Yesterday around 12:15pm on my way to Western Civ. I stopped by the pop machine. I reached into my purse to grab my wallet and see if I had the $1.25 the vending machine required. Of course, being the broke college student I am I didn’t have the change but that didn’t stop me from wanting a delicious, cold Cherry Coke – I had to have one. And then, I noticed it; attached directly below the coin slot and dollar shot sat a black box with green LCD screen printed with the MasterCard and Visa logos.

I stood there for a minute, knowing that I had seen these before on vending machines but having never used one because I thought “who the hell would actually use a credit card to buy a $1 pop?!” and then I debated – should I or shouldn’t I? I could taste the Cherry Coke on my tongue…I had to have one! I whipped out my debit card, pressed the black box to start the process and swiped away; I pushed the Cherry Coke button and my transaction was completed with the drop of my Cherry Coke into the bottom of the machine and a nice “thank you and have a great day” printed across the LCD screen. At last, I had my pop.

I never in my life thought I’d resort to using my debit card to purchase a $1 pop from a vending machine. Sure, I use my debit card for everything else at the store even if it’s a measly amount of say $2, but that’s because I never carry cash on me. It amazes me how far technology has come as well as how convenient it has made our lives in general, that we can buy a pop when we don’t have cash on hand.

Tags: Technology

This entry was posted on Friday, September 26th, 2008 at 2:14 am and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.