Vending machines can be found almost anywhere. From hospitals, gyms and even college dorms, vending machines are made for the consumer’s convenience. Unfortunately, the vending machines at Campbellsville University tend to be faulty often. This has caused problems for not only CU students but resident assistants (RA) of CU dorms as well. It makes one wonder: Why have the luxury of a convenience if it’s not convenient?
Hope Blanton, a CU freshman, has just finished her first semester in Stapp Hall, and she’s fallen victim to the dorm’s faulty vending machines.
“I wanted a drink quickly, so I went to the vending machine,” Blanton said. “I tried to pay with my card twice and didn’t work. I also tried cash, and it was still no luck. Then people told me that it just wouldn’t work.”
Blanton said she tends to go to Books and Beans, the coffee and snack bar inside Montgomery Library, to get the snacks she needs. She also goes out to stores in the surrounding area to get what she needs, but those close at certain hours and the only resource Blanton would have at those times would be the vending machines. When those machines aren’t working, she’s left with no options to get food or drinks in her dorm.
“It’s just really frustrating,” said Blanton. “I don’t dislike staying in the dorms because of it, but it does become an inconvenience after a while.”
It’s not a good look on the university when new students move on campus and the dorms can’t maintain a functioning vending machine, according to Blanton.
“What if someone’s parents were visiting and they wanted to get a drink but couldn’t because the machines don’t work?” Blanton said. “I feel like that would just look bad on us.”
Blanton sees this problem as an easy fix. She encourages those in higher-up positions that can do something to resolve the situation.
“Try to remember what it was like being in college, not having a car, not having a lot of options for purchasing food,” she said. “We’re there now, we’re experiencing that now.”
According to Elijah Coffey, director of residence life and student conduct, the dorms’ vending machines are managed by “contracted partners separate from the university’s housing program and operations.”
CU senior Cody Spalding said the faulty vending machines have been an issue for the past for years.
“It’s like they were built in the 60s or 70s,” said Spalding. “They simply just don’t work well.”
This semester, Spalding tried to buy an item from one of the vending machines. When he purchased the item, the machine would take his money and process the purchase, but he never received the item. He purchased the same item two more times before the item dropped to the bottom of the machine. So, Spalding got one item for the price of three.
“It was so frustrating,” Spalding said. “I looked at my bank account afterwards and saw the three transactions and was super disappointed.”
Spalding is a member of the Tiger Marching Band, so he’s almost always on the go. So, it’s nice when he can grab a quick snack before he leaves his dorm. However, the faulty vending machines make that convenience impossible.
“It makes me wonder, why are they even there in the first place?” Spalding said. “A college campus is such a great place to put a vending machine for a business. Why have it here, though, if it doesn’t work? We’re all just tired and hungry college students, we want something quick and convenient.”
According to Margalo Stanton, who works as an RA at Stapp Hall, one of her responsibilities is to put in maintenance requests for certain things in the dorm, such as laundry machines and bathrooms, but she mentioned she’s not allowed to put in maintenance requests for the vending machines.
“All the maintenance for those is through the company that owns them,” Stanton said. “That makes it really difficult because we have no estimate of when they will show up or when the machines will be fixed.”
Stanton said she’s had personal problems with the vending machines in the dorms. She said she’s tried to use the vending machine once, but when she went to pay for her item, it took her money and the machine malfunctioned, causing the payment to go through with nothing in return. She then had to call a number listed on the machine to get a refund for her payment.
“It just takes up so much time,” she said. “It’s so annoying, but most importantly, it’s very inconvenient.”
She said residents have come to her frustrated about the problem, but there’s only so much she can do.
“From both a resident and a RA perspective, it’s very unprofessional,” she said. “When parents or visitors come into our dorms and use those machines and it takes their money, it’s just not a very good look for residence halls.”
Stanton said the majority of students who use the vending machines, at least in Stapp Hall, are international students. When these problems occur for those students, Stanton is always ready to help.
“Those are the students who are probably affected the most,” Stanton said. “It’s so unfortunate that they’re impacted negatively by these problems. It’s just not a great situation.”
Samuel Bennett, a senior RA in South East Hall, has been working for ResLife as an RA for around three years now. Throughout the years, Bennett recalls seeing residents using the vending machines, and most of the time, these experiences were unsuccessful for those using it. He doesn’t use the vending machines, but what he’s experienced through other students speaks volumes to the problem at hand.
“I’ve seen as much as students shaking the vending machines, trying to pick them up at an attempt to get their items out,” Bennett said. “They’ve got some pretty good snacks in there, but
Being an RA, many students come to Bennett about issues in the dorm, even with the vending machines. He said students can put in work orders for the machines, at least in South East Hall, but it can be a lengthy process to get it fixed. He said the RA in the dorms can’t really do much when it comes to fixing the machines.
“To be completely honest, ResLife is more focused on the students living in the dorm,” Bennett said. “The vending machines aren’t something they are focused on.”
Bennett believes one reason the vending machines haven’t been functional for so long is the way the students use them. There may be a student here and there who shakes the machine around to get the item they want, and in doing so, this may mess with the machine’s technology and cause it to malfunction. He also believes there could be a lack of communication between all parties involved – the students, ResLife and the company that works on the vending machines.
“The lack of communication is probably the main reason they aren’t getting fixed,” he said. “It could be from students not putting in work orders, it could be from those higher-ups not getting in touch with the necessary people. There’s a multitude of reasons.”
