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Opinion |
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Another Card?
The MHCC ID cards. The MountainCard. Now we have a copier card?
The ID cards are an obvious necessity for students. They allow us access and privilege, and identify us as MHCC students.
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The MountainCard is arguably a waste for most students, at least the ones who already have a bank account and established credit and banking history.
The copier card is now another financial device and piece of plastic students must carry around in their wallet or purse — and an unnecessary one at that.
What next, a restroom access card? Will we then need a separate “Toilet-paper-dispensary-fee” card?
What happens if someone loses his or her copy card or has it stolen? According to an article in this issue of The Advocate, the unlucky student must purchase another one and the balance on the card is forfeit.
Apparently, the good ol’ fashioned coin-operated copy machine was too low tech for MHCC. How much did we pay for the new upgrades to an existing system that seemed to work fine?
The old system of dropping a dime into a slot and making a copy obviously represents a bygone era of straightforward functionality and utilitarian convenience. Clearly, MHCC needed to fix this problem.
Now we have a brand spanking new system, one that adds yet another small plastic card we need to carry around.
Consider that most students are likely to already be carrying several other much-needed accessories as well. The average student might have a number of cards in their wallet or purse such as a state ID or driver’s license, their primary bank card, their student ID, the MountainCard, membership cards, a bus pass, possibly several credit cards, and so on. But hey, it’s new and digital, so we totally needed it.
If you can’t remember to bring a couple dimes with you, or you don’t have the nerve or desperation to go to your adviser and mooch a few copies off whatever department you’re involved with, then you may be out of luck
Why should the rest of us deal with a new system that further indoctrinates students into a system of “swipe-and-go,” a system that has been proven to promote unwise and frivolous spending?
Crack teams of marketing experts, advertisers, banks, and even psychiatrists, have spent years trying to figure out how to make consumers spend more money more stupidly. They came up with: “Give them plastic.”
Take a smallish, thin piece of metal and stick it in a slender hole and get a copy. How hard is that? It doesn’t seem too difficult to us.
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