I'm the absolute first person to buy gadgets and gizmos when they prove beneficial. Got my first HD set in 99, first MP3 player in 99 (Diamond Rio, all of 16MB of space!!! That was like, ten songs at the most godawful bitrate imaginable.) Even though I'm an Apple hater, stood in line the day the first iPad came out. Had bought an old school tablet around 2005, a laptop with a swivel screen and stylus. Weighed about as much as a couple bricks. Heck, I've kept score of every game I go to digitally since 2007, first with a Palm device and later a tablet. I'll never forget when I preordered the first Tivo at Circuit City... A family member remarked how stupid it was to have a second box in addition to the cable receiver. Their response to my explanation, ''Why would you want to record tv shows?'
My point? I'm hardly some old fogey who longs for the good old days of horses and lanterns. When technological advancement has clear benefit, I'm the first one in line. Literally. That's why I just can't get behind this card - I want things that make life easier and cost me less time. I'm not going to be logging into their website unless I want to sell my ticket. I did so recently, and it's still a headache with apparently a separate site for ticket transactions and whatever new hub they have I'll eventually be forced to log into. I can't even use the ticket selling site on a tablet, so I can only imagine the fun and games of the "Your Card Is Your Ticket" site.
As things stand? I had no idea whether or not I even had a ticket to the exhibition game. Red Carpet Rewards? Absolutely bloody nothing through the mail. Considering how much the system has been gutted from my reading here, I haven't even taken the time to look it up yet and redeem. That's actually what prompted this latest Collirant, I can't believe they put out no further mailings beyond the box and card. Nothing on the exhibition, nothing on RCRs.
And their much touted benefits and promos on a game-by-game basis? I don't feel like logging into some damn site every game to find out what's new for that game on the card. The old system, you ripped your ticket out. Nice reminder of the date and time. If I accidently lost or dropped said ticket, I didn't lose my ticket to all 81 games; the hassle of canceling it/getting a new one. I don't even know what these promos folks go on about are, since I haven't logged into the site. I might come off as utterly delusional and insane saying this considering my lengthy posts/time taken writing them, but I value my time and want things as fast and straightforward as possible. Paper tickets, beyond the memento, were such a beast. Logging into some website 81 games a year, even just once a week, losing the mailings informing me about the RCR program, the 'bonus' tickets that included the Stars & Stripes two, promo item (With the date it would be redeemed), the STH event, my one-off 15% or whatever coupon? Gone. I got one page of hype and spin and the card.
Right down to the exhibition game, I shouldn't have to go searching for this crap. I get folks are trending toward being online 24/7, logging onto their Facebooks and Twittleedees hourly, but to quote the Turtles... that ain't me, babe. I'm sure the response is I'm an idiot for not logging in yet, but I shouldn't *have* to - shouldn't have to be doing more than I did last year to get the same amount of information. Last year I got all I needed in my physical mailbox, this year I'm clueless. They want to add stuff that requires me putting in more time then great, but don't make the basics harder and result in a dearth of information unless I go online. If the internet saves me time and effort (Buying crap through Amazon versus driving and walking the aisles), I'll advocate for it all night and day. This... doesn't. I only ever logged on to the STH site to sell games and redeem my RCRs. Given this equals more of my time spent doing something that before came via mail and was simplified, so far I'm not being won over with the march of progress for Nat's tickets.
I'm flabbergasted that they never so much as sent out a letter regarding the exhibition or RCRs... As rare as it is in our society, there are still *some* technophobes who don't so much as own a computer... Was a letter on either of those two things really that much of a hassle for the FO?
The new system saves me time. Much easier to to manage and distribute tickets and RCR points. For sure, it's not perfect, but I sure do see the potential.
I do worry that some technophobes (or just average computer users) are being left out though.
