Originally Posted by Marlowe

Not necessarily. When the price goes up, it means less students will choose to go with a fridge. Supply and demand at different price points and such. This will probably reduce the number of people in residence with fridges.

I don't think supply and demand theory would work here...I mean, can you survive 8 months without a fridge?

Originally Posted by MCHEDDENITE

I think this is the most retarded thing ever, **** its so WW2 ish. next they are gonna say u can't bring ur own clothes and only mcmaster clothing is acceptable or some stupid shit. It sucks for upper years who just bought a fridge and now cant bring it back. And i totally don't agree with you alyssa at all. Im not putting all my food in a fridge where ANYONE has access to it. have u lived in rez, ppl just take shit. and where am i suppose to put my alcohol, Im def not leaving it in the common room. mcmaster is such a dirt school, i regret coming here. i just wanna finish my undergrad and go but who knows by then theres prob some new stupid rule saying im stuck here forever

I did live in res and I did leave stuff in the common room sometimes and never had anything happen to it. I never left it in there for more than a few hours, sometimes for a day btu I only put things in there that I knew I was going to eat real soon. As for alcohol... does all of your alcohol have to go in the fridge? Last time I checked not all kinds of alcohol need to be refrigerated, actually I've only put very few things in the fridge and it wasn't because of requirement it was just cause they tasted smoother cold.

Originally Posted by Marlowe

Now this is something I would really like to see. We're trying to shift to a pedestrian campus anyway (moving the buses off campus and such), and getting rid of those carts would seem to be the next logical step. I don't think I've ever seen one actually being used to carry something.

I thought most golf carts were electric though, does anyone know if these are similar?


And as was already stated, doesn't off campus look so much more tempting now?

Even if the carts are powered by electricity, unless they are recharged by a renewable source it's still not environmentally friendly. What's the point of driving an electric car if it's powered by electricity generated from fossil fuels? In the end you are still contributing to the carbon footprint.

I think we should all bring our fridges anyway. Hide them in cardboard boxes when you move in. How will they know?

Originally Posted by Quester

I don't think supply and demand theory would work here...I mean, can you survive 8 months without a fridge?

I've never actually lived in res, but my instinct is that it would be extremely possible. Its not like you're buying large amounts of groceries since you have a meal plan, and you have access to a common fridge. Most snacks people would buy are non-refrigerated, and for drinks you just need to stick them in a few hours before you need them so theft isn't that big of an issue. I could be way off base because of the no experience thing, but a personal fridge seems to be more of a luxury than a necessity.

Originally Posted by jhan523

Even if the carts are powered by electricity, unless they are recharged by a renewable source it's still not environmentally friendly. What's the point of driving an electric car if it's powered by electricity generated from fossil fuels? In the end you are still contributing to the carbon footprint.

100% true, but in terms of lobbying to get them removed it would be much easier if they took gasoline. Electric is still perceived as more environmentally friendly, regardless of the source.

Originally Posted by Marlowe

I've never actually lived in res, but my instinct is that it would be extremely possible. Its not like you're buying large amounts of groceries since you have a meal plan, and you have access to a common fridge. Most snacks people would buy are non-refrigerated, and for drinks you just need to stick them in a few hours before you need them so theft isn't that big of an issue. I could be way off base because of the no experience thing, but a personal fridge seems to be more of a luxury than a necessity.

Well, for me, I didn't have the best fridge last year, so I mostly used it to store fruits and drinks and such. I suppose you could survive the year without one, but having a fridge would facilitate the ability to eat healthier foods as snacks , buy groceries, bring home cooked stuff from home, etc. And at the end of the day, it's really difficult to trust the common fridge for that.

Honestly, I think if more people didn't have fridges, they'd be more likely to spend more money at commons-errr centro and bistro and all. Another way for them to make more money. -.-

This is total BS. So anyone who wants to have a fridge has to pay above and beyond the price of buying one to rent one for 8 months. Then all students in a room have to then share said expensive rental fridge. Any students who find this to be absurd but still want cold drinks will be forced to buy more drinks on campus and will have to take time out to go buy a drink every time they want a cold one. That or they'll have to keep them in a common fridge and risk them not being there when they go to drink it. I don't buy the energy bullshit for a second. Its a money grubbing scheme. Fridges are a very handy thing to have and you can buy one for less than you can rent one from Coldex. When I lived in residence for two years I liked having a place to keep some drinks and maybe snacks like apple sauce and cheese in a fridge in my room. It was convenient not to have to leave my room every time I wanted juice or a small snack while I was working or studying. The very least they could do if they're going to go through with this idiotic scheme is lower the rental prices so they are more reasonable for an 8 month rental. They presumable re-use the fridges for a number of years and mini-fridges don't cost even as much as they are charging for one rental so they could stand to lower the prices.

Originally Posted by etoilex3

Well, for me, I didn't have the best fridge last year, so I mostly used it to store fruits and drinks and such. I suppose you could survive the year without one, but having a fridge would facilitate the ability to eat healthier foods as snacks , buy groceries, bring home cooked stuff from home, etc. And at the end of the day, it's really difficult to trust the common fridge for that.

Honestly, I think if more people didn't have fridges, they'd be more likely to spend more money at commons-errr centro and bistro and all. Another way for them to make more money. -.-

Exactly.

I often brought home-cooked meal during the weekend and stored in my fridge. Also stored lots of groceries, drinks, medicine, etc to avoid Commons as much as possible. As for eating out to use up the meal plan, going to Bistro many times a week would quickly run your meal plan out so it's not a problem.

As I posted earlier, I don't trust common fridge anymore. There ARE some ignorant people living on your floor who would sabotage your food. Some jacka$$ put hot sauce in my "just-opened" juice carton that I left for LESS than 24 hours. I'm not saying that you'll encounter problems like this on all rez, but you should be careful with what you leave in that fridge.

Fair enough, I guess a fridge is more needed than I would have assumed. It probably won't lower the number as much as I thought it would (although I think it's enough to turn some students off of using a fridge).

One thing that just occurred to me though- the higher pricing is quite possibly meant to account for the extra energy used by someone with a fridge. I know my landlord charged extra if we wanted a personal fridge in our room since we had utilities included.

I call bullshit.
Have your parents drop off your fridge over the next weekends...

This new "rule" was not in effect when we signed our residence agreements (aka when we paid our deposit). I don't think it is acceptable that McMaster can unilaterally implement a new law that we did not agree to when we opted for residence. Do we even need to listen to them?

Originally Posted by hitek168

This new "rule" was not in effect when we signed out residence agreements (aka when we paid our deposit). I don't think it is acceptable that McMaster can unilaterally implement a new law that we did not agree to when we opted for residence. Do we even need to listen to them?

It seems like there's definitely a possibility you could manage to get out of your residence contract (without penalty) because of this. It appears there was no appropriate notice of this change which has significant monetary impact.

That being said, fridges do take up a fair bit of electricity and given that sustainability is a laudable goal, perhaps some compromise could be negotiated where those with fridges could be assessed a fee (depending on the size / age of their fridge) just to cover the electricity. If McMaster signed an exclusive deal with Coldex, that may be a breach of that contract though.

Gotta love this place

I think the most reasonable thing they could do is allow fridges this year, and start their so called "sustainability" program for the 2011-2012 year but inform students BEFORE they ask for money.

I would bring it a after froshweek. Even if a CA saw you bring it in, they can't do much about it.

mini fridges saved me in first year. i ran out on my meal plan super quick because i eat a lot. i couldn't afford to keep eating campus food (it's really expensive and it adds up). mini-fridges allowed me to buy cheap groceries for myself so I could personally store them and that was literally the food I lived off of. Without a mini-fridge always having to go to the common kitchen just to have something to eat would have been hell.
in the common kitchens people leave all their garbage and dirty dishes everywhere. things DO go missing in common kitchens, and people also leave food in the common fridge to the point where it molds and makes the entire place small disgusting.

good luck to those living in res.