The dining halls on campus, also known as the bane of my food consumption existence, have an interesting policy that I was recently made aware of. Apparently, as part of our dining bill for the semester, all students pay some sort of a dish and cutlery taken/breakage fee around $80. Since this is paid at the beginning of the semester, it is a sunk cost. We know that consideration of sunk costs lead to bad economic decisions, but this fee disincentivizes being careful about breaking plates and incentivizes sneaking a cup or ten to your dorm room. One of my friends, who will remain unnamed, was ecstatic about the return of the deep soup mugs because he had been waiting to take one up to this room for awhile. Can we also just focus on the ridiculousness of the fee we're charged? It's not my fault that someone purchased breakable ceramic dishware for Danforth in the University's strive for feigned elegance. Putting delicate plates and bowls in the hands of sleep-deprived college students wasn't exactly the bright idea of the century. Regardless, out of all the meals I've eaten at Danforth, I've only heard two dishes break. The number of dishes broken and/or stolen from the dining hall hardly add up to $80 per student. This fact coupled with the astronomical lines might cause someone to take a few forks out of spite. The fee promotes a certain level of carelessness and dishonesty, even though it's just a precautionary measure.
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