Want a coffee? If you want use the TU’s coffee, candy and soda machines, then you better have a chipper, chip card or chipknip. Complaints, if not coffee, are pouring in, because the chip machines don’t work very well.
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”It doesn’t work at all,” complains Naim Larbi, a third-year Infomatics student. While studying in the library, Larbi would like a sandwich from the machine. ”But it’s no go,” he complains. ‘Unusable card’, ‘Take out card please’, the chip machine responds.
As the new term got underway last week, studying at TU Delft suddenly seemed to be a very dry business. Students discovered that coffee was no longer available with kwartjes or guilders. And although many bankcards are equipped with chipper or chipknip, most people don’t remember their personal code. Consequently, long lines appeared in normally quiet places. The small post office next to the Aula seemed to be transformed into a soda shop. ”Last week it was terribly busy,” says Mrs. Tetteroo, proprietor of Ubas Garage, next to the Electrical Engineering faculty. ”Fortunately, this week it’s quieter.”
Meanwhile, people who have figured out how to use the chips are still thirsty, because many machines don’t work properly. ”In itself, I think it’s a good idea the TU switches from small change to chipper,” says Bart-Jan van Beuzekom, an MSc student studying Technical Management. ”But of course only if the machines work.”
Lemonade
It’s understandable why the TU chose the chip-operated machines. Wob Rombouts, manager of facility services, explains: ”The TU wants to curtail coin use. Not only to prevent theft, but also because of the costs of money transport and storage. A second reason is the Euro. Making all machines suitable for Euro coins would cost us nearly two thousand guilders per machine.”
In July, Maas, the TU’s vending machine supplier, started converting the university’s more than one hundred machines. The job was supposed to take four weeks, but the project still isn’t finished. ”We were confident Maas would succeed, as they also introduced the chip at Leiden and Utrecht universities. Now it was Nijmegen’s and Delft’s turn, with one manager for each city. Problems started however when one manager became ill. Then Murphy’s Law took effect,” Rombouts explains. ”Maas guaranteed everything would be solved by September 3, but that’s more than a week ago now. For every extra day over the deadline they must pay a fine.”
Problems mounted. First, only the chipknip worked, while the chipper, serviced by another bank, didn’t. When this was solved, software for the system’s TU-pay card began causing problems. Students, consequently, weren’t able to buy coffee in the library during the re-examination period.
Architecture student union, Stylos, reacted playfully to the coffee machine crisis. President Maarten Veerman: ”We noticed the longqueues in the canteens, with students only buying milk. The coffee machines were to blame, so we went through queues with a watering can filled with lemonade.”
Thermos
Yet, problems persist. Sixteen chipper-loading stations were promised, but only two of them are currently operational. Rombouts expects additional eight machines to be working by October. Despite the many problems, Rombouts still believes in chipping. ”Soon people will be able to pay with chippers in TU canteens. In two years, almost all coins and cash will have disappeared.”
But not everyone is pleased with this development. Certainly not Marco Rozendaal, who works at Industrial Design Engineering (IO): ”It’s irritating you can only chip. If coins were also in use, you could choose.” On the stairs of the library four IO students are drinking coffee from their own thermos. ”Hopeless,” they say unanimously about the chipping machines. ”Who knows how to operate such a machine, and who remembers his chipper code?”
Want a coffee? If you want use the TU’s coffee, candy and soda machines, then you better have a chipper, chip card or chipknip. Complaints, if not coffee, are pouring in, because the chip machines don’t work very well.
”It doesn’t work at all,” complains Naim Larbi, a third-year Infomatics student. While studying in the library, Larbi would like a sandwich from the machine. ”But it’s no go,” he complains. ‘Unusable card’, ‘Take out card please’, the chip machine responds.
As the new term got underway last week, studying at TU Delft suddenly seemed to be a very dry business. Students discovered that coffee was no longer available with kwartjes or guilders. And although many bankcards are equipped with chipper or chipknip, most people don’t remember their personal code. Consequently, long lines appeared in normally quiet places. The small post office next to the Aula seemed to be transformed into a soda shop. ”Last week it was terribly busy,” says Mrs. Tetteroo, proprietor of Ubas Garage, next to the Electrical Engineering faculty. ”Fortunately, this week it’s quieter.”
Meanwhile, people who have figured out how to use the chips are still thirsty, because many machines don’t work properly. ”In itself, I think it’s a good idea the TU switches from small change to chipper,” says Bart-Jan van Beuzekom, an MSc student studying Technical Management. ”But of course only if the machines work.”
Lemonade
It’s understandable why the TU chose the chip-operated machines. Wob Rombouts, manager of facility services, explains: ”The TU wants to curtail coin use. Not only to prevent theft, but also because of the costs of money transport and storage. A second reason is the Euro. Making all machines suitable for Euro coins would cost us nearly two thousand guilders per machine.”
In July, Maas, the TU’s vending machine supplier, started converting the university’s more than one hundred machines. The job was supposed to take four weeks, but the project still isn’t finished. ”We were confident Maas would succeed, as they also introduced the chip at Leiden and Utrecht universities. Now it was Nijmegen’s and Delft’s turn, with one manager for each city. Problems started however when one manager became ill. Then Murphy’s Law took effect,” Rombouts explains. ”Maas guaranteed everything would be solved by September 3, but that’s more than a week ago now. For every extra day over the deadline they must pay a fine.”
Problems mounted. First, only the chipknip worked, while the chipper, serviced by another bank, didn’t. When this was solved, software for the system’s TU-pay card began causing problems. Students, consequently, weren’t able to buy coffee in the library during the re-examination period.
Architecture student union, Stylos, reacted playfully to the coffee machine crisis. President Maarten Veerman: ”We noticed the longqueues in the canteens, with students only buying milk. The coffee machines were to blame, so we went through queues with a watering can filled with lemonade.”
Thermos
Yet, problems persist. Sixteen chipper-loading stations were promised, but only two of them are currently operational. Rombouts expects additional eight machines to be working by October. Despite the many problems, Rombouts still believes in chipping. ”Soon people will be able to pay with chippers in TU canteens. In two years, almost all coins and cash will have disappeared.”
But not everyone is pleased with this development. Certainly not Marco Rozendaal, who works at Industrial Design Engineering (IO): ”It’s irritating you can only chip. If coins were also in use, you could choose.” On the stairs of the library four IO students are drinking coffee from their own thermos. ”Hopeless,” they say unanimously about the chipping machines. ”Who knows how to operate such a machine, and who remembers his chipper code?”
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