How to save money in your school cafeteria.

Just get rid of the trays! According to this MSNBC report--"More colleges chucking cafeteria trays"-- many colleges have done just that. The idea is to be "greener" by saving energy and money.

However, it can be a big problem for their customer base: Yes, it can be done and in drought-stricken areas, the savings in water is NOT trivial; another claim is that no trays means less wasted food. The real motivation? Perhaps it's this (since disposable trays that use no water to wash them at all are available):

Advocates of the trayless cafeterias say if students can't pile on the food...they might consume fewer calories and keep off those unhealthy pounds often gained in college.

The "powers that be" are trying to put EVERY STUDENT on a fucking DIET! Not that will work; hungry college students can be rather resourceful...

[H]ungry coeds ... simply make more trips to the counter.

"I'll just keep coming back for seconds," said Jeff Lyke, a freshman at Glenville State [WV]...

Never mind that trays can be useful at preventing another sort of "waste":

"I think that's kind of ridiculous," said freshman Rebecca Riffle [of Glenville State]..."Whenever there's a bunch of people here at one time, it gets crazy. You have people bumping into you, so if you're balancing stuff, you're going to end up dropping something or breaking something."

This point has not been lost on the operators of food services:

Broken dishes from a lack of trays have been taken into account at Glenville, which has bought extra plates and cups...

Never mind the wasted food...and the extra cleaning materials and work to clean up that spilled food...and the hazards of broken china and glassware...and the fact that the trays and these REUSABLE dishes are washed in the SAME machines with the SAME water and detergents... (You don't think that they are using PLASTIC dishes and glasses or non-breakable DISPOSABLE dishes, do you?)

You would get the impression, though, that the "bean counters" at food service companies such as Aramark are not taking ALL the costs of this "no-trays" policy into account. Sure, they might save on food waste:

[One] Aramark study of 186,000 meals served at 25 institutions found that when trays weren't used, food waste per person was reduced 25 percent to 30 percent.

Maybe because people can eat only 70-75% of what they did before?

Does this take into account that the menus at the institutions might have changed...and the cooks actually prepare food people want to eat?

Does this take into account that some of the "customer" base might have said "Fuck this!" and voted with their feet...to the local eatery or the supermarket in disgust?

Never mind that the writer of this story--and another Aramark survey--seem to be missing the point:

Aramark conducted a study of 92,000 students, faculty and staff at 300 institutions and found that 79 percent indicated they would accept eating off plates instead of trays.

Huh?? Cafeteria trays are a way to carry the stuff to and from the table and are NOT utensils or china. Now, if what they meant were the styrofoam "take-out" trays, this statement might make sense. That's not the issue here. If the trays are such an expense, and breakage is already an issue why not take the sensible way out and hire waitstaff to transport the food to the tables?

Oh...I see...costs too much money? Well, what about the liability issues from injuries resulting from...food spilled on the floor, broken glassware, etc...

Something that can be mostly avoided...by the use of a good cafeteria tray...

[The link: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26390055/ ;"Fair Use" claimed for quoted materials. ]