There has become a noticeable trend of adding extra security tags on foods at Pace University’s Miller Mart. Established before the Fall 2023 semester, Miller Mart was introduced as part of the new market at Miller Hall to offer students a convenient 24/7 self-serve vending machine system. As outlined in a previous Pace Chronicle report from October that year, the concept is very simple. Students swipe their ID card to unlock the machine door, select the items they want, and the attached RFID tags automatically register and charge the items to their card (assuming students have an $8.00 minimum balance already on their card).
While this new addition to dining has been helpful and stable, over time, methods of exploiting the system have emerged. Some have learned ways to check out items without setting off the tag system to charge the card. Such act is considered stealing by Chartwells, who maintains the fridges.
A more frequent method of bypass has been students peeling off part of or the entire sticker from the item and throwing it on a different one. The removed item is not charged, but the product that now has another sticker on it, causing confusion and potentially mischarging whoever picks that item up.
Items that appear to be double-tagged or incorrectly tagged in the first place have been the fresh products, such as sandwiches, fruit, and vegetables. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich purchased during this investigation was mislabeled and charged for a bag of brownie brittle. The said Brownie brittle is across from the fresh food fridge.
Pace has attempted to fix this issue by increasing the number of security tags and strategically placing them in different spots. As such, they are becoming stricter with monitoring the system. Their problem- and students’ ingenuity toward avoiding charges continues nonetheless. Those who have not taken products in a sly manner question if the extensive theft is part of why prices are being increased to compensate for the losses caused by stolen goods.
In many retail businesses, theft, which is also known as “shrinkage,” forces the businesses to quietly raise prices to maintain their profitability. If theft at Miller Mart continues unchecked, it is a possible outcome. Thus, it would be logical to assume that all students could soon be paying more for their snacks and essentials, even to those who have never stolen a thing. A price raise will stand as an inconvenience, especially for those who don’t have convenient payment methods like “dining dollars,” which is money given to some students to purchase items within dining, such as the items sold at Miller Mart. Staff, professors, and other passersby have used their debit and credit cards.
Chartwells, the dining company that operates Miller Mart alongside Kessel Cafe for Pace University’s dining services, declined to comment on the matter.