New System for Guest Tickets is Very Poor and Hugely Disappointing

Like all members I guess, I have just received an email from our Club outlining the new system for guest tickets which I find very poor and hugely disappointing.

We will now have to book guest tickets online specifying the game and the date in advance.

As I see it, this -

1. Is extra hassle for members who are not technologically savvy;
2. Stitches the member and the guest up if the weather is bad on the day chosen as the ticket can't apparently be swapped for another day;
3. Removes an element of choice and spontaneity that the member and guest always previously had as when to attend.

As well as telling us of this change, I would like the Club to tell us why it has been made. I see no benefit to the membership.

It would also be interesting to know what the General Committee knew of this change and what they said about it.

I agree that the new system is cumbersome and more restrictive than is necessary.

The club will no doubt say that it is part of the drive to become sustainable and paperless, as with the decision not to send out copies of the yearbook.

They are making the wrong choices here: members value having a hard copy of the yearbook sent out, and they also value having the flexibility to invite friends along to a day's county cricket at short notice if the weather looks nice. They don't care about having hard copies of the bloody accounts and a whole booklet full of pen-pictures from this year's crop of wannabe nodding nellies putting themselves up for the Committee.

As somebody mentioned on another thread, what about the people who don't have an online account, a mobile phone or access to the interweb?
I have replied to the email with that question.

I'll post any response here.

Echo what you both say here. They are hardly saving on paper as they still have to send the tickets out. Not sure what was wrong with the previous system. I won't bother as it is not flexible enough for friends of mine who go on occasion. Won't work and I'm about to tell them so.

Can you nominate a game rather than specify an actual day of that game?

Badges wrote:Can you nominate a game rather than specify an actual day of that game?

Hi Badges - not the way the new system is currently. You have to book a guest ticket (or ''voucher'' as called) for a specific day.

Even so, for my own circumstances, I would like to retain the flexibility to meet up on any playing Saturday at the Oval with a friend who works in the week. Now we have to firm things up in advance and gamble on the weather being good!

guildfordbat wrote:

Badges wrote:Can you nominate a game rather than specify an actual day of that game?

Hi Badges - not the way the new system is currently. You have to book a guest ticket (or ''voucher'' as called) for a specific day.

Even so, for my own circumstances, I would like to retain the flexibility to meet up on any playing Saturday at the Oval with a friend who works in the week. Now we have to firm things up in advance and gamble on the weather being good!

Thanks.This is going to prove more than a nuisance.

KJB/Jackers - In the interests of balance I feel compelled to point out that I am very happy not to receive the year book in paper form. It's 2022 for god sake. I haven't read a paper book or a newspaper in years! You have to store paper, it costs trees, paper sources are harder to search, its basically inferior as a medium in pretty much every sense!

I would prefer them to put this on line as a reference tool or make it available to download to an e-reader.

I'm 51 so I'm hardly a young millennial.

And as for members that aren't on line or don't have a mobile phone, do any such people still exist in this day and age? If you don't have this connectivity then you are basically choosing not to connect with 50% of how the world runs now which just isn't a viable way to live your life. You'll have far bigger problems as a consequence of such an approach than whether you receive the year book in dinosaur format or not.....

Howzat

Just look around at matches to see how many spectators bring a printed newspaper with them to read. I also believe they are to be found in the long room.

Just because you have got to grips with modern technology, don't tar everyone with the same brush; others have not and should not be treated as second class citizens.

There are other ways of seeing how the world runs-it ain't just social media or online activity.

Howzat wrote:KJB/Jackers - In the interests of balance I feel compelled to point out that I am very happy not to receive the year book in paper form. It's 2022 for god sake. I haven't read a paper book or a newspaper in years! You have to store paper, it costs trees, paper sources are harder to search, its basically inferior as a medium in pretty much every sense!

I would prefer them to put this on line as a reference tool or make it available to download to an e-reader.

I'm 51 so I'm hardly a young millennial.

And as for members that aren't on line or don't have a mobile phone, do any such people still exist in this day and age? If you don't have this connectivity then you are basically choosing not to connect with 50% of how the world runs now which just isn't a viable way to live your life. You'll have far bigger problems as a consequence of such an approach than whether you receive the year book in dinosaur format or not.....

I found this by googling "mobile phone ownership UK".

"According to Statista, in 2024, the smartphone user penetration rate is expected to reach 88,1% of the total UK population."

"Practically all of those aged between 16 and 54 years were smartphone owners in the UK. The most significant overall increase is noticed among elderly smartphone usage UK. In 2012, 19% of adults aged between 55 and 64 years were smartphone owners, while in 2021, 83% of them owned a smartphone. "

It's a safe bet that smartphone ownership amongst 65+ (and certainly 75+) is lower than that and a lot of cricket fans fall into that age bracket.

So people without smartphones (an unsmart mobile would not really cut the mustard) exist on quite a fair scale. Life might be more viable for them than for you and me if the internet gets knocked over for a few days.

Personally, I would be quite happy to have the option of receiving my yearbook electronically. The key phrase is "have the option". I don't agree with forcing people to use a technology with which they are not comfortable. I think it is quite disgraceful, for example, how the sensible step of providing an online way of interacting with government subtly changes into it being the only way of doing so, or businesses which insist that you provide a mobile phone number before selling you something with a warranty (believe me, these do exist).

One other factor here. One society of which I am a member says if it made its newsletters electronic, they would lose subscription income because too many people would share the electronic copy. I'm not sure they are right but it probably depends if the members are all as cheapskate as me...

I have every Surrey Yearbook since 1953 as well as quite a few from other Counties.Every few years i get them signed by the players although the insulting squiggles of a lot of "modern" players is turning  this into a  waste of time.Long may it continue and my advice to you Howzat is MIND YOUR OWN FxxxING BUSINESS.

I also refuse to join the vast hordes of zombies who spend their entire life wandering around gazing adoringly at "smart" phones.

We seemed to have broadened the original question about the new e-ticketing system.

I instinctively bristle, regardless of the issue under discussion, when anyone says something like "It's 2022 for God's sake". To me, this comes across that we should unquestionably accept that all of today's values are inherently better than those of a generation ago and that anyone who does not necessarily agree belongs in a museum.

I no longer buy a regular newspaper, but that is largely due to the fact I got a good deal with the Telegraph's online subscription and I enjoy having rolling news coverage at my fingertips. So in that respect I don't think I am by any means a dinosaur. On the other hand, I still prefer reading books to downloading them on kindle, and I suspect I am far from alone here. I believe the club should have given members the choice of opting out of having the printed yearbook sent to them, rather than summarily stopping it while at the same time sending things very few of us would cherish receiving in hard copy.

I am also reasonably comfortable with using IT to order products, though I was lucky enough to have been familiarised with doing that sort of thing over a period of time through my work while in my 40s and early 50s.  It is a fact that a significant proportion of county cricket members will be older, and some will not have had the opportunity to learn even fairly basic IT skills. In reaching out to new, younger members we should not leave behind those who are not "IT-savvy".

Coming back to the original point, members who want to continue to receive printed vouchers should be able to do so, with those who think it is an offence against 2022 orthodoxy having the option of using the electronic straitjacket system the club has introduced.

Thanks for that last post, Jackers.

As we also both said in our earlier posts, the new system is more restrictive than is necessary and as previously enjoyed by members and their guests. Thus, even if some members prefer doing things online, there still shouldn't be new and additional restrictions as to when guest tickets can be used.

I've already complained to the club and I'll post any reply I get.
Very sad that some people think you miss 5O% of how the world lives if you don't have a mobile or subscribe to wretched social f****ing media sites to read a diet of crap. I know several people who don't do technology and are perfectly aware of what goes on in the world. Funny that. Odd that vinyl is on the rise and hard back books sell as many as digital versions. Maybe some people are tired of living in the digital world?

Don't mind it personally, I always wind up losing the bloody things

The guest vouchers not having the spontaneity is ridiculous, and as for the yearbook given that can/will be picked up by members at the front desks, that’s less of a deal.

They send us a 56 page Membership booklet - obviously no room for the vouchers!!

Went on website yesterday to see if I could download all vouchers can only do it game by game or if you know in advance those games looking forward.
Can't see what the problems were if any putting them in membership book probably another question for the AGM.

In slightly more encouraging news, they did say on Twitter that spectators will be allowed on the outfield during lunch; have missed having that opportunity to stretch your legs and throw a ball around

I totally agree with the original comments in this post regarding the new guest voucher system. I am hoping to attend the match with Hampshire with a guest on Friday and Sunday. Fortunately the weather sounds promising but there is no guarantee that the match will last 4 days. Would I lose the voucher for Sunday if I have claimed it before then and the match finishes early ? If the justification is to save paper then I don't understand why the system couldn't have been the same as in previous seasons but without the need for physical copies of the vouchers.

Have just spoken to Paul in ticket office regarding the vouchers.
He tells me the main reason for changing the system is saving paper.
Regarding the game finishing early or loosing days for rain the vouchers will be carried over to when you next need them.
Also mentioned people who haven't got technology to print off tickets he said should get in touch with ticket office .
He also said should be able to have them on your phone to show at the gate.
Asked him about the possibility of downloading all the vouchers in one go .he said that is not an option.
Perhaps they want to keep a record of what games they are being used for.
Also said to him there is a lot of unhappy people regarding this change.

Keith Powell wrote:Have just spoken to Paul in ticket office regarding the vouchers.
He tells me the main reason for changing the system is saving paper.
Regarding the game finishing early or loosing days for rain the vouchers will be carried over to when you next need them.
Also mentioned people who haven't got technology to print off tickets he said should get in touch with ticket office .
He also said should be able to have them on your phone to show at the gate.
Asked him about the possibility of downloading all the vouchers in one go .he said that is not an option.
Perhaps they want to keep a record of what games they are being used for.
Also said to him there is a lot of unhappy people regarding this change.

What a surprise - they've played the "saving paper" card. Never mind the impact on members - so long as they "tick the box".

While it is at least something that members who don't have technology to print can talk to the ticket office, they shouldn't have to do this. The system should be that you "opt out", rather than have to "opt in". It isn't simply a question of whether members have the technology - it is the issue of flexibility of being able to invite guests at short notice, which is the essence of the county championship experience.

Would one more page in the booklet,of vouchers, have made a big difference?It won't save me any paper as i have to print them all out.

This is the thanks we get for donating our membership money (in my case 2 lots) to the club in 2020 and seeing no Cricket ,and again in 2021 when it was severely curtailed.Thankyou very much Surrey CCC.

So you need to print off the ticket yourself. So the club imposing more costs onto members who have already paid hundreds of ponds for the membership.
Also agree that the loss of spontaneity is unfair, as it can be a last minute decision for people to come along,