And more on dorm-locking…

Astute reader Jesse McCann writes,

Something not noted in the dartlog: While EBAs will surely suffer with the doorlocks, will the new supposed DDS dorm-delivery service be under the same restrictions?

Probably not.

McCann refers to the DDS delivery service that may begin this spring (more info here; there appears to be no mention of it on DDS’s website). All indications are that DDS will be able to deliver, as the new policy only affects “non-College-contracted businesses,” such as local eateries and, yes, student publications.

Redman rationalizes the ban on other deliveries by claiming that he merely seeks to prevent a double standard among vendors. “If we say yes to door-to-door delivery to one business, we have to say yes to all,” he told the Daily D. As McCann implies, though, the College would create a larger, more competitively significant divide by allowing DDS to deliver to dorm rooms as direct competitors like EBA’s and Ramunto’s are shut out.

There may be a larger, sinister intent here: the College is now in a position to pick and choose winners among campus vendors, like laundry and cleaning services, and earn “contracting fees,” effectively kickbacks, in the process. Meanwhile, students, the ultimate customers for all of this, will enjoy fewer choices and greater inconveniences. Brilliant.