One kiosk, one student union, 400+ rentals in the first term.
The challenge
The student union building on a major Canadian campus is open from early morning to late night and is where students eat, study, meet, and wait between classes. Phones charged at 7am were dying by mid-afternoon, and the handful of outlets by the walls had become permanent camping spots. The union wanted a charging option that students could take to a lecture or the library rather than a locker bolted to a wall, and it did not want a line item in the student-fee budget to run it.
The Panda solution
Panda installed a single multi-slot kiosk at the building's main concourse on the Revenue-share model: zero cost to the union, students pay a small per-use fee with a free first window, and the union earns a share. Students scan, take a powerbank to class, and return it at the kiosk on the way out. The union's own announcements run on the display.
The results
- 400+ rentals from a single kiosk between a late-June launch and mid-October — most of it in the first six weeks of term.
- 280+ unique students used the kiosk in its first 16 weeks, with usage tripling between the first and third months as word spread.
- 190+ rentals in September alone, the first full month of classes, from one station.
- Rentals peak between 1pm and 6pm, exactly when a morning charge runs out. Students keep the powerbank for a median of about an hour and return it on the way to the next class.
- Zero cost to the student union. No capital outlay, no fee-budget line, and a monthly revenue share paid out automatically.
- The union's screen, not an ad network. Elections, events, and services run on the display students walk up to on purpose.
“"We expected a trickle and got a queue in September. The thing students like is that it is not a locker: they take the charger to class and bring it back. For us it was a no-cost add that pays a little back every month."”
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