By Jason Ethridge and Joshua Phelps
The Scene staff
It’s never hard to find a snack at Forest Park, but some students complain about high prices and periodic malfunctions with vending machines.
For a while, a beverage machine on the fourth floor of F Tower was dropping juices to the bottom, said respiratory therapy major Rick Mahio, 26.
Fine arts major Amanda Rhodes, 31, has had trouble with the snack machine in the same location.
“It takes your money,” she said. “It’s annoying. You want a snack, but you can only use quarters. You can’t use dollars because they won’t go in. You can swipe your card, but that doesn’t work either.”
Forest Park has 36 vending machines, according to Ellen Gough, campus manager of auxiliary services, which includes the bookstore. Beverages are sold by Pepsi and snacks come from Company Kitchen, the vendor that operates the cafeteria.
Beverage machines on campus charge $1.50 for 16-ounce sodas and up to $3 for other selections.
General transfer student Lakeecia Taylor, 18, thinks $2 is too much for a can of Mountain Dew Kickstart, an energy drink. Nursing major Shavazz McMurry, 27, feels the same way about snack machines.
“They need to cut the prices,” she said. “The chips are $1.25. It’s a 30-cent bag of chips.”
Early childhood development major Melissa Young, 31, also thinks prices are too high, but her main complaint is snack selections.
“They need to have healthier choices instead of chips,” she said.
But not everyone is down on vending machines at Forest Park. Clinical laboratory sciences student Alex Nemiroff, 23, considers them crucial to his education.
“I would say that every time I’m between classes, I go and get something,” he said, holding a bag of barbecue-flavored potato chips. “They are so convenient because of all the ways you can pay.
Card, cash, smart phone …”
Locations of vending machines are jointly determined by the college and vendors. Decisions on whether they stay or go depend on sales and foot traffic.
Bookstore employees inspect beverage machines weekly to ensure cleanliness and product availability, officials said. Pepsi delivery drivers report once a week for stocking.
Company Kitchen follows a “just-in-time” system, according to Justin Rudick, senior manager of auxiliary services for the St. Louis Community College district. Employees monitor snack machines and use the data to determine when delivery drivers need to show up for stocking.
Beyond product availability, Pepsi, Company Kitchen and the college have put systems in place to increase reliability of vending machines and, in turn, customer satisfaction.
Company Kitchen Operations Manager Kate Linders promises a response time of less than 24 hours if a snack machine is found to be defective. When Pepsi is contacted about a problem, a representative shows up that day or the next day, Rudick said.
As a result of the new systems, Gough and Rudick report few complaints from students this semester. Nemiroff also has noticed an improvement.
“It’s not as bad as it was in the day,” he said. “Sometimes things get stuck, but all you have to do is buy another.”
Students, faculty or staff who lose money can call numbers on vending machines to reach vendors. However, Gough and Rudick would prefer that people report problems by going to the bookstore in person or by calling extension 9146 or 314-951-9893.
“Communicate with us,” Rudick said. “If something is not working, it doesn’t do anyone any good. It doesn’t help the student. It doesn’t help Pepsi or Company Kitchen or us.”
Bookstore employees will refund money lost in vending machines. People just need to provide their names and the locations and circumstances of their problems.
Rudick said there have been times when bookstore employees have even delivered products to people who didn’t get what they paid for from vending machines.
“We’ll come and help you out,” he said. “We get it. This is a hard campus to walk all over.”
The college can take action to help with product availability and reliability of vending machines, but it can’t lower prices. Rudick said the college’s contract with Pepsi, signed in 2016, allows for incremental price increases each year.
“It’s kind of the same way across the country, he said. “Anywhere Pepsi goes, they are going to determine, ‘This is what we sell it for.’”