A deposit of S$9.90 (US$7) is required for each rental

Umbrella

Singapore-based lifestyle platform Nestia has announced today the debut of its umbrella-sharing service called Nestia Shared Umbrellas.

Users can rent the umbrellas by scanning a QR code at Nestia’s umbrella stands, allowing them to unlock an umbrella.

For first-time users, the service is free of charge for the first 24 hours. Subsequently, they are required to make a deposit of S$9.90 (US$7) for each rental and Nestia will deduct S$0.90 (US$0.50) for every 24 hours.

Once the umbrella is returned to the stand, the rest of the deposit will be returned to the user.

At launch, Nestia’s umbrella stands will be located at the following 12 locations:

  1. Hotel G
  2. Harbour Ville Hotel
  3. Populous Hotel
  4. Westgate Shopping Mall
  5. Alexandra Point
  6. Spice World Hot Pot
  7. Lanzarote Cafe
  8. Alexandra Technopark Tower A
  9. Alexandra Technopark Tower B
  10. Thomson Medical Centre
  11. S P Jain School of Global Management
  12. City Square Mall

This new service will bolster the company’s already comprehensive offerings, which include services such as property rental, restaurant reviews, news, credit application, and more.

Nestia isn’t the first to offer umbrella-sharing services in Singapore. Last year, the Republic Polytechnic launched a similar initiative, called Sharella, in the Sembawang district. Its service is, however, free of charge. Sharella’s umbrellas were paid for by the community clubs, and residents sometimes donate their own.

Despite giving users carte blanche to use the umbrellas however they wished, with no cost penalty, The Straits Times reported that most users were civic-minded enough to return them after use.

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In China, E Umbrella, a startup solely focussed on providing umbrella sharing services, the outcome could not have been more different: it lost most of its 300,000 umbrellas. And this is despite the service costing a fee — users paid US$2.90 per umbrella deposit and US$0.07 for every 30 minutes.

But it wasn’t that users were taking off with the umbrellas because they decided it was small price to pay; rather, the app did not provide clear instructions on how to return the brollies.

Here’s hoping Nestia does not meet with a similar fate.

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