Phone charging station: two counter builds.
A 5 slot plug-in unit for a cafe or a studio, and a 6 slot unit that starts a rental with a card instead of an app. The smallest formats in the range, and the ones most often skipped.
Builds in this family (2)
The two counter builds
Same pack, same back office, different way to start a rental.
Five or six, side by side
The constraint at this size is not power or network. It is the 40 centimetres of counter and the person behind it.
| Build | Slots | Starts a rental | Site it suits | Main risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 slot plug-in | 5 | QR code or app | Cafe, studio, small bar | A guest with no data cannot start |
| 6 slot card | 6 | Card terminal | Hotel desk, tourist bar, clinic | Card fees and settlement currency |
Ask which start method the unit is configured for before the order. Retrofitting a terminal onto a plug-in unit is a second shipment, not a setting.
Card or app decides your guest list
An app based station is cheaper to run and gives you the guest history. It also excludes everyone who will not install an app for a 40 minute charge: tourists, older guests, and anyone on a foreign SIM without data.
A card unit costs more per transaction and settles in the currency of the acquirer. In a hotel lobby or a tourist bar that trade is worth it. In an office canteen it usually is not.
- Start method
- QR code, app or card terminal
- Footprint
- Counter top, about one till
- Staff assist
- At this size the counter does most of the work
- Settlement
- Through the acquirer attached to the terminal
Where a counter unit earns its keep
Size is not the limitation at this end of the range. Turnover is.
- A room with a wait: a queue, a waiting room or a table turn longer than 40 minutes.
- Staff who will hand it over: one named person per shift, or the unit sits full and unrented.
- A visible counter: if the guest cannot see it from the door, the staff have to sell it.
- A socket you control: not a shared one behind the coffee machine.
A counter unit is the cheapest way to test a second site. Order one, run it for a month, and the returns decide whether the site gets an 8 slot station.
Before the order
Three things a counter unit cannot be changed into later.
- Start method: QR, app and card are different cartons and different firmware.
- Plug type: the destination market decides the adapter.
- Colour and marking: agreed at production, and it dates the delivery.
- Slots
- 5 or 6
- Pack
- 6000 mAh
- Form
- Counter top
- Ask for
- Start method, terminal certification, spare bay parts
Send the site, get a written configuration.
Venue type, busiest hour and destination market is enough. The reply is a build, a slot count and the specification sheet for each line item.