Crimson Cash can now pay for more than just food at the Greenhouse. This year, Harvard students are using their Crimson Cash at The Coop to purchase everything from books to bedding.

After more than a year of negotiations with Harvard officials, The Coop began allowing students to purchase merchandise using Crimson Cash at the beginning of September.

"We started thinking about it last year because basically the students were telling us in effect that Crimson Cash was a good thing," Coop President Jeremiah P. Murphy '73 said.

Some Coop employees reported an increase in sales, as well as customer satisfaction with the new policy.

"It's been a big hit," said Fort Adams, a sales representative at the Coop Bookstore in Harvard Square.

"Definitely student sales have gone up," said David M. DeMarco '89, a sales representative at the Brattle Street Coop. But DeMarco cautioned that it was still too early to detect significant changes in student purchases.

Manager of Harvard Card Application

Technologies Jeffery B. Cuppett said "quite a number" of students are using the new service. "We've exceeded The Coop's sales goals," he said.

Cuppett himself used his Crimson Cash Card to buy a glass vase from The Coop on the first day the service was offered.

Coop officials confirmed the early success of the program.

"We wanted to make sure the use of Crimson Cash was at least 4 or 5 percent of sales in textbooks and we've exceeded those goals as sales," Murphy said.

"Crimson Cash is absolutely the fastest transaction on campus. The difference is astonishing at The Coop. It's as if we've cloned Domna [the checker at Annenberg Hall] and put her everywhere," Cuppett said.

Catching On?

But at The Coop yesterday afternoon, it was difficult to find students using Crimson Cash to purchase anything, especially books.

"I don't have to deal with putting money into my Crimson Cash when I can just have it come straight out of my bank account," said Stephen J. Tai '00.

"The only thing I use Crimson Cash for is food and laundry," said Jevan J. Soo '01.