Ever since I started watching The Price Is Right in the mornings, I have become a more aware consumer. When I see a bottle of V8 juice, I can confidently state that it costs $3.15. Imagine my surprise when I pick up a few small bottles of juice, a couple tasty snacks and take it to the cash register at Charles Street Market. The cost: $20. The technical term for that is "rip-off."
Aramark overcharges us and the lack of competition leaves the students with no recourse. The University should not force us to buy meal plans.
The most egregious offense of Aramark is the double-charge. Let's say Mary Kate and her friend Ashley go to the Charles Street Market. They both decide to purchase a box of Chicken in a Biskit baked snack crackers (an essential part of a healthy breakfast).
Mary Kate pays with her credit card and it costs her $4.79 in real dollars. Ashley pays in Dining Dollars and it costs her $4.79 ... or does it? A 1,500 Dining Dollar meal plan costs $1,938 per semester. That means each Dining Dollar is actually worth about 77 cents. Ashley's box of Chicken in a Biskit costs her $6.19.
Lucky Ashley. If I go to the store and buy the Chicken in a Biskit, it costs me $6.32 because I am on an upperclassmen plan. I love Chicken in a Biskit but not that much.
All these facts you can find on http://www.schooldish.com with the help of a simple calculator. The Web site gives this excuse for the discrepancy between Dining Dollars and real dollars: "The Dining Dollars you receive cover the cost of the food and the staff involved in preparing and serving the food. The difference between the Dining Dollars and the dollars paid is the overhead or facilities charge associated with the University's cost of providing and maintaining the facilities and equipment for dining service operations." Oddly enough, normal restaurants and supermarkets must also pay for overhead and their staff. Yet I do not have to purchase special Chipotle Dollars in order to get a burrito. I find the argument unconvincing.
Even if they were justified in charging us extra money, I do not see how it is fair that Aramark can essentially charge two different prices for the same item. My Chicken in a Biskit costs me more than if I bought it with real money. Either they charge everyone the same price, or they should not allow anyone to use real money at the Charles Street Market.
The only other time I have seen two different prices charged is if someone has a special membership or a coupon. Here we have the situation in reverse. Whoever heard of a non-members discount? Use this coupon to pay 120 percent of the usual price!
What makes the system inherently unfair is that we have no way of protesting. If a place is failing its customers so badly, then the consumer should be able to take his business elsewhere. The students here have no recourse to normal market pressures.
If you live on campus, you are forced to buy a meal plan. One has to use the Dining Dollars or else forfeit the money. A boycott is impossible because they have already taken my money upfront. They could charge twice as much as the nearest place and I would be forced to pay those prices. We're not customers; we're slaves.
My solution is radical but obvious: Get rid of the University meal plans. The meal plans are monopolistic and unfair. Students should be free to spend their money where they want.
Actually, I would go even further and say the University should not run any type of dining system. The dining halls, like Fresh Food Café, are poorly designed and poorly run. Do not force us to subsidize your sub-par dining halls and food. Educate us; we will feed ourselves.
One counterargument would be to say that perhaps the University could use dining to entice prospective students. I doubt that. Face it, our mediocre food is not going to win any awards, and the only way we are going to get better food is if they charge us even more. No, let capitalism have free rein, and then we'll have better food and better service.
The removal of the dining system would save students money. The University can tell students that if they come here, they will not have to pay a few extra thousand dollars. That is way more enticing than the opportunity to purchase overpriced and undercooked vegetables.
