Well, at least according to Facebook
On bookout days, Pasir Ris is filled with waves of tanned boys in their green-white army uniform and their bulky-bags. Speaking of bulky-bags, these soldiers have to travel quite a distance to purchase necessities for their day-to-day activities in the army.
From oil burners to socks, instead of spending their weekends purely resting and taking a break from all things army, some of these soldiers end up having to restock army necessities for the week ahead.
This will no longer be a worry as ST Logistics has installed a vending machine at White Sands Shopping Mall, right where all our soldiers transit between their lives in and out of army.
ST Logistics runs army supply store LifestyleMart and this new vending machine, called LifestyleMart Express, will be supplying items such as ziplock bags, batteries, powder, socks, insect repellant, singlets and shorts, Lianhe Zaobao reported.
When I first heard about the initiative, I thought it was a fantastic idea that should have already been present long ago with advancement in technology. With Chilli Crab vending machines, there’s nothing that we can’t buy from vending machines these days. Convenient and fast, this vending machine is nothing but winner.
However, Singaporeans reflected a lot of their concerns with this vending machine that was simply put in place to aid the lives of our NS servicemen.
We have to say though, there were some legitimate points being raised.
1. Livelihood vs Convenience.
Previously, NS servicemen would have to crowd to army supply stores famously located at Beach Road to purchase their necessities. And many of these shops rely on the purchase of these army supplies to get by. With this vending machine that is conveniently and strategically located before/after booking in and out, these servicemen will eventually have no reason to visit the Beach Road stores anymore. Plus, store owners are already dealing with a blow from a previous launch of an online army supplies market.
Okay, a bit harsh but we have to admit that there’s truth in it.
2. Supplies sold in vending machines are more expensive as compared to shops or e-marts
Despite the lack of labour and heavy rents for these machines, the supplies are still more expensive than that of the e-marts or supply shops. If you would pay for convenience however, this shouldn’t be a problem then.
3. Supplies should be provided for
This really zooms out to the underlying issue that the purchase of supplies for army should not even be a “thing”. After all, these servicemen are just out of school—their minimal army allowance could be used for many other things.
4. Emotional attachment to army routine
While others had more pragmatic response to the redundancy or mostly, complaints about the machine, some had a more emotional response for their ultimate choice of going down to Beach Road.
Once again, Singaporeans will always have something to complain about.
