It’s late at night after a marathon study session and you’re starving. All campus dining centers are closed, so you head to downstairs to buy some chips from your building’s vending machine. The only problem is, it doesn’t take Flex and you don’t have any cash.
Why don’t some of the machines in buildings on the Residential Quad, Graduate Living Center and Towers have working Flex card readers? As Troy Beason, Senior Informations Analyst at Auxiliary Operations explains, it is not just a plot to make students go hungry.
The vending machines in the Towers have been experiencing problems with their card readers for years. The problem is centered on the lines that are run to the card reader.
“When we connect the vending machines [to the lines] it adversely affects the readers in the laundry room, and we can’t have that,” Beason said. Beason explained that the vending machines only work for two to four weeks before reports of problems with the laundry room are heard.
Auxiliary Operations and Telecommunications are working to get new lines run in the buildings, but a few years ago, new lines were run and there continued to be a problem.
“We don’t have a problem with them in the summer. It may have something to do with the level of network traffic,” Beason said.
Vending machines on the Residential Quad may be experiencing troubles simply because the card readers have begun to wear out. Beason explained that with the change in contract from Pepsi to Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola has plans to install new vending machines with new card readers. Until then, students may have to keep a few quarters in their pockets in case they get thirsty.
DeSantis can be reached at kdesantis@campustimes.org.
