Author Topic: Your card is your ticket to the game  (Read 22924 times)

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Offline Baseball is Life

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Re: Your card is your ticket to the game
« Reply #75: January 23, 2013, 09:14:21 AM »
Just like "ring it up and pack your groceries yourself at Giant".

Another analogy is the ATM or online banking. I, for one, much rather use those than talk to a human being.

Offline MarquisDeSade

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Re: Your card is your ticket to the game
« Reply #76: January 23, 2013, 09:19:13 AM »
Another analogy is the ATM or online banking. I, for one, much rather to use those than talk to a human being.

Sure, but those are well oiled and maintained machines that (at least for ATMs) have been around for over 30 years.

Offline PowerBoater69

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Re: Your card is your ticket to the game
« Reply #77: January 23, 2013, 09:24:37 AM »
If they want to give me a discount to reflect their lack of cost associated with using those lines fine, but they seem to be just an excuse for inadequate staffing

Are you kidding me? The self check out is the only way to deal with the grocery store. The line moved faster and I can check my own stuff out a whole lot quicker than the clerks do. I can run in, grab a sixer, and run out faster than at 7-11.

Offline MarquisDeSade

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Re: Your card is your ticket to the game
« Reply #78: January 23, 2013, 09:28:01 AM »
The best discount, at least with the Giant self-scanners, is neglecting to scan 1/4 of your cart.

Offline nats2playoffs

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Re: Your card is your ticket to the game
« Reply #79: January 23, 2013, 10:11:43 AM »
Another analogy is the ATM or online banking. I, for one, much rather to use those than talk to a human being.
What about THIS human banker?


Sued Citigroup, claiming that she was fired
solely because her bosses thought she was too hot.


http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-06-01/news/is-this-woman-too-hot-to-work-in-a-bank/

...The managers gave her a list of clothing items she would not be allowed to wear: turtlenecks, pencil skirts, and fitted suits. And three-inch heels. "As a result of her tall stature, coupled with her curvaceous figure," her suit says, Lorenzana was told "she should not wear classic high-heeled business shoes, as this purportedly drew attention to her body in a manner that was upsetting to her easily distracted male managers."

Offline tomterp

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Re: Your card is your ticket to the game
« Reply #80: January 23, 2013, 12:28:49 PM »
Another analogy is the ATM or online banking. I, for one, much rather to use those than talk to a human being.

Automated toll systems are also a major advancement, unless you really dig the stimulating conversations possible with toll booth attendants.

Offline PowerBoater69

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Re: Your card is your ticket to the game
« Reply #81: January 23, 2013, 12:32:46 PM »
Automated toll systems are also a major advancement, unless you really dig the stimulating conversations possible with toll booth attendants.

Do it Yourself tax/accounting programs are awesome for avoiding having to deal with accountants.

Offline Baseball is Life

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Re: Your card is your ticket to the game
« Reply #82: January 23, 2013, 01:12:37 PM »
What about THIS human banker?

(Image removed from quote.)
Sued Citigroup, claiming that she was fired
solely because her bosses thought she was too hot.


http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-06-01/news/is-this-woman-too-hot-to-work-in-a-bank/

...The managers gave her a list of clothing items she would not be allowed to wear: turtlenecks, pencil skirts, and fitted suits. And three-inch heels. "As a result of her tall stature, coupled with her curvaceous figure," her suit says, Lorenzana was told "she should not wear classic high-heeled business shoes, as this purportedly drew attention to her body in a manner that was upsetting to her easily distracted male managers."

In that case, I would just give her my money and not ask any questions.

Offline Baseball is Life

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Re: Your card is your ticket to the game
« Reply #83: January 23, 2013, 01:13:51 PM »
Sure, but those are well oiled and maintained machines that (at least for ATMs) have been around for over 30 years.

Trust me on this one, they were not well oiled machines when they were introduced back in the day. :old:

Offline Copecwby20

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Re: Your card is your ticket to the game
« Reply #84: January 23, 2013, 01:27:04 PM »
Trust me on this one, they were not well oiled machines when they were introduced back in the day. :old:

Way back before I was born, my mom used to stand outside Wells Fargo and show people how to use ATMs when the first came out. She did that as a part time gig and eventually worked her way up through the bank. Still with WF all these years later.

There was a time when the banks thought that they would eventually get rid of all human tellers and go to a strictly automated systems but as we all know, there are times where you would just rather talk to a person.

Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: Your card is your ticket to the game
« Reply #85: January 23, 2013, 01:31:03 PM »
There was a time when the banks thought that they would eventually get rid of all human tellers and go to a strictly automated systems but as we all know, there are times where you would just rather talk to a person.

2 of my three bank/savings accounts are with banks who have no or almost no branches (usaa and schwab), the only time I use a teller at the third is to get into my deposit box. As far as customer service, I'll take schwab or usaa over the phone vs. a wells fargo branch any day

Offline Copecwby20

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Re: Your card is your ticket to the game
« Reply #86: January 23, 2013, 01:40:13 PM »
I hear that a lot. I've honestly never had a problem with WF but that might be because of who is also on the account with me so who knows. A lot of my friends in the military have nothing but great things to say about USAA though but I have never used them for anything other than insurance.


Offline tomterp

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Re: Your card is your ticket to the game
« Reply #87: January 23, 2013, 01:48:55 PM »
I hear that a lot. I've honestly never had a problem with WF but that might be because of who is also on the account with me so who knows. A lot of my friends in the military have nothing but great things to say about USAA though but I have never used them for anything other than insurance.

The only shortcoming I can note with USAA is that there is no physical branch available (unless you live in San Antonio) to handle the rare things that are needed from bankers - like a certified check or signature guarantee.  Last time I bought a car from an individual I had to pay a friend to buy a certified check from HIS bank - BOA - in order to buy the car.  That was a pain.

Also I have a couple of old US Savings Bonds I'd like to cash in but no way to do it.

Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: Your card is your ticket to the game
« Reply #88: January 23, 2013, 01:51:32 PM »
The only shortcoming I can note with USAA is that there is no physical branch available (unless you live in San Antonio) to handle the rare things that are needed from bankers - like a certified check or signature guarantee.  Last time I bought a car from an individual I had to pay a friend to buy a certified check from HIS bank - BOA - in order to buy the car.  That was a pain.

Also I have a couple of old US Savings Bonds I'd like to cash in but no way to do it.

that + having a safety deposit box is why I keep the WF account. It has the minimum required to make the box free sitting in a savings account, and only gets used when branch services are actually necessary.

Offline rbw5t

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Re: Your card is your ticket to the game
« Reply #89: January 23, 2013, 01:59:30 PM »
Do we have any details yet on how this is supposed to work?  Having our 4 seats to each game on one card won't work for me, as I assume it won't work for most people.  (I split season tix with a bunch of partners, and even for the games I go to, I usually arrive alone and meet my wife and kids at the seats.  I imagine many, if not most, others also have similar complications.)  I'm guessing the easiest thing is going to be to print out 4 x 81 tickets and just physically hand them to people.  Ugh.

Offline PowerBoater69

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Re: Your card is your ticket to the game
« Reply #90: January 23, 2013, 02:07:18 PM »
Do we have any details yet on how this is supposed to work?  Having our 4 seats to each game on one card won't work for me, as I assume it won't work for most people.  (I split season tix with a bunch of partners, and even for the games I go to, I usually arrive alone and meet my wife and kids at the seats.  I imagine many, if not most, others also have similar complications.)  I'm guessing the easiest thing is going to be to print out 4 x 81 tickets and just physically hand them to people.  Ugh.

I'm not sure of all the details, but British soccer fans have been using this system without a problem for a while now, and they're morons. Opening Day will be a cluster freak worse than what Caps fans went through, but in a very short amount of time people will figure it out.

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: Your card is your ticket to the game
« Reply #91: January 23, 2013, 02:08:12 PM »
If it is like the Caps new system, you will be able to e-mail pdfs...of course this requires that all recipients have access to a printer (or I suppose a smartphone).  The Caps are not charging for the electronic transfer of tickets this year, so hopefully the same would be true with Nats tickets.

Do we have any details yet on how this is supposed to work?  Having our 4 seats to each game on one card won't work for me, as I assume it won't work for most people.  (I split season tix with a bunch of partners, and even for the games I go to, I usually arrive alone and meet my wife and kids at the seats.  I imagine many, if not most, others also have similar complications.)  I'm guessing the easiest thing is going to be to print out 4 x 81 tickets and just physically hand them to people.  Ugh.

Offline OldChelsea

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Re: Your card is your ticket to the game
« Reply #92: January 23, 2013, 02:19:01 PM »
The only shortcoming I can note with USAA is that there is no physical branch available (unless you live in San Antonio) to handle the rare things that are needed from bankers - like a certified check or signature guarantee.[...]

USAA now has a number of 'Financial Centres', including one at 1301 Joyce street in Pentagon City (opened about a year or so ago) - per the website they offer the following services: 'Representative Assistance, Open an Account, Deposit Checks, Deposit Cash, Withdraw Cash (ATM only)'.

They also have ATM's at many CVS locations (including the one near Nats Park).

Offline tomterp

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Re: Your card is your ticket to the game
« Reply #93: January 23, 2013, 04:21:23 PM »
USAA now has a number of 'Financial Centres', including one at 1301 Joyce street in Pentagon City (opened about a year or so ago) - per the website they offer the following services: 'Representative Assistance, Open an Account, Deposit Checks, Deposit Cash, Withdraw Cash (ATM only)'.

They also have ATM's at many CVS locations (including the one near Nats Park).

Thanks Old Chelsea, I must have slept through the announcement on the centers. 

ATM's not a problem as they refund any ATM fees fully.

Offline shoeshineboy

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Re: Your card is your ticket to the game
« Reply #94: January 23, 2013, 04:56:41 PM »
Do we have any details yet on how this is supposed to work?  Having our 4 seats to each game on one card won't work for me, as I assume it won't work for most people.  (I split season tix with a bunch of partners, and even for the games I go to, I usually arrive alone and meet my wife and kids at the seats.  I imagine many, if not most, others also have similar complications.)  I'm guessing the easiest thing is going to be to print out 4 x 81 tickets and just physically hand them to people.  Ugh.

I love the idea of a paperless system and being able to easily print off tix when I don't have them with me or transfer them more easily than the old system allowed. But I do have concerns about the multiple tickets per card concept. One card per seat makes sense as that is sort of how they did things with the season tickets previously (i.e. RCR etc.). But given the number of times people don't arrive at the park at the same time, the idea of constantly printing off tickets seems a bit odd. If they at least allow you to swipe the ticket on your phone or associate with a credit card or something it would cut down on that.

The biggest issue I see at the park in terms of lines will be due to the stupidity of the folks working the gates and the fact that the team is very cheap on the ratio of staffed gates to customers. If they actually did it right and staffed things correctly, lines would rarely exist.

Offline MarquisDeSade

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Re: Your card is your ticket to the game
« Reply #95: January 23, 2013, 05:24:26 PM »
The biggest issue I see at the park in terms of lines will be due to the stupidity of the folks working the gates and the fact that the team is very cheap on the ratio of staffed gates to customers. If they actually did it right and staffed things correctly, lines would rarely exist.

:nono:

Best watch yourself with that kind of talk.  This is going to be a complete disaster.

Offline PowerBoater69

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Re: Your card is your ticket to the game
« Reply #96: January 23, 2013, 08:31:19 PM »
A number of Caps fans got to the gate last night to find out that there cards didn't work and there were reports of delays for card holders while fans with the print at home tickets got right through.  Clearly the lesson learned for Nats fans is to print your tickets at home, particularly for opening day, the more people with paper tickets the lower the wait time for everyone.

Offline PowerBoater69

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Re: Your card is your ticket to the game
« Reply #97: January 24, 2013, 07:12:32 PM »
Lots more Twitter complaints about lines tonight, but the blame has shifted from the ticket system to the new security policy of checking everyone with metal detectors. 

Someone at Nats Fest needs to ask whether the Nats plan to implement similar security.

Offline 1995hoo

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Re: Your card is your ticket to the game
« Reply #98: January 24, 2013, 10:17:34 PM »
Lots more Twitter complaints about lines tonight, but the blame has shifted from the ticket system to the new security policy of checking everyone with metal detectors. 

Someone at Nats Fest needs to ask whether the Nats plan to implement similar security.

Apparently the NHL told the teams to do that.

Offline Coladar

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Re: Your card is your ticket to the game
« Reply #99: January 25, 2013, 06:06:37 AM »
Yeah, metal detectors? No thanks. I'll risk a deranged lunatic shooting me dead rather than deal with the clusteryouknowwhat that happens with every Presidential first pitch. Jesus, what moron at NHL thought metal detectors for 20k people arriving in the span of an hour was a smart idea?