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"charged customers 19 yuan ($2.90 USD) per umbrella deposit and an additional half yuan ($0.07 USD) per 30 minutes"

So customers holding on to their umbrellas are bring charged 3.36$/day? I've paid that much to buy umbrellas in london on rainy days. How is that not an incentive to return it? Or are the umbrellas just being stollen from the rails?

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I think that's exactly the case. From the picture there seems to be a mechanical password lock on the umbrellas. I guess how it works is: You can the QR code -> pay thru app -> received password, input the password on umbrella -> unlock umbrella. But since it's mechanical lock, I assume the password doesn't change every time. Then whoever returns the umbrella knows the password and can just take it away directly. The company can't prove they steal it.

This is exactly what happened to a lot of ofo bikes. They then scratch off the serial number and qr code so that no one else can use it.

The $2.90 is a deposit though right? So it is returned?

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