Hi everyone!  My apologies for not following up on these threads sooner,
but work has kept me quite busy!
 
At 12:34 PM 6/23/97 -0400, Cathy Hart wrote:
>Supporting these teams is an honor.  Having season tickets is a privilege.
 
I agree with this statement.  With a 1200 person waiting list and average
attendence near 5,000 the fact that a person gets their seats reserved is
an honor.
 
> The "thanks" you miss will be more appropriate if mailed with the tickets in
>the fall.
 
I disagree with this however.  What about thanking them for support for
past years gone by and "asking" for support in the future.  Seems like
common courtesy (if not then at least good PR) to thank consumers for what
they've contributed already and encourage more.
 
I think this is even more of an oversight when you consider all that season
ticket holders have had to put up with in recent years.
 
>Any extra money season tickets cost over the per game amounts is
>for the privilege of keeping those seats.  C'mon!!  These seats are a
>premium, with a waiting list, and are going to get more valuable as this team
>begins it's run at another championship.
 
This seems like simple capitalism to me.  Supply and demand.  If Maine'ers
weren't willing to pay more per game to reserve their seats all season then
the prices wouldn't be as such, and the waiting list not so long.
 
>No schedule will be publicized by the University until it is final.  Sports
>Information is very ootsey about that, I've found, because people like us
>call them complaining if there is a change in a schedule even if they put
>"tentative" in bold print across it!
 
This is a big deal to me.  You are trying to essentially "sell" Maine
hockey tickets, even though to some degree they might sell themselves.  I
think it is unfair to demand payment without letting the consumer know
exactly what they are paying for (in this case, when the home games are).
Maybe the university doesn't want to "publicize" their schedule, but I
hardly think serving the faithful fans who do their part of fund the
athletic department (and/or ticket office) is going to cause any undue harm
on them.
 
My feeling is that season ticket holders should be receiving up-to-date
schedule information and hockey information as it becomes available.  That
would be some good publicity, something that Maine can always use.  Not to
mention that it helps make the product that much better and encourage more
people to stick with their season tickets.
 
>In light of all the
>changes and the budget problems at the U, we ALL have to realize it just
>cannot go on the way it was!  Cost effective procedures and other perhaps
>less warm and fuzzy ways of doing things have got to be taken with a little
>more patience from us, as these folks, for the most part, seem to be doing
>the work of at least two people, in the time of one.  let's give them a
>little more maneuvering room, okay?!?!?!
 
That is a dangerous business position.  If you expect consumers to adjust
to a "less friendly" (or as you say "less warm and fuzzy") ways of doing
things you risk alienating your customers.
 
I would think the opposite would happen.  Rather than cost effective
procedures cutting into how consumer-friendly you are, it should increase
it to offset other problems and/or concerns.
 
It doesn't cost anything to be nice and friendly.
 
---
Deron Treadwell ([log in to unmask])