>these changing stations can be replaced without any difficulty
Don't disagree that a plastic changing station can be efficiently made by someone else, but I think you may be misunderstanding their advantage. Koala is providing a service in the world of "places in which the public use the bathroom", which is part of the "places occupied by the public" market. There are an unfathomable amount of needs, requirements, practical concerns, laws/regulations, etc that have to be served when you operate a public space.
Koala is part of the established suite of solutions to the problem of operating a public space, and "supply chain diversity" or even "we cost marginally less" is not enough to displace them. Koala would have to really mess up or you'd have to offer a significant advantage to displace a solved problem at an affordable price when it's just one of a thousand things you need to think about.
tldr: rent seeking is reliable way to make money if you don't mess up your core value or get too greedy for the market to bear
Don't disagree that a plastic changing station can be efficiently made by someone else, but I think you may be misunderstanding their advantage. Koala is providing a service in the world of "places in which the public use the bathroom", which is part of the "places occupied by the public" market. There are an unfathomable amount of needs, requirements, practical concerns, laws/regulations, etc that have to be served when you operate a public space.
Koala is part of the established suite of solutions to the problem of operating a public space, and "supply chain diversity" or even "we cost marginally less" is not enough to displace them. Koala would have to really mess up or you'd have to offer a significant advantage to displace a solved problem at an affordable price when it's just one of a thousand things you need to think about.
tldr: rent seeking is reliable way to make money if you don't mess up your core value or get too greedy for the market to bear