STORY BY WILLIAM DIXON
Cash or credit are currently the only two payment options available to students eating and drinking at the Marquee.
“It’s more of a service issue,” said Dan Casey, senior manager of operations, in a phone interview. Larger tables of up to eight students would all want to pay in debit, which means passing the machine around, which works for them, but it takes up the server’s time and stops them from serving other tables, explained Casey. “We don’t have the man power to handle the volume of [debit] payments.”
While credit still requires the use of putting in a PIN, “there’s a lot less of a demand for credit,” said Casey.
ATMs are setup inside and just outside of the Marquee to give students access to cash, but there’s a $1 fee involved. That dollar goes back to the Student Union to cover the cost of having and maintaining the fairly old machines. The monthly cost of operating one ATM is currently $155, plus any maintenance that needs to be done. Any surplus from the $1 fee is held in case of any issues with the machine that would cost a bit more, explained Jenna Pulver in an email.
Currently the Student Union is working with GardaWorld as the provider for their cash services. Should the Marquee receive new hardware to accept tap-to-pay, then Casey says, “we can review the debit process.”