good print karma.

A couple of years ago, the university decided that paper and ink were just too much of a cost burden. So they started charging for print services. They installed all these computers and card machines and implemented a great big campus-wide system, the cost of which was supposed to be paid for by all that paper and ink they weren't just giving away anymore.

Now students have to carry around these little gold cards to use the printers. There's a dollar amount associated with each card, and three cents is deducted for every 8 and 1/2 by 11 inch black and white document you print. It's extra if you want something special, and ten cents for copies. Double-sided printing is the same charge as single-side to encourage conservation. When you run out of money, you can go down to the library and put more money on your card.

The school used to send out these little coupons at the beginning of the semester good for a $6 print card. I'm not sure if they still do this, but they don't send them to me anymore. I suspect it's because I forgot to redeem mine once, or maybe they just can't afford the paper and ink to print the coupons anymore. So I have to pay for my printing.

I actually have a very nice printer at home, and it takes care of most of my printing (and copying and scanning, thank you) needs. But sometimes I finish up projects and things on campus and take it straight to class, so I have to use the university printing faciliities. So I keep maybe fifty cents on my card in case I need it.

In the computer lab where I work, there is a printing station, meaning there is a printer, a computer terminal, and a card reader. There is also a little metal lockbox filled with staples, the key to the file cabinet where all the paper is kept, and a whole bunch of print cards with one or two cents on them. People leave their print cards around a lot, maybe because there is a delay between printing and the card being spat back out. Usually, the ones that get left are the one and two cent kind, though you might find a twenty center every once in a while. Once I found one with three dollars on it, then turned it over to see my roommate's name written on the back and realized that I had to give it back. My disappointment was tangible.

But at the beginning of this year, some time after the university may have sent out the vouchers for $6 cards that I no longer receive, I found a card in the lab. I put it in the card reader to see how much money was on it.

$7.13.

Oh, heck yeah.

I turned it over. No name on the back. I looked around. No one was near the printer, no one was looking at the printer, no one seemed even remotely interested in the little piece of treasure that I was now signing my name on. Of course, I felt a little bad for the poor guy that left his very valuable card in the lab. I felt just almost as bad for him as I felt good for me and my good print karma.

But hey, I'm a nice girl. Sometimes, people don't quite have enough money on their print card for whatever they need. And they always ask me, because I'm the lab op, and I sit right next to the printer. They always offer me the three pennies or whatever in change to make up for my deducted print card. But I let them use my card, and I don't let them repay me. (Actually, I usually tell them to buy themselves something pretty.) I don't feel I have the right to charge for use of a card I didn't pay for. I'm just passing along my good print karma.