Wasp Barcode Technologies: The Barcode Solution People

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

America’s past time: the great game of baseball. In 2009, Major League baseball drew in 73.4 million fans to games and $6.6 billion in revenues. But even America’s past time has had to keep up with technology. By now, most fans are use to getting their tickets scanned as they enter into the ballpark. Actually I think most fans see this as a benefit because the tickets aren’t torn or punched anymore and they are able to keep it in its original form. Some teams are implementing a new feature to their tickets: barcode points. Barcode points allow a fan to put additional money onto their tickets to purchase merchandise and food. What basically happens is that when you purchase your ticket you can put additional money on the ticket for merchandise and food. When you’re ready to buy merchandise or food during the game, you simply present your ticket. The vendor scans the barcode on your ticket and the amount is deducted from the balance. The San Francisco Giants have been doing this since 2008. They have actually used it as a promotional item so they could bolster ticket sales without having to lower ticket prices. They automatically load $5 on the tickets for Fan Appreciation Day. They have also give a $5 or $10 credit if a specific player hits a home run or a pitcher strike outs a certain opposing batter. It proved to be a benefit for the Giants as season ticket renewals went up by 30 percent. The Phillies were actually the first team to implement barcode points or “power tickets”. They did this in 2004 when the new stadium opened. Now the Boston Red Sox are implementing the program but it will only be available in certain sections of their ballpark. Of course, the Red Sox don’t need to lower ticket prices or any other marketing ploys to help ticket sales. They have sold out their last 600 consecutive home games! So why would the Red Sox want to do this? Perhaps just to be on the cutting edge of technology. The draw back is that the “power tickets” or barcode points are only available for that game. If you don’t spend it, you lose it. It’s not uncommon at the end of the game to see long lines of people in the souvenir store wanting to use up their points. A nice benefit to the barcode points is that you don’t have to bring a wad of cash with you to the game or your credit cards. Your ticket can be the only thing you need to bring to enjoy a great game. What do you think: deal or dud?