SAM PIKE
Staff Writer
A welcome change awaits on-campus residents as they return from their summer away from Malibu. All washers and dryers on campus have been converted to a charge-card system, allowing students to forget about saving quarters.
Housing and Community Living decided to install the new system after reviewing the results of a survey they distributed last year.
“We asked students if they would prefer cards over coins, and the overwhelming percentage said yes,” explained Jim Brock, director of housing.
During the summer, WEB Laundry Systems was busy converting every machine from a coin-operated to a card system. Everything initially ran as planned except for a glitch while using credit cards to charge money onto laundry cards, a problem caused by the lack of telephone lines.
When Pepperdine only had a few students on campus, activity on phone lines was limited, which allowed transaction information to easily flow back and forth to the bank. As lines became busier, there was not enough room to support wire transfers. Verizon was set to install six new phone lines Friday to prevent the problem from occurring again. Because of the glitch, the housing office is offering free laundry to students until Tuesday.
“I initially didn’t want to give students the free laundry,” admitted resident facilities coordinator Scott Reynolds. “Cash can still be added to cards in the HAWC and at the housing office, which is not a step backward from last year’s two coin machines.”
However, Reynolds and Brock realized the issue would cast a discouraging shadow over the new program.
“Even though we didn’t have to give this opportunity to students, we really wanted to start the year off on an exciting note,” Brock said.
The successful reception of laundry cards is of paramount importance to HCL, Brock said.
“We want this to be popular with students,” he said. “That’s why we’re willing to cover these initial costs.”
08-27-2007