While many Dartmouth students have not yet taken advantage of Dartmouth Dining Services's new delivery service, most report that it is a good idea in the abstract.
According to Rebecca Perkins '04, one of the DDS delivery program's two student managers, DDS Delivery had 59 orders the first night the program opened. Since then, DDS has received between 35 and 45 orders each night.
Perkins and Tim Zeitler '03, the program's other student manager, said that while the service has encountered some problems in the first few days since its launch, most are minor and to be expected.
For example, problems with the printer the students use posed significant problems the opening night of DDS delivery, Perkins and Zeitler said, but they have been able to decrease the time that students spend waiting for orders significantly since.
Abiel Acosta '04 ordered a sandwich, an order of chips, and soda from DDS Delivery the night the service opened. It took an hour for his order to arrive, he said, and he called DDS back after 45 minutes.
Acosta did order from DDS again "three or four days later." While both of his orders were exactly the same, the second order took only 30 minutes to arrive, he said.
He acknowledged that DDS might be "having issues at the beginning," but he was pleased to see the considerable reduction in the time he spent waiting for orders.
Several other students contacted by The Dartmouth, who had not ordered from DDS delivery, had also heard from friends that long waits were a problem. "I've heard it takes a long time," said John Buckholz '04, although he admitted that he liked the convenience of the service and might use it sometime in the future.
Acosta said that he would likely order from DDS again, despite the initial hour-long wait. Like many other students who spoke with The Dartmouth, being able to use the Declining Balance Account on his Dartmouth card instead of cash to pay for food appealed to him.
Most students contacted by The Dartmouth who had not yet used DDS delivery nonetheless thought that the service was a good idea.
Jay Bannerjee '04 thought that the new service would make it easier to obtain food late at night. "I have a weird study schedule, I'm usually up at late hours, and I basically only do work late at night," he said.
While he had not yet used DDS delivery because his DBA has been running low, he hoped that the service can be kept in place.
A number of students thought that they were more likely to use DDS delivery in winter or during bad weather.
Merdedith McGowan '04, for example, said that she would be more likely to use DDS delivery in colder weather.
Other students noted that the large number of students living off-campus during Summer might mean that the service will become more popular during later terms.
"I live off-campus now and I'm off in the fall," said Chelsea Lane-Miller '04, "but maybe I'll use DDS delivery in the winter."
For some students, like Acosta and Julia Shields '04, the limited menu DDS delivery currently offers prevents them from using the service just yet. "It's only sandwiches now," Shields said.
A minority of students doubted that they would ever use the service. "It's not really that far to walk," Suzanne Larimore '04 said.
Larimore also said that the need to tip the deliveryperson with cash would deter her from ordering from DDS delivery.
Perkins and Zeitler also said that answering the concerns from students involved with ecological groups, who claim that the delivery service is wasteful, has been a major focus of their efforts over these opening days.
"We've been trying to minimize the use of cars," Perkins said, "we use a computerized ordering system instead of paper, paper bags instead of plastic, and paper wrapping instead of plastic containers."
Acosta noted that the first night he ordered from DDS, he was able to tip the deliveryperson with DASH Discretionary funds on the Dartmouth card, but that he could not the second time. He hoped that DDS would change its policy back so that students could tip with DASH, he said.
Zeitler and Perkins said that it is too early to determine whether DDS delivery will continue into the fall, but Zeitler said that the program had been doing well, given that only a quarter of the student body is currently on campus.
