<rleton College is a place rich in both history and tradition. From the annual Rotblatt game to the stolen bust of Schiller and spring term parties on Mai Fete Island, Carleton offers more than just alcohol induced merriment—it offers a living community to its students. But even with such a strong sense of community engrained deeply within the college, there is one glaring need that must be addressed. As students at a residential college (some 90% living on campus), the issue of food, and quality cooking for that matter, is extremely important for all of us. Why then is the administration and Sodexho force-feeding us overpriced animal feed? Perhaps they think we are stupid. Perhaps every member of the administration has had their taste buds removed, or perhaps, they think we just don’t have enough sense to care what we are eating. Either way, students at Carleton College are being exploited.
I recently bought several items from the snack bar to investigate and compare prices. Randomly picking and choosing items that I knew would also be on grocery store counters, I ended up with six items and approximately 11 dollars worth of food and beverage.
This seemed like a reasonable price in the beginning, but when I went online to a local grocery store’s website (byerlysandlunds.com), that belief was quickly laid to rest. The standard 20 oz. bottle of Dr. Pepper I purchased from the snack bar cost $1.54. At Byerly’s, it would have cost five cents less. A lemon-lime Gatorade was $1.87 from Sodexho, but only $0.91 for exactly the same thing when purchased from Byerly’s in an 8-pack or $0.77 when purchased in a 15-pack. Four ounces of Santa Cruz Organic Apple Sauce is sold for $0.95, but worth only $0.66 at a standard grocery store. Single Quaker Chewy Granola Bars go for $0.95 in the snack bar, but 29 cents if you buy them in a 10-pack box anywhere else. Finally, a 16 oz. original flavored Rockstar Energy Drink costs Carleton students $3.39 but consumers can find that same energy drink for as little as $1.50 at Byerly’s or Lund’s stores throughout the state.
It is ludicrous that we pay such steep prices for standard items. Every single thing that I purchased from the snack bar actually cost less at a grocery store. The Rockstar Energy Drink even boasted over a 100% mark-up.
Sodexho undoubtedly buys every one of these products in bulk quantities for much less than they are sold individually, but grocery stores do the exact same thing. Why then is Sodexho marking these items up significantly above the standard retail price? It is theft. Sodexho claims to be a multi-national company with a $7.3 billion dollar annual revenue, yet, they attempt to squeeze college students out of money. In my way of thinking, the only conclusion is that the company has no morals.
If Sodexho produced top-tier food or even just good food, I could accept being ripped off a little bit. But the fact of the matter is everything produced by both the snack bar and dining halls ranges from mediocre, at best, to bad. Sodexho has no right to steal from us then. Either get it right or cut the prices and stop ripping Carleton students off. Sodexho claims on their website that they serve over 10 million customers daily, if that is true, the only question I have left is whether they rip off all 10 million each day or just the roughly 2,000 who go to Carleton?