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Laundry is resistant to change

New policy will allow only MaineCard payment at washing machines

By Kassandre Moulton

Posted on Monday, September 24th, 2007, 12:00 am

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Property Management Services at the University of Maine announced last week that the MaineCard will have a new application starting on Monday, Sept. 24. The laundry systems in all of the residence halls on campus will require students to use Black Bear Bucks on their MaineCard to pay for laundry.

Using Black Bear Bucks for laundry has been an option for the last few years. Students had the option of feeding quarters into the machines to cover the $1.25 cost per use.

The washing and drying machines in each hall are not the property of the University of Maine, but are owned and serviced by an outside company, Mac-Gray Corporation, based out of Waltham, Massachusetts.

According to the company’s Web site, Mac-Gray provides laundry services for academic institutions, hotels and other businesses around the U.S. The company visits periodically to repair broken machines and charges the renting institution for any vandalism and damages.

Tara Loomis, the director of Resident Life, said that a great deal of vandalism has been occurring to laundry machines across campus, allegedly by students who are looking to get their laundry done for free. Loomis said “this was done by messing with the coin slots” on the machines. This resulted in the short circuiting of the machine, leading to a repair call by Mac-Gray. Mac-Gray charged the university for the damage and UMaine passed these bills onto students.

In order to be fair to students and prevent any more damage, the university decided to go to MaineCard access only at the suggestion of Mac-Gray Corporation.

Each laundry room is equipped with a card swipe machine. Black Bear Bucks are deducted from the card with each laundry machine use. Students can choose any machine that they would like to use. There are no plans for a price hike per laundry machine anytime soon.

Black Bear Bucks can be added to any student’s MaineCard by visiting the Student Service Center in the Union. Student Services also has a Web site where funds can be added to MaineCards, but it is currently out of service.

The UMaine Web site for Auxiliary Services advertises that Black Bear Bucks can be added using cash, check, Visa, Mastercard, or Discover card with a minimum addition of $5.

Students are having mixed reactions to the laundry machine transition. First-year business major Stanley MacArthur said “The university is letting technology get ahead of itself. If the dorms are constantly having the problem of people breaking the machines, put a camera up, because once people start trying to hack the MaineCard set up and do some expensive damage, the cameras will go up anyway.”

Stan was not the only student who was questioning the amount of time before someone tries to alter the MaineCard system. Another student, who wished to remain anonymous, pointed out that it is “easy to mess with magnetic strip cards like the MaineCard.”

Many people have been using their MaineCards for laundry and don’t see the change as an issue. Fourth year psychology major and third floor Penobscot Hall Resident Assistant James Foster said “Personally, I have always used funds on my MaineCard for laundry, since I was a first-year. Though I can see why people use change, I personally find it more convenient to use Black Bear Bucks and do not see why there is such an outcry against efficiency. However, I know all too well how opposed to change people are, especially in regards to university policy.”

Although the transition is scheduled to begin on Monday, Sept. 24, the process could take a couple weeks as the conversion is made across campus. Several students said that they felt that the university didn’t share enough information with them regarding the conversion, but are accepting the alteration. As MacArthur points out, “Students now have to find something else to do with their spare change.”