Sometimes during the day, students get thirsty. Pepsi MidAmerica has installed three drink vending machines, two “traditional” types and a newer type of machine simply marked by Pepsi as a “glass front machine.”
Some would say that however innovative the newer machine is, it has caused more issues than it’s worth.
“It’s just a Pepsi problem,” bookkeeper Jamie Questelle said. “It’s nothing that our students do.”
One of the things that incoming freshmen look forward to the most is open campus lunch. However, not everyone is fortunate enough to go out and eat every day. The soda machines give those students a little something extra besides school lunch, and when they’re out of order, students are missing out.
There have also been instances of Pepsi not refunding money. Sometimes the glass front machine will take the money and dispense no product. When the office inquires about a refund, the technician from Pepsi claims that they aren’t able to handle money. However, when the service technician comes to refill the machine and empty the safe, no refunds are given to the office to distribute to students.
Questelle claims there wouldn’t be as many issues if Pepsi had installed a traditional soda dispenser.
It’s not just soda machines that have issues. Many technologies seem to be getting too advanced to do simple tasks. We’ve moved away from things that work well and have tried to make things needlessly complicated.
With the state of the economy, many students’ extra two or three bucks could be used to buy a light snack or something else that they want. Instead, the machine and Pepsi, refuse to give refunds even if no product was dispensed. If HHS students are getting their cash stolen by Pepsi, then Pepsi doesn’t deserve our business.
“We always try to remind Pepsi to come to the office so we can distribute refunds for students. But they always come in and leave downstairs without ever coming up here,” said Questelle.
There are things a student can do to help prevent losing their money. If a student chooses to use the machine, they should make their selection by entering the code on the keypad before putting in the cash. Use the correct change, and don’t use wrinkled bills, vending machines like to eat them.
At the end of the day, worrying about vending machines is a first-world problem. We here at HHS are lucky to have access to beverages, whatever the cost may be.
