Small change in bookstore lockers

Leigh-Anne Brown Arizona Daily Wildcat Sandy Epstein, finance freshman, puts his belongings into one of the new pay lockers in the UA Associated Students Bookstore. Like many other students, Epstein chose to leave his backpack in the locker unlocked because he had no spare change.

This system might save students' belongings and aggravation, but many students don't have spare change in their pockets.

"I think it's kind of dumb, because I don't have a quarter. If I had a quarter, then I'd use the lockers," said Andrea Lochner, a sophomore majoring in graphic design.

The alternative to lockers are open cubbyholes, which operate on the honesty of bookstore patrons.

The Arizona Daily Wildcat observed over a period of 10 minutes, six out of 10 students chose to leave their backpacks out in the open rather than dig into their change purses and pockets.

"Instead of taking my time and looking around inside the bookstore, I rushed through, because I knew my bag wasn't being watched. If I knew that my bag was safe, then I wouldn't have rushed," said Kristen Bartch, a sophomore majoring in accounting.

The security supervisor at the bookstore, Charlie Gallegos, reported that thefts have not increased since the quarter lockers were installed at the beginning of the semester.

Gallegos said he realizes pay lockers are an inconvenience to students.

"The system will be better once we're done with reconstruction. We will also have a new surveillance system that will include 11 new cameras," Gallegos said.

Cindy Hawk, director of operations at the bookstore, said she would not comment on the decision to add the coin-operated system because, "The system might change."