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By MOLLY AVERY
Staff Writer
Last semester, UMW announced that new washing machines will be installed in all residences starting in the spring semester. Across the campus, students are struggling to get housing to do laundry. Since there is nowhere on campus to get housing, students have to take off-campus time to travel off-campus to get them. This is inconvenient for most students and has caused a buildup in the laundry room. The university needs to install coin-operated machines in the dorms to alleviate this problem.
Kathy Sandor, director of corporate services on campus, explained the transition from eSuds to SpeedQueen. At the beginning of the semester, eSuds services began to be unavailable. It was feared that the whole system would collapse, leaving students with only the coin options to pay. The new machines, already contracted for the summer, were instead moved to December.
“There were two options to enable a coinless payment method and to reestablish tracking capabilities: make a significant investment in hardware with a limited lifespan and delayed implementation (restoring EagleOne and coin as exclusive payment options), or a move The SpeedQueen monitoring / payment app provided by the manufacturer of the new machines with a reasonable time to install. The second option was the appropriate long- and short-term solution, “Sandor said.
Although the move to the system was an unexpected change for the students, some students are content with the new washing machines. Junior Mya Bundy says she likes new cars. “They are very elegant in design and have more space for laundry.”
As cool as the machines are, students are struggling to pay for their laundry as SpeedQueen doesn’t work with EagleOne. Instead, they have an app that withdraws money directly from student credit or debit cards. Despite the diagrams implanted in the laundries, many students found the app still confusing.
“I’ve tried the app, but it’s very confusing and keeps crashing on me. The diagrams are also confusing and I’ve heard from others that they are too,” Bundy said.
Sandor strongly encourages students who are struggling with the app to ask for help. “In addition to the information posters in the laundromats, instructions can be found on the EagleOne Card website, or by calling, emailing or visiting the EagleOne Card office. The RAs are also an asset, having received training from UMW’s Caldwell & Gregory representative prior to the start of spring classes. “
As an alternative to the app, there is also an option to pay with quarters, which many students find themselves preferring because they don’t trust the app.
Among these students is Andrew Schneidawind, digital studies specialist and junior. “Right now I can say it’s a lot easier and less time-consuming using the app, but I’d feel a lot more comfortable using the quarters because I don’t like giving out my credit card all the time.”
However, getting quarters isn’t an easy task. The ATM on campus does not offer quarters, and campus businesses are unable to exchange bills for quarters as they have a limited amount of change and cannot save the coins they have. This leaves students who want to pay with neighborhoods an option to get them: go off campus.
“Typically, I’d go get quarters from Giant or the bank, but I can’t consistently take time out of my schedule to go run that errand because I’m so busy. I think it’s hard to get housing because you create such a hassle for the people at the grocery store, “said Michelle Holt, senior anthropology major.
For the convenience of students, the best solution to this problem would be for the university to install coin-operated machines on campus, so that students could make changes without having to go all out.
“I would like the university to install quarter-size machines because it would make payment a lot easier. I would definitely use it if the university installed one, ”said Melanie Skahen, the junior major for historical preservation.
There are many ways the university can address this problem. They could place a coin mechanism in each laundry room or place one in Lee Hall, a central location on campus for all students to access.
“I think a coin mechanism would be great if there was at least one in each laundry, so people don’t have to use the app if they prefer not to. If there was, I would probably never use the app and just use coins just for safety, ”said Schneidawind.
However, the possibility of having a coin mechanism on campus may be poor. “Exchanges are high cost, high maintenance and supplier liability,” Sandor said. “For these reasons, UMW’s current laundry service provider does not provide them.”
New washing machines are loved by many, but a coin acceptor could make the transition from eSuds to SpeedQueen almost perfect. Students from across the university must join and apply for a coin acceptor if you even want one to be placed on campus. If the university really cared about making life as easy for students as possible, it would install a coin mechanism for student convenience throughout the campus.
