Debit card machines causing frustration

On a regular Monday morning, a busy Utah State University student hurries into The Hub to buy a sandwich before she heads off to class. She hands the cashier her debit card and then waits

… and waits

… and waits.

Finally, minutes later, her card is processed and she runs off – late to class.

This situation and many like it are causing unnecessary frustrations among many students and employees and they are waiting for some kind of solution.

But Steve Jenson of Housing and Dining Services said the university is already working on establishing a connection that is independent from the campus system so that credit cards can be processed more efficiently.

“We are very much aware of the problem and would like to have it be different,” Jenson said. “The system does not work as quickly as we would like it to.”

Unlike businesses with five-second credit card transactions such as Wal-Mart, USU does not have its own separate and dedicated network like them, said Director of Network and Computing Services Kim Marshall.

Instead, without a dedicated network, processing credit or debit cards is a long process, especially between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. when most students are buying lunch and shopping at the bookstore in the Taggart Student Center, said Brent Goodwine, an employee at the Copy Center.

“The system gets overloaded,” Goodwine said. “It’s getting progressively worse.”

Many students are forced to pull money out of the ATM or just wait for the system to process their card, which Goodwine said can take up to 30 minutes for some.

Skyroom Manager Betty Sialaris contributes the problem to an outdated system and has been trying to work the university to update it, but she said it has not worked as of yet.

“We have problems with credit cards every day,” Sialaris said. “This is a terrible problem for Dining Services.”

Marshall, however, said there is nothing wrong with the system, rather more and more people are using their credit and debit cards. As an alternate option to using a credit or debit card, he encourages students to put money on their ID cards, which he said only takes about four seconds to process.

Whatever the case may be, Chuck Weaver, director of Dining Services said the problem will be resolved by the end of the month.

-mmackay@cc.usu.edu