Convenience on campus is not so convenient.

It’s commonplace on campus. It’s 2 p.m., you’ve just left class and are on your way to your last lecture of the day.

You’re hungry, but you ate lunch not that long ago and just want a quick snack so you stop by a vending machine. You reach for your wallet… No cash.

No problem, nobody carries cash around anyway in a modern society infatuated with debt culture. You swipe your credit card instead. Nothing.

You swipe it again. Nothing.

You move on to the next machine. Nothing. 

By now you’ve wasted about five minutes to do something that should take about 30 seconds to complete.

Finally, you find a machine that will accept your card. You grab your bag of Doritos and scurry off to class.

It isn’t until the next day that you check your online banking statements to find that Coca-Cola has taken $5 out of your account, double the amount of that bag of Doritos half-filled with air.

A convenient transaction has suddenly become a headache, not to mention how Coca-Cola has essentially stolen $2.50 from you.

Vending machines populate nearly every building on campus, yet it’s more worth your time to wait in line at Starbucks to grab a drink or a snack.

Half the vending machines on campus won’t take your card and even if they do, they’re robbing you. Using cash is the best option, but who carries around a bunch of $1 bills?

Calling Coca-Cola won’t help either. They just send you a coupon for a free two-liter. 

Students don’t want to wait in line at any of the restaurants on campus for a simple snack, but using the vending machines is far from convenient. Either boycott them entirely or bring cash with you because using your card will only result in Coca-Cola stealing from you. 

This is a relatively new problem too. It hasn’t been an issue in past years and has only been a problem this semester.

Save yourself time, money and effort and avoid the inefficient dilemma that is the campus vending machines.