How to Get the Most Value Out of Your RecRe Box in 2025

When campuses install a RecRe box, they’re not just offering a place for students to rent items. They’re unlocking a new way to engage students, collect valuable campus data, and enhance operational efficiency. As we’ve seen from dozens of campuses around the country—from Ole Miss to UNC Charlotte—the campuses that get the most from RecRe are the ones that treat the platform as a strategic engagement tool, not just a locker.

Here’s how your campus can do the same.

1. Start With the Student: Gather Feedback on Inventory

Every campus is different. That’s why the most successful RecRe implementations start with student feedback. What do they actually want access to? At the University of Southern Mississippi, campus admins worked directly with students to curate inventory that reflected real needs. The result? High usage, meaningful engagement, and a service students genuinely valued in a highly visible location right outside of their student union. Read more.

Use surveys, social media polls, or just quick QR-code scans on the box itself to gather input. Then make regular updates based on what the data tells you.

2. Promote the Platform: Visibility Drives Usage

Sometimes you can just install a RecRe box and students will stumble on it. However, we see a much higher ROI when campuses generate consistent, repeat content to encourage usage. Some of our favorite examples are below.

Instagram and TikTok videos from the students’ POV are great ways to promote RecRe to your students on campus. This video from the University of Florida has over 1,000,000 views on Instagram!

• Physical signage near the box (especially when placed in high-traffic areas).

• Campus websites link out to RecRe to let students and parents what RecRe is and where it is on campus. Check out how the University of Cincinnati has RecRe on their Student Union website.

University of Florida saw strong student adoption by leaning on their marketing team to boost awareness and make sure students knew that RecRe was a self-service perk available in their Student Union.

3. Use a “Loss Leader” to Draw Students In

You don’t need every item in the box to be a top hit. One or two popular items can drive students to the box and create discovery for everything else. Phone chargers, laptop chargers, and Nintendo Switch consoles are campus favorites—and they get students talking.

At the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), the student union team highlighted highly-used items to create buzz and build momentum. See their approach.

4. Placement is Everything

You don’t hide RecRe boxes—you spotlight them. Put them where students already are: student unions, academic buildings, lobbies, recreation centers. That’s why every RecRe locker features see-through doors: visibility drives discovery.

Boise State placed lockers less than a foot from their indoor basketball courts, turning RecRe into a visual anchor for student engagement and a clear showcase of how students get basketballs for the court. Here’s how they did it.

5. Leverage the RecRe Team Profile and Dashboard

Every RecRe box includes a Team Profile link—a mobile-friendly webpage that shows students what items are inside and where lockers are located across campus. Use this tool to turn your RecRe system into a navigable, digital inventory map for students.

And behind the scenes, our campus partners get access to robust data dashboards: what’s being rented, when, and by whom. Review this data regularly to understand which items are driving repeat usage—and expand on what works.

The University of North Carolina Charlotte, for example, used their dashboard to double down on high-demand AV equipment for students needing media tools outside business hours. See their story.

6. Build a Campus-Wide Network

One RecRe box is helpful. A network of boxes is transformative.

Once students understand what RecRe is—a place for free and easy access to helpful inventory—they start to look for it across campus. That’s why the University of Cincinnati scaled to 14 units across campus buildings, residence halls, and academic spaces. See how they did it.

From tennis rackets in rec centers to calculators in libraries, RecRe supports a wide range of use cases. When students see RecRe as a reliable, consistent service that helps them save time and money, it becomes part of their campus routine.

7. Showcase Value Through Daily Visibility and Dollars Saved

RecRe isn’t just about convenience. It’s about showing your students that you’re investing in them—every single day.

Augment your current operations by automating checkouts, reducing front-desk staffing needs, and preventing inventory loss. Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC) reduced inventory headaches and improved student satisfaction by streamlining access to engagement gear. Read their results.

Our partners see real dollar savings while improving the student experience. In 2025 and 2026, as campuses continue to face tight budgets and rising expectations, tools like RecRe help do more with less—without compromising service.

In Closing: Turn Your Locker Into a Strategic Asset

RecRe is more than a locker. It’s a way to engage your students, visualize your impact, and modernize operations. The campuses that use RecRe to its full potential see higher engagement, smarter decisions backed by data, and cost savings they can reinvest elsewhere.

So whether you’re starting with one unit or scaling to 14, the playbook is clear: collect feedback, promote the box, make smart placements, review the data, and build a connected experience students love.

Want to talk strategy or explore a campus-wide rollout? Let’s connect.