With the University ID Card now termed “WesCard,” a new way to pay for items on campus and in Middletown has arrived. Yet the WesCard seems to have already failed to benefit students and retailers.
With little publicity for the new program, many students are unaware of the new system.
“I don’t know if I am interested since I have a credit card already,” said Si Hyung Woo ’08.
Woo said that he could see how the program could help build financial independence in students who are not ready to have a credit card yet.
“That way, if you screw up, you aren’t screwed for life,” he said.
Woo said he would consider a WesCard in the future, but was fine for now with taking care of his personal spending without the University’s new program.
“I am happy with my credit card,” he said. “It is platinum.”
For off-campus shopping, the new Middletown Cash program allows students to use their IDs as debit cards at many Middletown stores and restaurants.
Other students expressed contempt for the new card.
“The situation with the card is ridiculous,” said Rachael Cleveland ’07.
Cleveland added that there are too many steps necessary to participate in the Middletown cash program. She said a program consolidates her laundry card, printing card, and phone bill would be more beneficial than one that creates an additional account.
In downtown Middletown, stores including Typhoon, Minute Man Press, Pip Printing and Brew Bakers display a window decal indicating that they accept WesCard.
A group of frosh—Maya Bery ’08, Maggie Mitchell ’08, and Anand Venkataohalam ’08—on their way to Brooks Pharmacy, discussed the new option.
Mitchell remembered being instructed on how the WesCard system worked during freshman orientation.
“They made it sound scary,” she said.
Venkataohalam said that he could see the benefit of a program that encouraged students to leave campus. His trip to Brooks was his first off-campus venture.
Bery said that she would be more likely to use the WesCard system if charges were simply added to a student’s regular account, like Broad Street Books purchases.
All three frosh said that their purchases that day were going to be made using cash or credit cards.
While the WesCard is a source of confusion for many students, for Middletown merchants it is just beginning to become a part of their daily business.
“I did my first one today,” said Brenda Riley, owner of Brew Bakers.
Since the start of the program, she estimates that maybe a dozen similar transactions have been made.
“I think it is wonderful because it encourages the students to shop off campus while giving them the convenience of not having to carry cash,” she said.
Kevin Jenuska, an employee at PIP Printing, another participating vendor, has yet to see the benefits of the program.
“It doesn’t work,” he said.
He and other Middletown merchants explained that the program required them to purchase a special scanning device for the card, to pay monthly fees in order to access the server, and to accept a lower return than the average credit card offers.
“I had to [participate in the program] in order to market to the University,” one retailer said on conditions of anonymity. This retailer feared losing business and a positive relationship with the University if his business failed to participate.
So far, for his business and others, the benefits of participating in this program have yet to be seen.
“I had to raise my prices to make up for my losses with this program,” the retailer said.
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