Lose weight, save money! Dinning hall offer students discounts for steps they take
By Wang Xiangyu
People's Daily app
1552549103000

A dining hall at Zhejiang Gongshang University has been offering discounts from 10 percent to 45 percent based on the steps recorded by activity trackers.

According to the canteen manager, most students received 25 percent discounts.

The offer of the hotpot canteen started on March 6 and will end on April 10. With 10,000 steps, customers would enjoy a 10 percent discount and 45 percent for 40,000 steps.

“We hope students enjoy hotpot and exercise at the same time,” said Zhang Liqin, the canteen manager. She told the reporter that this campaign is able to drive greater customer traffic during the slack season.

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(File photo: VCG)

As for the relationship between steps and discounts, Zhang said that because the campus is relatively large, students can reach 10,000 steps easily, and many receive a 15 percent discount. “Most girls can reach 20,000 to 30,000 steps and enjoy a discount of 25 percent, which is also the most common discount here,” she added.

Some netizens suspect that it is hard to get a discount of 55 percent because 40,000 steps are too difficult to achieve. Zhang said, “Boys exercise more. If they take PE classes, they will play basketball and take more than 40,000 steps. Every day, two or three could get a 55 percent discount, and the record is over 50,000 steps.”

In response to netizens' concerns about whether some students will get preferential treatment through the use of mobile phones and other means of cheating, Zhang said that the original price of the restaurant is not high. "As long as one person at each table is eligible for the discount, students don't think it is necessary to save money by cheating on the number of steps.”