To: Vincent Boudreau, president of CCNY

From: Kazi Ahmed, student of CCNY

Date: February 2, 2021

Subject: Implementation of more vending machines on campus premises

The purpose of this memo is to highlight the need for more vending machines around the school premises. This is to make it more convenient for students to grab snacks/masks/gloves, etc.

Summary

There are currently approximately 16,000 students participating in undergraduate and graduate programs across the 35-acre campus. According to those numbers, there are a very limited number of vending machines around the campus. I suggest that we put more vending machines in certain places that have a lot of foot traffic and in common areas where students gather, we can meet and discuss more on this at a convenient time.

Discussion

I am a freshman in this college and this is my second semester. Even though I have not yet attended the campus as a student myself,  I have been to the campus with my sister when she was an undergraduate student. Since I wanted to be a part of this college I couldn’t help but notice that there weren’t many places for having a snack or two on the go. It is always nice to be able to grab a few snacks whenever and wherever one feels like it.  This campus is way too big with way fewer resources attracting the foot traffic.

This would not only increase the convenience of having snacks on the go, but it will also be an entrepreneurial example to the students.  Managing a vending machine business isn’t as easy as it might seem,  it takes a lot of effort to maintain the condition and efficiency of the machine to keep it running. I would love to help out with this problem. Recently, my friend and I have been working on the same project around our community. We go around the neighborhoods and see which areas have a high amount of foot traffic and contact the businesses that reside on the premises. If we were to given permission of working on this project, we would take full responsibility and provide the feasibility study to make sure that this project works out in the best way. This is the best time for installation especially since there is less traffic on campus during this period. It is a good idea to have the vending machines in place before students are back on campus.

 Another brilliant use of the vending machine is filling them up with masks and gloves. Due to covid-19, we have all faced a lot of difficulties whether it be with ourselves or a loved one. The CDC  has aggressively suggested and recommended the use of gloves and masks whenever we are outside,  but because of the high demand and lower supply of these products, a lot of people are not able to keep themselves safe. We plan to provide gloves,  masks, and hand sanitizers around the areas which have a lot of casual gathering. And with campuses hopefully opening soon next semester, this idea would be a very helpful one for preparing students to take precautions and safety measures.

Recommendation 

I am grateful for your review of this proposal and would like to talk to you further about this initiative when you are available. What I had in mind is that if you would accept this request of implementing do vending machines, we can invite other faculty members to participate in this discussion and provide input. You can email me at [email protected] to arrange a meeting and I will notify my business associate.