The two new vending machines outside of the cafe are the latest additions to our school. It is clear that students appreciate the new machines, as they usually run out of food by the end of the day. I asked the cafeteria staff some questions about the new vending machines and found out a few interesting pieces of information. I learned that the vending machines do need to be restocked every day, and the cafeteria staff usually restocks them around 9:30 every morning. After I realized that they need to restock the vending machines daily, I was interested in how much the cafeteria profits from the machines. It turns out that there is very little profit being made from the vending machines because they were so expensive to purchase. The cafeteria staff did say that they weren't exactly sure how much profit they were making but they knew that they were breaking even. So the cafeteria is not losing money from the vending machines, but they certainly don’t have the return that I had assumed that they were making. 

I also asked the staff why the vending machines are even here? They said that the cafeteria has been forced to stay closed most of the day thanks to short staffing due to COVID. So the cafeteria purchased the vending machines in order to keep students fed while the cafeteria is closed, and it is clearly appreciated by the students.

Most students think that the vending machines help people focus in class because they’re not hungry during class, especially during the last period. Sophomore Eli Wilkening said that he uses the vending machines twice a day and believes that, “the vending machine provides people a break in between classes so that they can be re-energized and ready to focus on their next class.” Similarly,  freshman Cole Cochrane thinks that “the vending machines are cool.” After asking more students how they felt about the vending machines, I found that most people think that the vending machines are a very good addition to the school. A few students said that the location of the vending machines is a bit inconvenient due to the mass of people that forms in between class periods, but most of them said that they are still glad the machines are here. 

The teacher's perspective on the vending machines is slightly different. Some teachers find the vending machines to be a problem due to students leaving class at bad times to go get a snack. However, many teachers, like Mr. Ross, believe that students usually leave class at the appropriate time to go to get a snack and that the machines are “not a major issue.”