Vending machines around campus provide students with a quick beverage or snack between classes, but they also cause occasional problems.?
Companies responsible for filling the soda and snack machines are Coca Cola Co.?and Canteen Vending.? Both companies have contracts with BC and handle all of the money in the machines.? The Food Service Department is paid commission from vending sales.
Jerry Troxel?works for Canteen and fills the vending machines with various types of snacks weekly.?
He says, however, that there are certain machines that are used often and need to be filled daily.? Soda machines are also refilled once a week.
“Students have problems with the machines all the time,” said Troxel.
Ashley Gober said that she had a problem recently when a machine had too many quarters jammed in the slot; she wasn’t able to purchase an item.?
Gober said that “within an hour or?two somebody was there fixing it.”?
Students expressed that, with snack vending machines, items mostly just get stuck and don’t come out. They also stated that soda machines give them less problems; besides occasionally being out of service or of a certain soft drink they want.????
Morgan Abendroth was shaking the vending machine in Campus Center out of frustration after he put in $1.25 for a snack and it got stuck on the hook.?
Along with many other students faced with this issue, Abendroth was not aware what to do if a machine malfunctions in such a manner.
Food service manager Alex Gomez explained that students who have problems with vending machines should come to the Food Service Office located behind the cafeteria near the loading dock, which is open from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.? They will receive a coupon for a refund; coupons can be used on machines around campus and do not expire.
Machines require maintenance about every two months and students only come in every one or two weeks with problems, according to Gomez.
Despite some students’ problems with machines, other students have never had any trouble with them.
One student, Audi Espitia, said that the only incident she’s ever experienced with a vending machine is when it gave her two items for the price of one.