The Next Step in the "E" World

Ok, so these days, everybody is getting "E" tickets (not to be confused with the vintage Disneyland E-Tickets). Whether you're getting plane tickets, tickets for a concert or ballet or symphony, these are all being offered via E-Tickets. In other words, you buy your tickets on-line and you're sent confirmation and an electronically transmitted ticket for you to print-out and carry with you. At the gate or door to the flight or venue, your ticket is scanned and you go do your thing.

So, how about this? In this electronic world, why must we waste paper and ink when the bar-code of the electronic tickets can be scanned right from our phones? Of course exceptions would be at pro golf events, for example, where cell phones are not permitted (and nobody goes in with one lol).

Paper tickets will not go completely away. For a couple reasons I can think of. Some people do not have the desire to enter the world of smart phones. And there are others that have smartphones but do not do things electronically. I know several people to will not do transactions of any kind over the internet.

E-Tickets will slightly reduce the amount of paper we use but paper tickets will never go away completely.

It's not just the paper, it's the ink (that's the expensive one). But yes, I agree that physical tickets will not completely go away - at least not any time soon. And I don't think the technology should be limited to Smartphones; I'm sure a text application could be developed. And yes, there will always be some slow to adapt. I mean, there are still people using fax machines lol. But come on, how cool would this be. In the last week, I've been to two symphonies and one ballet (going to another ballet on Saturday - and going to yet another in two weeks). The tickets for all of these were purchased electronically and I had to print and carry stupid tickets when I had all of the info in my phone. All the tickets get bar-code scanned and then pitched into the closet trash can. Stupid!

Yeah, E-Tickets are very handy. I use the Fandango app on my phone to purchase my movie tickets. I'm sent a barcode that I scan at the kiosk when I get to the theater. It's very convenient.

Here is some food for thought...

Yesterday, there were 37K fans at Fenway Park and 19K at Staples. That's 56,000 printed tickets - and we're only talking about two events. How many people in attendance at either of these event - do you think - did NOT have a cell phone and/or was not capable of operating one? I'd like to think that some of this paper gets recycled, but come on.

For those not interested in doing e-business, let them go to the Box Office, buy their ticket, then get a message sent to their phone with the event info and a bar-code. I'm struggling to find the downside.

Originally Posted by Tom Slick

For those not interested in doing e-business, let them go to the Box Office, buy their ticket, then get a message sent to their phone with the event info and a bar-code. I'm struggling to find the downside.

One thing against this idea is this would require them to give out there phone number and/or e-mail address to a complete stranger. Some people would not be comfortable with doing this.