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It seems like every year when students come back for another semester, something at Pepperdine has changed. Last year, the most visible change was the new stop sign. This year, the cafeteria introduces new cups: red Coca Cola paper cups in three different sizes.
Dining services decided to change the cups to make available a variety of sizes that weren’t in the other size cups.
“Some of the students wanted to have a really large cup that you can find at the convenience stores, at McDonald’s and Burger King,” said Gene Perkins, dining services area general manager. The new size that has been introduced is equivalent to the super-sized drink sizes at fast food restaurants.
With the introduction of the super-sized cups, the small cups have been eliminated. “Over the last year, we hardly used them. You watched the products that you carry, and you look at what the students like and what they use,” Perkins said. “So we took the size cups that were most popular and then added the big one, the big gulp.”
Not only are the sizes different, but the new cups are also made of paper instead of Styrofoam. The school has an environmental program where every trash container that gets picked up here gets taken to an area where it is completely broken down on conveyor belts and sent to different areas. The problem with the Styrofoam cups was that they were not re-usable.
“It’s not as good as paper. Paper can be reused and recycled,” Perkins said.
Students have had mixed responses to these new cups. Some students miss the small cups.
“I came in today just to get a small cup of water, but all we have are these large-size cups, they don’t have the smaller size cup anymore,” junior Trent Allen said. “And I believe that also causes another problem because what happens if you only want a small drink? You’re forced to buy a larger drink, meaning you’re also forced to spend more money on your card.”
Dining services was unable to keep the small cups while introducing the new larger cups because there was no room for four cups.
Several students have complained that, “They’re not as sturdy as the other ones, so sometimes if you don’t fill them all the way, and you try picking them up, the lid comes off,” said junior Erin Bundra.
Nevertheless, some students have complained in the past about the durability of the old cups also.
“Sometimes the bottom fell out,” said Cindy Cordner, Waves café cashier. Sitting in the cafeteria everyday, Corder said she saw the bottom fall out of the old cups students were holding on several occasions.
“So far, this one seems to be working. No spills, no bottoms falling out,” Cordner said.
Despite the loss of the small cups and questions of the durability of the new cups, students like sophomore Peter Jarvis are happy to see the new cups in the cafeteria.
“They’re bigger for one thing, and I like Coke more than Pepsi,” he said.
Coca Cola has a contract on campus and gives money to the school, and according to Perkins, they felt obligated to go with Coca Cola cups.
“Coca Cola’s a good company, and we’re not ashamed to have their name on our product,” Perkins said.
This is not the first time Dining Services has changed their cups and most likely will not be the last time, and students are welcome to give feedback on how they like the brand new red cups.
Submitted 09-08-2005
MALIBU, CA
