By Mark Bauer/editor-in-chief

The brand of soda students prefer will be the determining factor in how pleased they are on their next trip to the soda machines on campus.

For the last 10 years, the Coca-Cola Bottling Company has had a contract with TCC to stock the vending machines with Coca-Cola-related products.

But when the 10-year contract recently expired and went up for bid, TCC signed a new 10-year contract with Cadbury Schweppes Bottling Group—formerly known as the Dr Pepper/Seven Up Bottling Group, Inc.

“It was total revenue based on higher commission rates and more variety of drinks,” Rudy Gonzales, vice chancellor of financial services, said of the decision to sign with the new vendor.

“Commission on the number of cases varies on the size of the drink,” he said.

Gonzales said one determining factor was Coca-Cola’s decline in sales.

In addition to the commission earned from the estimated number of sales, TCC is guaranteed $5,000 allotted to a discretionary institutional developmental fund every year throughout the 10-year contract. Gonzales said a portion of the funds will go toward scholarships and faculty development.

Not only did the vending machines change, but students might have noticed the cost go from $1 to $1.25. 

Gonzales cited the rising cost of gasoline as the reason for the price increase.

“If you go to a grocery store,” he said, “even the cost of groceries is going up.”

But all hope for Coke lovers is not lost. The campus bookstores will continue selling Coca-Cola-related products, Robert Rueda, NE bookstore manager, said.

“The contract doesn’t affect the bookstore because Follet has its own contract with Coke,” he said.