I went online tonight to buy Dad's birthday present - tickets to
Saturday's Pirate game. We love our Bucs, but they're pushing all
my wrong buttons. Each of the four tickets (Mom and Jill like to
humor us) carried a joyful $3.50 "convenience." charge. Google was kind enough to remind me of the
definition of convenience, "the state of being suitable or opportune."
The convenient charge was nicely asterisked to denote there may be
online ordering fees. After forcing me to create yet another worthless
account (no, I don't want you to add me to your email list),
Mlb.com didn't disappoint by charging $3.50. I decided to go will
call and forgoe the $1.75 opportunity to print the tickets at home.
Each page I visited in this joyful journey of giving reminded me others
were waiting for the precious Pirate tickets I had reserved by giving
me 2-3 minutes to complete the page or forfeit my tickets.
Nothing like sales pressure when buying tickets for a 5-15 team.
Grand total in fees: $17.50.
Supposed price of 1 ticket: $16.
No wonder the 5-15 Pirates have such remarkable walk-up numbers.
Who in their right mind would be willing to pay for an extra ticket for
the convenience of ordering online?
I guess I should mention they've managed to give Albert Pujojls another
first inning home run while I'm writing this post.
We will . . . test your patience.