On-campus versus off-campus prices of common goods

Whether stopping to grab a drink on the way to class or a snack to make it through the afternoon, most students at the University of Northern Iowa have shopped at one of the three convenience stores on campus.

Biscotti’s, 23rd Street Market and Essentials all cater to the students at UNI. Purchases can be made using cash, Dining Dollars, credit cards or as a charge to a student’s uBill account. The stores tend to have the same prices on the identical goods sold at each establishment.

“Most of the things we carry are on the same pricing structure as Biscotti’s or 23rd Street,” said Shelley Pruess, Essentials manager. “The exception is the regular soda, where we charge 10 cents more to help pay the commission to Maucker Union.”

If a student does find a discrepancy in the price of food items from one store to another on campus, Pruess encourages the student to bring it to the attention of the staff.

“Sometimes we update the pricing structure and an item is missed, or if one store decides to carry an item it hasn’t stocked for a while, the item might come up in their system on an old pricing structure and not match the other stores,” Pruess said.

The items in the stores are priced with consideration to costs of keeping the stores open, paying students’ wages and an aversion to price gouging.

“The prices of (perishable items) fluctuate some and each store has its own specialty items for variety,” remarked Pruess on the pricing differences.

23rd Street Market has its deli and salad bar, Biscotti’s houses fresh baked goods on one wall and Essentials carries a wider selection of non-food goods — such as makeup, school supplies and souvenirs — than the other two.

Essentials also allows students to suggest items if a student cannot find an item they need or want. Pruess encourages students to make suggestions, with the caveat that some items can’t be stocked due to contracts with current providers, such as Pepsi.

The contract with Pepsi keeps Essentials and other UNI-run stores from stocking Red Bull or Snapple, even though they have been requested by students. The Office of Business Operations has a FAQ page on this contract at www.vpaf.uni.edu/obo/pepsifaqs.shtml.

Some students still chose to shop off campus. Locations in close proximity are University Book and Supply, Target, WalMart, Hy-Vee, Fareway or other local stores.

Rachel Harmon, a sophomore elementary education major, said that she shops off campus because she finds it to be cheaper, even when including the price of gas.

“We have meal plans and Dining Dollars, but some stuff is better off campus,” Harmon said.

Director of Dining Services Carol Petersen addressed the price difference between on- and off-campus foods.

“We have a more difficult time competing with them because of the volume they buy in comparison to us,” she said.

The larger quantity bought by chain stores allows them to get the goods for lower prices and in turn, sell them cheaper.

Some groceries, usually dry goods, are cheaper at Target or WalMart, while perishables are usually cheaper at Hy-Vee or Fareway. Paying attention to the differences in pricing can help students save some money and the savings can add up to a significant sum.

 

Be the first to comment on this article!

Add comment


I am not posting spam. I understand posting spam or other comments that are unrelated to this article will cause my comment to be flagged for deletion and possibly cause my IP address to be permanently banned from this server.

Enter the characters in the image above:

log out