The Grind and cafeteria are common places where students socialize during the school day. They offer pastries, drinks, chips, fruit and more, the to-go options making it easy for students to get lunch while in a rush. However, with the sole form of payment in both the Grind and lunch line being MySchoolBucks – which loads money directly to your student ID account – or cash, it can make grabbing a snack more difficult than thought. 

Many students, like myself, don’t always carry cash on us, and sometimes we forget to add money onto our student account. When this happens, how are we supposed to get lunch? The solution to this is simple: LFHS should allow card payments. Since many students carry their wallets and phones around, being able to use Apple Pay, or a Credit or Debit card, to purchase food would be a huge change in the efficiency of the lunch lines. This would allow students to always have access to food during the day and can also increase the amount of money the school will make because more students will purchase food.

According to Capital One, 73% of Generation Z uses Apple Pay at least once per week. Being said, if we add a card option, electronic or physical, it will make the payment process just as easy as a “swipe.”

Many students also want additional forms of payment at the Grind and lunch line.

“I find adding money to my account very annoying,” junior Dakota Acello said. “It would be much easier if they would take Apple Pay because that is what I always have on me.”

Teachers would also like alternative forms of payment; they are also limited to paying only with their MySchoolBucks accounts or cash.

“It’s such a pain to add money to my account,” Wellness teacher Kristen Anderson said. “I wish I could just use Apple Pay because it’s much more convenient.

Katherine Haan, a small business owner and a writer for Forbes said,“70% of people use card payments more often whereas only 22% of people use cash.”

The majority of people always carry a card on them, and it would be a huge sales increase if LFHS made the switch to card payments. Even though adding another form of payment could take some time to install, if we added Credit and Debit card options, more students would be able to purchase food.