While strides have been made to ensure students have access to campus vending machines, the use of the Rambler card is still not an option.
Back at the beginning of the fall semester, many students were concerned. Vending machines were being pulled out, and some worried that between classes, snacks would be hard to come by without the vending machines.
Students didn’t have to worry long, however. Soon vending machines were back in their proper places, and students could once again buy snacks and drinks in the hallways on their way to class.
The university transitioned to using Black Tie for snack vending. However, Pepsi continues to service the majority of the beverage vending machines.
The only real change that students saw from this was the product line and options for payment. For instance, now that Black Tie, a company under the Pepsi contract umbrella, has taken over, the university has been able to carry Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper products in vending machines. Not only that, but students have also been able to pay with credit cards, something they couldn’t do before.
Back in October, Morgan Stock wrote an article for The Picket describing the Rambler dilemma that students were facing. Although many students were happy that the university now carried Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper products under the new contract, students were unable to use their Shepherd Rambler cards to pay at vending machines.
“Business from Rambler cards is a smaller portion of income from vending machines,” Jack Shaw, director of dining services says, “but it’s a very important part of the pie.”
Many students have not had any issues with this problem; Shaw reports that vending machines are now accepting credit cards, which was the main problem at the beginning of the semester.
“The main concern,” he says, “is students in the residence halls. If they want a late night snack, and just put money on their Rambler, they should be able to pay with their card.”
Shaw reports that the reason Rambler cards don’t currently work in the vending machines is that the MEI card readers in the Pepsi vending machines are driven by Apriva software that does not currently integrate with the university’s card system provider, Atrium. The technology is a little different, and the two companies just haven’t developed that relationship yet.
However, by the next fall semester, Shaw hopes to have the problem remedied. Shaw says that Atrium, the company that the Rambler uses and Apriva, the company that Pepsi works with, are fostering a relationship that’s scheduled to go through sometime in May. “Just in time for the semester to end,” Shaw reports ironically.
On the snack vending side, Rambler cards are currently being accepted. Black Tie also services the Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper machines across campus. Those machines also accept Rambler cards.
Students don’t seem very concerned with the issue, though. Sophomore Nicholas McDill says that he only uses his Rambler for meal plans, so he doesn’t have any experience with the issue.
Shaw admits that he hasn’t received many complaints about Rambler cards’ incompatibility with the vending machines. “The biggest complaint we get is that students have lost money to the machines,” Shaw says.
While the issue with the Rambler cards and vending machines doesn’t affect many students, it will certainly be more convenient when the problem is fixed, which Shaw speculates will be by the fall 2014 semester.
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