IF it helps, together with the food app and improved WiFi, to reduce time spent queueing to purchase food/drink then it has to be embraced.
That aspect of the match day experience has been rightly criticised.
At least the club are trying to offer solutions let's see how it goes before making any judgements.
I understand the desire to improve the match day experience, and keep people at AP for as long as possible, but does it have to be done at the expense of people who want to turn up at 230 grab a burger, pay for a ticket and leave by 5?
@floyd said:
I understand the desire to improve the match day experience, and keep people at AP for as long as possible, but does it have to be done at the expense of people who want to turn up at 230 grab a burger, pay for a ticket and leave by 5?
Going cashless doesn't stop those people? Or am I missing your point?
It'll be easy enough to implement a cash-only kiosk if people really do refuse to go cashless - they'll just have to put up with massive queues and limited stock while others click-and-collect and don't miss any action. I suspect quite a few of the hold-outs may see themselves getting a debit card before the next home match, if the queues are particularly long. Nudge theory in action.
The club will need a back-up plan for when the wifi goes down though. The problem is that even if they have back-up systems (i.e. accepting cash) people may not have brought enough with them and find they can't get in / buy anything, leading to a long trek back to the nearest cash point at the Tesco's.
Will massively speed things up, will reduce processing costs for the club and the obvious risk of theft.
It’s the way society is going, just hastened by the pandemic.
It’s a tiny amount of people these days who don’t have a debit card and pretty much every debit card can be tapped for payment. Even a 90 year old can tap a card.
@floyd said:
I understand the desire to improve the match day experience, and keep people at AP for as long as possible, but does it have to be done at the expense of people who want to turn up at 230 grab a burger, pay for a ticket and leave by 5?
Going cashless doesn't stop those people? Or am I missing your point?
I think we should make it as easy as possible for people to decide at the last minute to come to a game. Pre booking your parking space, pre paying for your food and not being to use cash for anything doesn’t do that.
I know it makes no difference for the majority, and I know in ten years we’ll live in a wholly cashless society, but this is something that should have been phased in.
Need to make sure that every gadget that is tapped, gives a receipt.
I was down in Southend in June, and the staff waiting hand and foot on the drinkers on the sea front, we're all armed, with the tap in card machines, but nearly all we're unable to print a receipt.
@aloysius said:
It'll be easy enough to implement a cash-only kiosk if people really do refuse to go cashless - they'll just have to put up with massive queues and limited stock while others click-and-collect and don't miss any action. I suspect quite a few of the hold-outs may see themselves getting a debit card before the next home match, if the queues are particularly long. Nudge theory in action.
The club will need a back-up plan for when the wifi goes down though. The problem is that even if they have back-up systems (i.e. accepting cash) people may not have brought enough with them and find they can't get in / buy anything, leading to a long trek back to the nearest cash point at the Tesco's.
I expect they'll have a bus rotating between the ground and the cashpoint between 2pm and 4.10.
@floyd said:
I understand the desire to improve the match day experience, and keep people at AP for as long as possible, but does it have to be done at the expense of people who want to turn up at 230 grab a burger, pay for a ticket and leave by 5?
Going cashless doesn't stop those people? Or am I missing your point?
I think we should make it as easy as possible for people to decide at the last minute to come to a game. Pre booking your parking space, pre paying for your food and not being to use cash for anything doesn’t do that.
I know it makes no difference for the majority, and I know in ten years we’ll live in a wholly cashless society, but this is something that should have been phased in.
It’s almost impossible to decide at the last minute to attend, I reckon I’ve turned around from trying 3 times in the past 3 seasons. Not sure there’s much that can be done about it, if the closest you can park late is a 20 minute walk away it’s not really anyone’s fault.
@floyd said:
I understand the desire to improve the match day experience, and keep people at AP for as long as possible, but does it have to be done at the expense of people who want to turn up at 230 grab a burger, pay for a ticket and leave by 5?
Going cashless doesn't stop those people? Or am I missing your point?
I think we should make it as easy as possible for people to decide at the last minute to come to a game. Pre booking your parking space, pre paying for your food and not being to use cash for anything doesn’t do that.
I know it makes no difference for the majority, and I know in ten years we’ll live in a wholly cashless society, but this is something that should have been phased in.
It’s almost impossible to decide at the last minute to attend, I reckon I’ve turned around from trying 3 times in the past 3 seasons. Not sure there’s much that can be done about it, if the closest you can park late is a 20 minute walk away it’s not really anyone’s fault.
Having pre paid cards for the youngsters has been around for years in the form of 'Go Henry'. So I imagine that having a WWFC prepaid solution will be here within a couple of months if not sooner as its no different to receiving a gift card for your birthday etc. We actually had this in the form of TicketCo not long back and I was given £50 to spend as and when I saw fit at the club. Lets give the club a chance to get things going. People talking about alienation - I've felt alienated (well, pi55ed off tbh) for a few years now at AP that I have to take out a load of cash at least a mile from the ground and guess how much I will be spending in the kiosks etc on me and the kids over the next 2 hours. I'm predicting that we will be the envy of away fans when they visit us from this season, for how easy we make it for them to have a good day out, so I really think we should be embracing what the club are trying to do. Also, how many tills do you think we have in total at AP... 20? 30? 50? That's a lot less manpower being spent on cashing up tills and a lot more availability for servicing fans across the bars, kiosks, village and club shop in my opinion.
It is indeed the way of the world now and sort of unstoppable. Covid has pushed it along but I fear with clubs wanting definites to reduce financial insecurity, the days of casually turning up on the day are disappearing even at our level. There is no point pointing out who won't be interested in it as most businesses see losing those people as a price to pay to attract the people who are.
I can't quite see how this is a barrier for casual fans who want to turn up on the day. Surely now they have one barrier fewer, as they don't need to plan a trip to find a cashpoint before they can go to the match.
Sure most people will give it a go and find it a great improvement, and if the old boy who sits next to you can't use the app you could always try and help.
If the kiosks that I've spent more time than I'd like to remember queuing for become collection points only surely there'll be a lot less stress in the system and a lot more money in the coffers to address issues.
One thing they need to look out for from when ordering online started last time is making sure collecting and buying don't merge into the same queue or there won't be any advantage in ordering in advance and the queue will remain long.
Hopefully they can sort something out for older folk if needed but it's been well overdue this as football clubs realize that trying to staff up and have facilities to cater for a few hundred people for a few hours then 10000 people in 15 minutes and possibly only once in a fortnight is really tricky. The amount of sales lost from people who don't fancy the queue or don't want to miss the game queuing over the years must be massive.
@StrongestTeam said:
One thing they need to look out for from when ordering online started last time is making sure collecting and buying don't merge into the same queue or there won't be any advantage in ordering in advance and the queue will remain long.
Good point that. I remember pre-ordering my pint in the village and waiting just as long to pick it up as the collection queue carried on serving walk up punters.
I agree that we can all probably help out anyone who’s struggling or only has cash. Ultimately I’ve not bought a coffee in AP for years because of the queues and (once it settles down) I’m sure that won’t be an issue.
@A_Worboys said:
For a club that promotes being “inclusive” in its mission statement, becoming cashless is doing the opposite. Ok, the regulars will probably put up with it - some may prefer it. But for those occasional fans it will be a ball-ache, and along with £10 parking etc etc will be another reason not to bother. A strange decision given that the majority of our support tends to be over 60 or under 18. Did the Trust agree to this?
Is the majority of our support over60/under 18? You may be right but would surprise me.
@A_Worboys said:
For a club that promotes being “inclusive” in its mission statement, becoming cashless is doing the opposite. Ok, the regulars will probably put up with it - some may prefer it. But for those occasional fans it will be a ball-ache, and along with £10 parking etc etc will be another reason not to bother. A strange decision given that the majority of our support tends to be over 60 or under 18. Did the Trust agree to this?
Is the majority of our support over60/under 18? You may be right but would surprise me.
I also disagree with the assumption that most people under 18 or over 60 don't have a payment card of some kind and use it regularly. I can sympathise with the desire to be inclusive here but really people are just shouting at the waves to turn back. (And yes, I know Knut was making a point rather than thinking he could actually command the sea)
I was there, too, @MorrisItal_. Shame I didn't have the chance to identify you and say hello. Really enjoyed the day, spent largely in the cheerful company of @EwanHoosaami and a very agreeable, (comparatively) young lady named after a Blake's 7 character.
I'd love to think she was called Zen, the Onboard Flight Computer.
I was there, too, @MorrisItal_. Shame I didn't have the chance to identify you and say hello. Really enjoyed the day, spent largely in the cheerful company of @EwanHoosaami and a very agreeable, (comparatively) young lady named after a Blake's 7 character.
I'd love to think she was called Zen, the Onboard Flight Computer.
Or Slave, the same thing on their second ship, Scorpio.
This reminds me of a conversation I had with an HR Manager at work a year or so ago. We’d had to transfer a lot of what we used to post out from the office to an online system that was previously optional.
He phoned up shouting the odds and signed off with, ‘They can’t use your online system. These are Works guys - they don’t use computers’.
It turned out that only three of his 126 ‘Works guys’ were not registered users.
I want to know what happens if you want to order food and all the seats with the QR codes are occupied... I thought they might be on the back of the seat.
@ReturnToSenda said:
I want to know what happens if you want to order food and all the seats with the QR codes are occupied... I thought they might be on the back of the seat.
‘Shift your arse pal, I want to order some crisps’.
Comments
Genuine question - do the trust need to agree to anything these days?
IF it helps, together with the food app and improved WiFi, to reduce time spent queueing to purchase food/drink then it has to be embraced.
That aspect of the match day experience has been rightly criticised.
At least the club are trying to offer solutions let's see how it goes before making any judgements.
I understand the desire to improve the match day experience, and keep people at AP for as long as possible, but does it have to be done at the expense of people who want to turn up at 230 grab a burger, pay for a ticket and leave by 5?
Going cashless doesn't stop those people? Or am I missing your point?
It'll be easy enough to implement a cash-only kiosk if people really do refuse to go cashless - they'll just have to put up with massive queues and limited stock while others click-and-collect and don't miss any action. I suspect quite a few of the hold-outs may see themselves getting a debit card before the next home match, if the queues are particularly long. Nudge theory in action.
The club will need a back-up plan for when the wifi goes down though. The problem is that even if they have back-up systems (i.e. accepting cash) people may not have brought enough with them and find they can't get in / buy anything, leading to a long trek back to the nearest cash point at the Tesco's.
Wait, do people really not know there's a cashpoint much closer than Tesco? ?
I think it’s a great idea.
Will massively speed things up, will reduce processing costs for the club and the obvious risk of theft.
It’s the way society is going, just hastened by the pandemic.
It’s a tiny amount of people these days who don’t have a debit card and pretty much every debit card can be tapped for payment. Even a 90 year old can tap a card.
I think we should make it as easy as possible for people to decide at the last minute to come to a game. Pre booking your parking space, pre paying for your food and not being to use cash for anything doesn’t do that.
I know it makes no difference for the majority, and I know in ten years we’ll live in a wholly cashless society, but this is something that should have been phased in.
Need to make sure that every gadget that is tapped, gives a receipt.
I was down in Southend in June, and the staff waiting hand and foot on the drinkers on the sea front, we're all armed, with the tap in card machines, but nearly all we're unable to print a receipt.
I expect they'll have a bus rotating between the ground and the cashpoint between 2pm and 4.10.
It’s almost impossible to decide at the last minute to attend, I reckon I’ve turned around from trying 3 times in the past 3 seasons. Not sure there’s much that can be done about it, if the closest you can park late is a 20 minute walk away it’s not really anyone’s fault.
I agree. It’s a great shame.
Having pre paid cards for the youngsters has been around for years in the form of 'Go Henry'. So I imagine that having a WWFC prepaid solution will be here within a couple of months if not sooner as its no different to receiving a gift card for your birthday etc. We actually had this in the form of TicketCo not long back and I was given £50 to spend as and when I saw fit at the club. Lets give the club a chance to get things going. People talking about alienation - I've felt alienated (well, pi55ed off tbh) for a few years now at AP that I have to take out a load of cash at least a mile from the ground and guess how much I will be spending in the kiosks etc on me and the kids over the next 2 hours. I'm predicting that we will be the envy of away fans when they visit us from this season, for how easy we make it for them to have a good day out, so I really think we should be embracing what the club are trying to do. Also, how many tills do you think we have in total at AP... 20? 30? 50? That's a lot less manpower being spent on cashing up tills and a lot more availability for servicing fans across the bars, kiosks, village and club shop in my opinion.
It is indeed the way of the world now and sort of unstoppable. Covid has pushed it along but I fear with clubs wanting definites to reduce financial insecurity, the days of casually turning up on the day are disappearing even at our level. There is no point pointing out who won't be interested in it as most businesses see losing those people as a price to pay to attract the people who are.
They just need to agree with a quarter of everything.
?? Indeed @Shev and retaining the Quarters as well!
I can't quite see how this is a barrier for casual fans who want to turn up on the day. Surely now they have one barrier fewer, as they don't need to plan a trip to find a cashpoint before they can go to the match.
Sure most people will give it a go and find it a great improvement, and if the old boy who sits next to you can't use the app you could always try and help.
If the kiosks that I've spent more time than I'd like to remember queuing for become collection points only surely there'll be a lot less stress in the system and a lot more money in the coffers to address issues.
One thing they need to look out for from when ordering online started last time is making sure collecting and buying don't merge into the same queue or there won't be any advantage in ordering in advance and the queue will remain long.
Hopefully they can sort something out for older folk if needed but it's been well overdue this as football clubs realize that trying to staff up and have facilities to cater for a few hundred people for a few hours then 10000 people in 15 minutes and possibly only once in a fortnight is really tricky. The amount of sales lost from people who don't fancy the queue or don't want to miss the game queuing over the years must be massive.
Good point that. I remember pre-ordering my pint in the village and waiting just as long to pick it up as the collection queue carried on serving walk up punters.
I agree that we can all probably help out anyone who’s struggling or only has cash. Ultimately I’ve not bought a coffee in AP for years because of the queues and (once it settles down) I’m sure that won’t be an issue.
Is the majority of our support over60/under 18? You may be right but would surprise me.
I also disagree with the assumption that most people under 18 or over 60 don't have a payment card of some kind and use it regularly. I can sympathise with the desire to be inclusive here but really people are just shouting at the waves to turn back. (And yes, I know Knut was making a point rather than thinking he could actually command the sea)
I'd love to think she was called Zen, the Onboard Flight Computer.
Or Slave, the same thing on their second ship, Scorpio.
Stuart will always have his place in WWFC history for playing at Wembley, but it was 30 years ago. Time to move on.
This reminds me of a conversation I had with an HR Manager at work a year or so ago. We’d had to transfer a lot of what we used to post out from the office to an online system that was previously optional.
He phoned up shouting the odds and signed off with, ‘They can’t use your online system. These are Works guys - they don’t use computers’.
It turned out that only three of his 126 ‘Works guys’ were not registered users.
As long as they leave it a bit before we have to pre-book a half-time urinal slot.
I expect 'spending a penny' has gone up to a pound now too!
Could be a disaster waiting to happen if you forget your card!
I want to know what happens if you want to order food and all the seats with the QR codes are occupied... I thought they might be on the back of the seat.
‘Shift your arse pal, I want to order some crisps’.