Buying food from the vending machines is now easier than ever as the snack vending machine located in the cafeteria now features a credit card reader that you can purchase your snacks with. If all goes well with this machine, students can expect to see this feature brought to more vending machines around the school.

“We are doing a test market, and this is the machine we are doing a test market on just to see what type of volume it does,” vendor Jeff Sledge said. “Some school districts do better than others, so instead of investing all of the money into putting them in all of the machines right away, we are waiting to see after a month what kind of credit card readings it gets the next month.”

Some students are excited about having the ability to buy snacks easier, but it may come at a price, cash or otherwise.

“It’s more convenient for students who don’t have cash but at the same time it just encourages buying unhealthy products more so than it already is,” senior Audrey Holstead said.

With many students having credit cards their parent’s put money on it, there is some concern that this could lead to student’s spending more money.

“I think that people will abuse the credit card machine because, knowing me, if I have my credit card I know I would go and buy some of those cupcakes in there because they’re really good,” junior Catlin Foster said. “Sorry mom and dad.”

Of course that’s easy to say when it’s someone else’s money.  But for many parents, credit and debit card use is a responsibility that has to be learned.

“I’m okay with it, but it’s because as a family we have set the expectations about having the credit card or the debit card and it is a privilege to have the credit card so that is something that we check every month,” speech/debate teacher Tami Parker said. “If there is any abuse of it then it would be taken away, and because of that expectation, to me this is no different than the fact that I already let them have a credit card, so if they go get a Snickers, okay.”

From Sour Patch Kids to a bag of chips, there’s usually something for everybody in the vending machines.  And unlike the middle school, there are no regulations on what food can be put in it.

“On the school districts regulated by the state, this not being one of them, the state lets us know what has to go into the machines because only certain items will work.” Sledge said. “At your middle school, we have to go by the state regulations because they are regulated by the state, whereas the high school is not.”

As far as what goes into the vending machines, that’s determined by student demand.

“We do take requests from students when we see them occasionally, and we kind of know what goes well with students because we do other school districts also,” Sledge said. “It’s basically just from experience, what goes well and what doesn’t. If something’s not going well then we will pull it out and put something else in to try.”