<p>Does anyone have experience with Deacon Dollars? If I have a regular debit card is it still handy to have some money put on account for Deacon Dollars? Also, I read about a "vending strip" on the back of ID cards - My understanding is that this needs to be separately funded with money put on account for vending machines. I read they recommend a $10 limit since they can't prevent it's use if lost or stolen. Do people find it's more convenient to use the strip or would anyone recommend just putting $'s in vending? I'm thinking that the strip will become really too convenient if you know what I mean.</p>
<p>It really doesn't matter one way or the other with Deacon Dollars. It's definitely more convenient on campus to have some, but I also find myself going to Subway rather than the Pit a lot more when I have them. There's nowhere on campus that doesn't take cash or debit instead of Deacon Dollars. I generally put like $50 deacon dollars on my card and then just use it gradually (it typically takes at least a semester). I use my debit card for all major purchases. The only thing to watch out for on that is that my card has a per-day spending limit in order to minimize the loss in case of theft. Occasionally, I've gone over the per-day limit when I have to buy my textbooks at the beginning of the semester. But that's easily solved by just splitting my purchase up and buying the books over two days.</p>
<p>As for the vending strip, it's easy to put money on it either from Deacon Dollars or from cash with machines by the circulation desk in the library. But definitely put some money on it. In addition to the vending machines (which, you're right, are a little too convenient sometimes), the vending strip money is used on the copy machines in the library (and I don't think that they take change, but that could be wrong), which I use quite often.</p>
<p>You don't need Deacon Dollars by any means. My parents put a lot of money on my Deacon card at the beginning of first semester and I spent a lot of unnecessary money, that I probably wouldn't have spent otherwise. It's so much easier to just swipe the card. I find that I'm more cautious with what I buy when I use my debit card. I think it would be convenient to have a few dollars on the card just in case, but not large amounts. It can be too tempting to just spend it sometimes. </p>
<p>I never used the vending stripe. I prefer to use up loose change for vending machines.</p>