Soda Machines Now Take Credit

By Broadside Asst. News Editor Rebecca Fulton
Photo By Broadside Photography Editor Courtney Erland

Students, faculty and staff no longer need to carry around dollars and coins for soda, as machines now accept all major credit cards. These machines are not compatible with either freedom meal plans or Mason Money.

Though convenient, the new technology does raise a few concerns. Some schools, such as George Washington University, have already installed credit card readers that also accept Colonial Cash, the university’s form of Mason Money.

Benn Crandall, associate director of university services, said, “Our IDs are not compatible with credit card strips.”

The university is doing more than identifying the problem; they are also working on fixing it so that some forms of Mason currency can be used on the soda machines.

“We are going to be working to solve the problem; we don’t want to be short-sided. It’s frustrating that the process seems slow but we are going to fix it,” Crandall said.

Another potential problem with this new addition is that if a customer uses a credit card, the soda machine is set up to purchase four sodas at a time.

This can lead to additional purchases charged to a credit card that the cardholder never intended on making.

“If the customer does not buy four and does not hit complete within 20 seconds of buying their drink then someone can come behind them and buy more,” said Rodney Lynch, who was contracted by the state to install the card readers.

Lynch also explains that if the drink a customer wants is sold out the new technology will not force the customer to buy a different drink, “I try not to install anything like that,” he said.

The university is aware of the many potential problems with the soda machines, but like many other new projects on the university improvements take time, money and planning for the future.

“We don’t want to do something that is only going to last a few years, we are going through processes that will affect the class of 2020,” Crandall said.