I hate E-tickets

Though not always an early adapter, I tend to roll with and learn the latest technologies as they become readily and widely available. With a few exceptions, I do consider technology to be a friend of productivity and frees us from dozens of tasks that at one time could only be accomplished with hours or even days of labor by hand. As a boomer, I have seen a lot of enhancements come to the fore in my lifetime.

While I can easily recall 8-tracks, cassettes, CDs, and fax machines; I will attest that I never would have guessed that a palm-held device such as a smart phone would ever become so much a part of our day-to-day lives.

This is not a column to attack Generation Z, Millennials, up-and-coming teens, or tweens who seemingly are addicted to those devices. This is instead a call out against those instances where technology can take us backwards, or at the very least to a more challenging, less functioning, and even occasionally unsafe space. I hate paperless E-tickets.

I will point out that whether we are speaking of a Delta boarding pass on a phone, or an E-ticket to a charitable, sporting, or entertainment event, this change created a significant savings for the venue, the ticket brokers, and re-sellers and middlemen, with E-tickets ostensibly making it significantly easier to transfer, sell and resell the same ticket, all sent seamlessly through the airwaves— define seamlessly.

What has certainly become less than fun is the process of accepting or downloading E-tickets for each event, saving same in your I-Phone or Google Wallet (Android), or God forbid, forgetting this step and attempting to access your seats via WiFi on game day.

In the event of technical problems, we are now at the complete mercy of box offices with incredibly limited hours of operation, call centers with only occasionally helpful staff who are frequently unable to address or correct the glitches can ultimately result in paid-for tickets going unused. Thank God though that Ticketmaster, Stub Hub, SEATS, and the like all get their money, because after all isn’t that what this is all about?

The relationship between Ticketmaster and the SEC is apparently newer. If receiving a ticket invitation or transfer via email or text, you must first accept the invitation, click on the link to enter the app or the SEC Championship/Ticketmaster website, enter user name and password, click on My Tickets, hopefully, the gate, seat and row number then appear. Click on ticket. Endlessly spinning blue circle. No tickets. The MB stadium box office can provide a paper ticket, with proper documentation, on game day only. The box office will open at 1 p.m. and kickoff is at 4 p.m. That should be a highlight of the day. Who wants to tailgate?

I am getting a strong feeling that thousands may be stranded outside on game day, cursing their phone screens and apps for the technology marvel that won’t deliver on its promise. I don’t mind overpaying for entertainment or sporting events I want to see, for people I care about, clients, or worthy charitable causes.

Strangely perhaps there is just enough “Karen” in me that I do have a problem paying hundreds, occasionally even thousands, for event tickets knowing that the funds certainly made it to their destination for the venue, sporting franchise, artist, and the middlemen ticket broker, and yet no ticket for the ticket holder. It seems that only the fan, and perhaps an athlete or two on the field in what will easily be a tough game, run any serious risk of injury from this ongoing E-ticket scam.

Most fans I know would be willing to pay a bit more to have paper tickets back. Sort of like newspapers costing more than their electronic editions. Electronic ticketing also makes it easier for bots and the brokers to buy up larger blocks of seats, as they no longer need to be bothered with physical ticket retrieval, purchase caps, box offices, and the like – and again the only crowd sufficiently guaranteed to be screwed are the fans, customers and supporters of the team or artist.

I give E-ickets an “F.” The last good E-tickets were offered when Disneyland and Disney World sold paper E-tickets (the most expensive) by the individual ride.
I am only making one request of Santa this year, please bring back the option of paper tickets. I will make sure that you, Mrs. Claus, and Rudolph get some really great seats.

Bill Crane is political analyst and commentator in metro Atlanta, as well as a columnist for The Champion, DeKalb Free Press and Georgia Trend. Crane is a DeKalb native and business owner, living in Scottdale. You can contact him or comment on a column at bill.csicrane@gmail.com.