Fingerprint Scanners vs. Actual Human Beings

I liked how I worded my response to the letter to the editor today (linked) so much that I thought I'd just paste it here too. Enjoy and comment!


In order to get to the bottom of this one must go back a few steps in time. Due to the dissolution of many kitchen positions across the county for financial cutbacks, the system became more complex with lines growing and food quality suffering. Many schools don't even cook the food on-site but rather use a centralized location (Elk Neck uses North East High I believe). To counteract many issues, including line delays, the PIN system was put into place. Now jump to today. We've wasted all of the money and time to train and install on the PIN system only to cease using it a few years later. Then we decided that the PIN system isn't working so we paid for training and installation on the new fingerprint scanners (side note: like it or not folks, this is a print of your child's finger...just not the traditional one that the authorities use). I know that I saw the exact cost somewhere listed for both the old PIN system and the new scanners. It was in the millions of dollars. Someone please tell me how millions of dollars (both wasted on the poor PIN system and on the new installation) is better than retaining the numbers of kitchen staff at each school? A very rough figure would be that each kitchen employee at this level earns somewhere between $10-15,000 per year. At two additional kitchen staff per school we'd have (again, roughly)we would be around $750,000 per year. Not to mention more employment is good for everyone! $750K or millions! Heck, we could then open TWO lines if we needed to couldn't we?

"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:32 NIV