Introducing the USC Pharmacy Vending Machine in the Village
by Lanie Brice ‘24
Putting anything in a vending machine instantly makes it more interesting, so the new gold vending machine sitting outside of Trader Joe’s up against the elevator bank immediately caught my eye. Actually a revival of a project started in 2019, the USC Pharmacy and USC Student Health have installed a “wellness-to-go” vending machine in the USC Village to give students 24/7 access to over the counter medication.
The thoroughly modern vending machine allows anyone to purchase anything from allergy medication to emergency contraception anytime day or night with a credit card or Apple Pay. The machine is stocked with an eye towards the needs of college students who spend long days on campus and those living in the dorms as there are travel size boxes of pads and tampons as well as multiple kinds of eyedrops, a toothpaste and mouthwash set, earplugs (for when your roommate suddenly starts snoring out of nowhere), bandaids, and hand wipes. It also carries a variety of typical medications like pain relievers – Motrin, Aleve, and Tylenol – cold medicine – Emergen C, Chloraseptic for sore throat, Cepacol, Sudafed, and Mucinex – stomach soothers – Gas-X, Pepto, Lactaid, and Acid Reducers – and allergy medication – Claritin and Benadryll. Now, if after a late night of backyard parties you come home and find yourself covered in mosquito bites, you can get hydrocortisone cream to treat the itch even if it’s after hours. I’ve always wished college had a nurses station like high schools do, and this vending machine comes pretty close. It generally offers smaller (and less expensive) packages of each medication meaning that if a horrible headache strikes on campus, you don’t have to pay for a giant bottle of Tylenol to find relief.
The vending machine also offers an alternative for students who might feel uncomfortable making certain purchases at a store allowing a quick, anonymous way to purchase pregnancy tests, condoms, or, thanks to the USG, emergency contraception. When bringing back the USC pharmacy vending machines, USG pushed to include emergency contraception and worked with the USC Mann School to help cover the cost making the generic Plan B in the school vending machines far cheaper than the retail price. They also critically included Narcan, which can be lifesaving in the event of a drug overdose, and COVID tests.
Last week, as I was walking out of Trader Joe’s with my groceries, I got curious about what was inside the vending machine. Having suffered from a horrible dust-induced stuffy nose for a whole week prior, the Claritin immediately caught my attention. I’d been avoiding purchasing allergy medicine since everything in Target being under lock and key can lead to absurd wait times, so I figured I’d give the machine a chance. If nothing else, it had to be much faster than getting any of these items at the store it sat outside of. I punched in 101 on the screen and followed the prompts to check-out. Unfortunately, you have to type in the number of your selected item to learn how expensive it is, and it seems like the prices sometimes fluctuate. Medication in smaller doses is also typically pricier per pill than buying your allergy medication in a regular store. I got 5 Claritin tablets at the vending machine for $8.05, whereas at my local CVS in downtown I got 30 tablets for $27, but for the convenience, this cost is sometimes worth it, especially if you only need a couple pills. I would probably still be suffering from a stuffy nose if not for the ease of the vending machine transaction. I also did have a bit of difficulty getting the credit card reader to work with my Apple Pay. If you get an error message on your first few tries, it’s worth testing a second credit card if you have one. That finally did the trick for me.
Maybe it’s just me, but I still find a childlike sense of wonder in getting something out of a vending machine, even if it is just allergy pills. And this pharmacy vending machine will provide students with much easier round the clock access to both conveniences as well as life saving medication. With the CVS in the USC Village set to close soon, this also provides a vital supply of common medications to students living on or near campus. The project is slated to expand at the University Park campus with a second vending machine set to be installed in the Royal Street Parking Structure.
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