012 and based in San Jose / Santa Clara, but is no longer around.

This can only work in Japan and Germany, I imagine. Maybe in Korea/China/Singapore with severe financial penalties and deposits.