Students say it is inconvenient that only some vending machines take Cane Express credit and none take dining dollars.
“When I’m in my dorm and I’m thirsty or hungry I don’t want to have to walk forever to get something,” Mike Diaz, a sophomore, said.
Mel Tenen, assistant vice president for Dining and Vending Services, said Cane Express readers aren’t on every machine because they are expensive.
“We strategically place them where there are a lot of students,” Tenen said. “We place them where it makes the most sense to place them.”
Tenen said the university does an annual analysis based on sales in order to determine the most frequently used vending machines so they can eventually add readers to them.
Besides a lack of vending machine card readers, students also complain of limited food choices and broken machines.
Damara Hawley, a sophomore, said that whenever she finds the machine with the food she likes, it either doesn’t take a Cane Card or doesn’t work.
“It’s really annoying and frustrating, because even the ones that have the readers say, ‘no Cane Cards,'” Hawley said. “I went to the vending machines by the [Learning Center] and none of them were working.”
Hawley said it’s “extremely inconvenient,” adding that most students have a Cane Card at hand, but not every student carries cash.
Currently there are no vending machines that accept dining dollars.
“It’s unfair because most people have dining dollars and would use it for those machines,” Alex Marmorato, a sophomore, said. “If the machines took dining dollars, students wouldn’t have to walk all the way to the C-store to get something.”
Tenen said the machines will never take dining dollars because they aren’t part of the same program as vending services. He said dining dollars are intended to be used for food and dining services.
Laura Funk may be contacted at l.funk@umiami.edu.