Rather than bringing cash to school to pay for food expenses, Kindergrade School children will now use electronic cards that record students’ purchases so that parents can later be billed. The objective of this new system is to provide children with cash alternatives that cannot profitably be stolen. To ensure that the cards are worthless to thieves, each card will bear its owner’s picture, so staff at cafeteria checkouts can easily identify stolen cards.

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously undermine the ability of the card system to achieve its goal?


A. As a result of the cards’ introduction, the number of students who purchase food from school cafeterias is expected to increase.

B. The replacement of cash with the electronic cards will not allow any reductions in staffing for the checkouts at the schools’ cafeterias.

C. Staff at the cafeteria checkouts know by name many of the students who regularly use the cafeteria, and the cards will bear the owner’s name as well as his or her picture.

D. The cost to the school system of issuing the cards and installing the checkout machines to read them will be covered by the savings arising from no longer needing to handle cash.

E. The companies operating vending machines in the schools are adapting their machines so that the electronic cards can be used for purchases.
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