The vending machines on campus are a great way to get snacks and drinks during unorthodox times of day, like 3 a.m. However, it seems that since last semester, most of, if not all of, the vending machines have problems. The number of which are increasing day by day. 

The machines need an overhaul or complete replacement. 

One of the biggest problems with the current vending machines is the notification that pops up on the screen that reads “Can’t Access Network” if you’re using a card to pay. This is my preferred way of paying on the vending machines, so it’s pretty infuriating when I see that notification every week, often making the card reader completely unusable for days. 

It is rare that I use cash in a vending machine, despite the 10 cent surcharge while using a card. Sometimes, the complete opposite happens as well, where the machine doesn’t accept cash, but the card reader is functioning. 

Another issue that I see happen to one machine frequently is saying a drink is “Sold Out” when it’s clearly on the shelf. I’m looking at you, Boulevard Apartments; you’re constantly withholding the Dr. Pepper from me. It’s right there!

It’s also funny when one of the machines gets stuck midway through and it stays like that for days, often harboring a drink that was paid for.

There are three vending machines that do this frequently: the machines on the first and second floors of Academic Hall and the machine on the first floor of West Penn. 

Many of these machines also have a “graveyard” of drinks at the bottom of the machine that fell in the middle of dispensing. 

However, this isn’t just a slam piece about the drink vending machines. This is a slam piece about the snack machines as well. 

The snack machines mirror some of the issues of the drink machines, such as the “Can’t Access Network” notification and the notification that a certain product is sold out. 

One of the unique issues with the snack machines is the product getting stuck on the coils or between two other products. 

Then, when you buy another one to knock the front one down, it only raises the first one higher and gets both of them stuck. This happens frequently with the Cool Ranch Doritos. 

The University Center vending machine robbed me so badly once that a few of my friends had to ask one of the workers in the library for a stick to jam into the machine from the side and knock the snack out from the machine’s clutches. 

We then got a stick from the offices next to Student Production Services. It worked, but only after 10 minutes of trying to get it. 

My last gripe with the machines is that there isn’t one specific brand of machine. There are multiple brands scattered around campus. 

Personally, it would be nice to see only one brand of the machines around campus. It would probably save the university a lot more money and lead to faster repair times, since they’ll all be built the same. 

Despite these issues, I still use the vending machines frequently, perhaps more than I should. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not infuriating when they don’t work.