Dear Colleagues,
After I went to a Housing Food Services facility in the UW Med Ctr today and was charged either $1.45 or $1.55 for a bagel, I was reminded why I try to always pack my lunch and avoid HFS spots. If I want to get say a pack of gum or drink, all I have to do is walk over to the South Campus Ctr UW Bookstore, and I will be charged about 10-15% less than at a HFS facility. One can also go off campus and find a range of items being sold by UW facilities at prices less than HFS charges. Some of you, who like me have been here for over 30 years, may remember when one could buy lunch on the UW campus at a reasonable price, and not feel like the highest price possible was being demanded. The HFS seems to me to be yet another manifestation of the ‘corptocracy’ of the UW, where the primary purpose is to make money, get profits, even if now means charging poor students a lot more than is either necessary or warranted.
It would be interested to know if any of you have solutions to this problem, or if you agree or disagree with me. Undoubtedly someone will respond and say that the prices are necessary to break even or something like that; if that is true, then why would HFS have to charge 10% more than the UW bookstore? Opps, will this question lead the UW Bookstore to raise their prices now?
Ed Clark