Ryan
  •  Ryan
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Friday, July 3, 2009 12:46:20 PM
Alpine amusements just took delivery of 4 self service ticket boxes, excatly like the red one at the trade show. Customers seem to find them easy to use. First time I have seen them out on a lot, anyone seen any other shows with them???
www.modernmidways.com 
"If life was fair elvis would be alive and the impersonators would be dead"-carson
Pinetar
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Friday, July 3, 2009 2:40:35 PM
OH NO! More midway jobs lost for good. [:)] Is there a robot for armbands?[:)]
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Hoffa
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Friday, July 3, 2009 5:09:16 PM
Quote:

quote:


Originally posted by Pinetar

OH NO! More midway jobs lost for good. Is there a robot for armbands?



Sometimes you are too cynical.... You of all people I think would embrace the new technology. Wait... Ryan, was it done with a mac?
A man's legacy isn't the business he leaves behind; it's the family he leaves behind.

rideguy52
Friday, July 3, 2009 6:08:45 PM
our midway just uses our help from the fire company, 2 of our members need to provide the tickets trailer with people. our other old company the smaeway but had a box like 3x3 lol.
mjcarniegirl
Friday, July 3, 2009 8:30:31 PM
self service ticket boxes .. do they take credit cards? a good idea but it does take away a ticket seller's job . but at least a machine can't rehash tickets . On the down side what if the automatic self service ticket box malfuntions?
Pinetar
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Saturday, July 4, 2009 1:09:09 AM
Ah, the good old days. An example of a 1950's, living, breathing, ducat seller, taken at the mug joint, Bucyrus, Ohio.

[img]http://files.me.com/nam65/gr56lw[/img]

The file sharing system with my Apple .me account wull change July 7th. We no longer post items as .jpeg or .mov. Must be an .html link thing. At least we can still share individual images.
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JustJeff
Saturday, July 4, 2009 5:46:45 AM
Quote:

Originally posted by Pinetar

Ah, the good old days. An example of a 1950's, living, breathing, ducat seller, taken at the mug joint, Bucyrus, Ohio.



HUBBA,HUBBA====('[;)]')

Pinetar
  •  Pinetar
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Saturday, July 4, 2009 2:48:33 PM
I knowed it, your kind of women, jeff. You have a good eye. Every year, the same entourage from the county seat would show up for the primo midway position; ducat seller. By the hour plus walks and a new ride jock every night.

They ate well, 4 or 5 jocks force feeding them every day; pulled pork, pulled chicken, corn dogs and lordy, you give them an Ital. sausage sand. and brother, you is in.

What does a jock do today? Pull up a Grange hall chair, a six of pabst and engage the ducat automat in a lengthy conversation of why he is so lonely. There is no one to converse!!!!! It ain't right. Oh, the good ole days.

Nothin' left to do but awakin' the office clerk and cry at 3 am, that is why clerks are so in demand and highly paid.
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skydiver77
Saturday, July 4, 2009 7:53:58 PM
Interesting, but you've gotta worry with folks that know how to hack into machines like that and get free stuff. They're out there, beware. I read once where this son and dad from New York hacked into this ATM machine and got 500 grand outa it. A month later, the police arrested them though, so they got caught in the long run. I myself?, i'd rather buy from a person, not a machine, i feel better about the old ways of doing it. Kinda like those self check-outs at Wal-Mart, i bet someone out there has sneaked merchandise from scanning it on those machines & stole it, i betcha...the reason they chose to do the self check-out, so they could get some freebies as well..never know, but i bet some have done that. But again, if those carnivals choose to go with the automatic ticket machines, beware of those that know how to trick 'em to get free tickets...or, scammers should i say. I'd keep it the old fashioned way if i were you, buy tickets from a person.

~Ben
Bowler Roller
Saturday, July 4, 2009 8:13:32 PM
I wonder how much the maintance will be on those.

Come to think of it, I'm sure it won't compare to the extra cost of buying ticket sellers health insurance, which will be mandated of shows, if the health care bill passes. Expect a lot more people to be replaced by machines.
Every crowd has a silver lining - PT Barnum
03fordman
Saturday, July 4, 2009 8:52:13 PM
Why is this industry so closed minded when it comes to change?

Maybe the boxes are in addition to having sellers? Why does everyone just assume that it is a replacement for sellers?

I don't know about the rest of the country but most of the spots today we play the committees sell the tickets anyways. We maybe sell tickets 2 times a year.

I think if they are placed next to the busy rides its a great way to increase sales. I guess what it boils down to is some people are stuck looking to the past while others look to the future for solutions to keep their businesses healthy in tough times.
Pinetar
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Saturday, July 4, 2009 11:38:12 PM
I feel it will augment the manned boxes and be suitable for those who are comfortable using such a device. Smart move. Eventually a scanned card system will rule every midway aspect.
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SaraAB
Sunday, July 5, 2009 1:42:22 PM
I think it could work well for a larger show where you would need many ticket boxes, this would decrease the distance between boxes and probably increase sales because the customer wouldn't be far from a ticket box at any time.

The public is fickle though and it will vary from area to area, self checkouts were successful in some areas but over here they got removed only a couple months after they were installed, there is now only one store who uses them out of all the retail stores in my general area. Didn't work over here at all.

I agree with the combination of automated boxes and human sellers, it is true that some people are completely dumbfounded by new machines and won't go near them. Over here people still have trouble swiping their credit card at the register. The ticket sellers could also be a backup in case the machines go down or encounter a problem where they cannot be used.
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