Local Vendors Accept Flex Off Campus

Nussbaum and Wu became the first vendor officially to allow students to use their CUIDs to make purchases with Flex points around 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

The occasion marked the modest but long-anticipated launch of Flex Off Campus. More local eateries are scheduled to follow Nussbaum’s early implementation of the program, including Hamilton Deli, which should start accepting Flex points in addition to cash Wednesday afternoon, and Fairway Market as early as Thursday, according to Scott Wright, director of Housing and Dining.

“Quite frankly, it’s very gratifying to see we’re in the phase of getting it set up,” Wright said.

Despite “technological compatibility issues,” Wright said that Westside Market should be on board within a few weeks.

Columbia will evaluate Flex Off Campus at the end of its initial six weeks before expanding to other vendors.

“We want to make sure everything we thought would happen with the program did happen,” Wright said. “Then our intent is to be pervasive among vendors on Amsterdam and Broadway.”

While the focus is on food establishments, Wright said he hopes to eventually bring in at least one pharmacy.

George Krebs, the Columbia College Student Council junior class president and candidate for CCSC president, said he considered the launch a victory, especially in the face of skepticism after CCSC candidates had been promising Flex Off Campus for years to no avail.

“This has been my baby for the last two years,” Krebs said, while boasting that he’d just gotten back from buying a cranberry muffin from Nussbaum with his Flex points.

Just as they pay credit card companies so that customers can make purchases with their credit cards, the vendors will pay an administrative fee to BB1, the outside contractor handling machines and negotiations.

Wright said he is working on an agreement by which Columbia won’t have to pay BB1 for its services, as long as Columbia doesn’t take a cut from vendors.

While prices won’t change for students, Krebs and Wright both said they expect the program to increase transactions between students and vendors.

“The community wins, the students win, we all win,” Krebs said.

lien.hoang@columbiaspectator.com