Those early bird season ticket 'benefits' - 2022-23 season discussion from p8

se9addick said:

I think we risk overdoing it a bit on the criticism of the early bird offers. The communications around some of the offers were poorly worded (perhaps intentionally) but I doubt it had a serious impact on whether anyone actually bought a season ticket or not. 

It's irrelevant whether it had a serious impact on the purchasing of a season ticket. It's just poor form from the club.
I cannot understand why they bothered, it's the worst incentive in the history of civilisation.

That's just over 100ml of free beer, two large shots or two mouth fulls of free beer.

I mean, if I know what I know now, I wouldn’t have brought a season ticket, gosh, and where did I spit my dummy? 

I doubt there’s a single person that bought a ticket early for the added benefit. If the club had stated that by buying the ticket early you would be helping Charlton financially the uptake would have either been exactly the same or possibly even greater (by a small margin). The whole drink and store voucher thing was so unnecessary with the included restrictions. 

Would have thought 20% off a drink every home game would be a good way to get fans drinking in the ground more. Could have been a good plan, especially with the limited options in Charlton these days. 

The term 'on a _ _ _ day' is often use colloquially to mean every. For example, 'the bin men come on a Friday'. You wouldn't expect them to turn up on just one Friday (unless you live in Bexley). As for the 20% off a single beer, I gave up drinking at The Valley a long while ago. I'm not really bothered about the discount personally and it didn't factor into my decision to buy a season ticket. I do think they are missing an opportunity to try and entice me back to the club bars, though.

Is the comms department still suffering from Shitweasel's cutbacks? I'd have expected a fully staffed comms department to have given a bit more thought to their offer and the wording they used. 

Carter said:

There is a real risk of us sounding like spoilt brats here. 

I don’t mean anyone in particular on here but the crying on social media I found pretty embarrassing 

For me early bird tickets are just cheaper than waiting until August to renew and thats the incentive. Its poorly thought out marketing at worst but I've still got very vicious memories of increasing ticket prices under dumb and dumber, the sofa that was rightly destroyed by the people and having our own security people actively looking to pick a fight with fans 

Except there was no price increase. All of this is nonsense. People wanted to buy STs. It makes no difference when they buy them. The club just disappeared down a rabbit hole because it set itself a task that was completely pointless.

Carter said:

Airman Brown said:

Carter said:

There is a real risk of us sounding like spoilt brats here. 

I don’t mean anyone in particular on here but the crying on social media I found pretty embarrassing 

For me early bird tickets are just cheaper than waiting until August to renew and thats the incentive. Its poorly thought out marketing at worst but I've still got very vicious memories of increasing ticket prices under dumb and dumber, the sofa that was rightly destroyed by the people and having our own security people actively looking to pick a fight with fans 

Except there was no price increase. All of this is nonsense. People wanted to buy STs. It makes no difference when they buy them. The club just disappeared down a rabbit hole because it set itself a task that was completely pointless.

You are correct, my point I maybe should have made clearer was 'STs are usually cheaper the earlier you buy and that is the incentive'

You used to want people to buy before the end of the previous season because the theory was “out of sight, out of mind”. But that’s all over now, because of the internet, as is the idea the club can earn much interest. It’s unlikely to be needed for cashflow either. Obviously you want to capitalise on enthusiasm while it exists. In this case, there was no need for incentives and no benefit, but there was a committee so it had to come up with a camel.

aliwibble said:

I'd have thought 20% off every drink would wipe out the profit margin though.

Not if you raise the price by 20%

No one bought a season ticket because of the ‘offers’ so I doubt if anyone is offended by it but the wording is very ambiguous and it leaves a sour taste in the mouth. The bigger problem is that over the course of one matchday they could have 9,000 people accessing the club shop to use their discount voucher. Not being able to use it online is ridiculous too. 

Even Meire knows not to piss off your customers. Not a great move all round….

Airman Brown said:

Stig said:

The term 'on a _ _ _ day' is often use colloquially to mean every. For example, 'the bin men come on a Friday'. You wouldn't expect them to turn up on just one Friday (unless you live in Bexley). As for the 20% off a single beer, I gave up drinking at The Valley a long while ago. I'm not really bothered about the discount personally and it didn't factor into my decision to buy a season ticket. I do think they are missing an opportunity to try and entice me back to the club bars, though.

Is the comms department still suffering from Shitweasel's cutbacks? I'd have expected a fully staffed comms department to have given a bit more thought to their offer and the wording they used. 

There’s nothing fully staffed down there, which is part of the problem. 

Not least the bars so getting them to try and process a voucher that relies on some maths is crazy. You’ll queue for hours now whilst they scratch their head serving the first feller…

iainment said:

Is anyone who is worked up by this letting the club know?
If not moaning is pointless.

Remember, in the words of Bill Parcell, you should expect nothing, blame no one and do something.

Thanks Iainment, not having any interest in American sports I had to google Bill Parcells. I'm not really a lot wiser, but at least I'm getting a little closer to understanding this joke 15 years after the event.

Fumbluff said:

Airman Brown said:

Stig said:

The term 'on a _ _ _ day' is often use colloquially to mean every. For example, 'the bin men come on a Friday'. You wouldn't expect them to turn up on just one Friday (unless you live in Bexley). As for the 20% off a single beer, I gave up drinking at The Valley a long while ago. I'm not really bothered about the discount personally and it didn't factor into my decision to buy a season ticket. I do think they are missing an opportunity to try and entice me back to the club bars, though.

Is the comms department still suffering from Shitweasel's cutbacks? I'd have expected a fully staffed comms department to have given a bit more thought to their offer and the wording they used. 

There’s nothing fully staffed down there, which is part of the problem. 

Not least the bars so getting them to try and process a voucher that relies on some maths is crazy. You’ll queue for hours now whilst they scratch their head serving the first feller…

Haha...exactly what I thought! Even the simplest request (2 pints of lager, a bottle of cider) is usually met with a puzzled look and a race to consult a "senior" figure. Imagine an increased crowd and a load of people waving 20% off vouchers! It will be chaos. Maybe that's why they had to stagger the booze "incentive" as they knew it would be impossible. Might as well have said have a free pint at some point during the season. Much easier. The club shop thing is a bit more annoying, as I imaging most people would like to take advantage - for themselves, their kids or grand children. Limiting it to one weekend is just a bit cheap, and a bit of a piss take tbh.