Ticket prices

[Karma]

I'm sure this has been covered already but I feel brutalized enough to hit the subject again.
I just bought 2 tix to BRC for a grand total of $745.oo ....... SEVEN HUNDRED FORTY FIVE DOLLARS FOR TWO !!!
For the 1st time in 12 years of attending our little camp fire trip, I feel resentful of the org.
One of the things that eats me is the request to buy at the highest ticket level you can afford. I've actually followed that request every year. I make ok money so I believed in helping the lower priced tix to stretch farther for the ppl on more of a budget. But who wouldve ever imagined prices would get so high ?

I'm a painting contractor and this feels alot like what some contractors (not me) do when they get REA:LLY busy and believe that the calls will keep coming regardless. So they start Seriously padding there bids, sometimes double or more figuring if they dont get the gig, no worries, they're still solid. And if they do it's a Bingo job and they wont care that they're overbooked. They just stop caring.

I dont know if something like that is happening here, but it feels like it.
Anyway, I am going thru some buyers remorse right now which is part of why I'm venting.
But, I'm sure in a few weeks as the event gets closr and the serious packing and prepping begins, remorse and frustration will give way to excitement and anticipation and I'll forget that I paid $100.oo more per ticket then I did last year.

And maybe that's what the org is counting on........

[marck]

You only paid $40 more per ticket than I did one the first day of ticket sales.
Last year I was able to get a ticket for $240, I also paid about $100 more this year, it really hurts in this economy.

Next year if I can't buy my ticket withing 30 minutes, I won't spend another 12 hours online, waiting. I'll just comeback when it is less busy, or I just won't go.

However, I've also spent almost 100 times the difference between my ticket price and yours getting ready to go and helping to set up a theme camp. That would be about 40 times the difference between what you paid last year and this year. My job is iffy and I may not have it by the end of this year, but I'll be back again next year.

I do it because I really like to go, if the $200 difference is too much, show your dissatisfaction by not purchasing your ticket. Do the regionals instead. This is something most consumers forget they can do.

[Karma]

Marck,
I know what you;re saying and in th end the ticket price is a small part of what it takes to transport, supply and build our camp. And i made the decision to buy the ticket despite the price so I cam only complain to a point.
But you did just re-affirm what I mentioned in my original post of where I think the org mindset may be at.

I think they figured out pretty early on that the event is going to sellout this year. They have'nt said it outright, but they've certainly alluded to it in the jack rabbits and on the website. The last tier pricig was always meant t o be a detterent to keep last minute day partyers from attending the event, hence the astronomical gate price. But with no gate sales at all this year and record attendance, what was the point of the final tier of $360,oo ?
I'm pretty sure that the lower priced tickets and low incomes have been more then offset by the 280 and 320 tiers. Thats just a guess but it makes sense.
So why the final price jack ? Cause they knew they would sell.
The whole point of the tiered pricing system was to promote early sales so the org would have the money to start executing the event. But that's been a mute point for the last couple years with just first day sales being off the hook.Especially this year.


I'm not trying to sound like those guys who rant just tostart a flame war and in the end, 360 is still a pretty good deal for a week in the comfort.
Its the mindset that created that last tier that bugged me this year.
It feels like If you dont like it, dont go. We'll sellout anyway with or without you.
In the end, I dont believe in my heart that they feel that way about it. But I hate that it feels that way.

Anywy, I need to get my kid to the coffeeshop for his morning breakfst banana before he starts his pterodactyl impression.

C.

[mdmf007]

Yeah it is a bite, i know lots of peeps that cant go at all. But now that BM is getting mainstream there are lots of people coming for the first time. I am thinking BMORG can charge 500.00 a ticket and it would still sell out - guaranteed if they ran an ad or two.

[BBadger]

Give me a fucking break.

Tickets were $320 for nearly 6 months straight. You could have gotten a ticket for $40 cheaper at any time for nearly half a year. You could have also jumped on the various ticket sales in the Tickets forum if you wanted them cheaper and spent some time and effort doing so.

Instead, you're whining that you're paying the highest prices for tickets because you're buying tickets a month and a half before the event. To use your contractor analogy, you're acting like some entitled client who hires a contractor at the last moment and expects the same prices that you get if you had better forethought and planning. It's also like buying a airline ticket a week before you travel instead of a month or two. FYI, ticket prices haven't changed since 2009, so whatever perceived price "hike" you've experienced is the result of your own poor planning.

Nor do I find this practice unjustified. Time is money, and the ability to schedule yourself around predictable conditions is important. When I do contract work, if the client wants it done in a shorter time frame, the charges go up accordingly. Those who give me a lot of time and flexibility get the benefit of lower prices. If they want work done during busy times, yes, the charges go up too because juggling multiple projects at the same time is a pain. As a contractor, do you operate any differently? If you do, you're either extremely small-fry or a chump.

With tickets it's even more important to make sales early. An unsold ticket does nothing for you, and a ticket sold at the time of the event is money that you couldn't be using up until that time. The whole ticket tiering system in January is to provide a cash infusion for BMorg. After that, the ticket sales continue the fund the event. In the last stretch before the event, the price of tickets goes to $360, reflecting the scarcity of the tickets, and the problems that come with the last-minute sales. If it punishes people who procrastinate, that's what they get. Again, you had SIX MONTHS.

[jkisha]

Yup, just good business. Pricing is always based on quality of service, demand for service, available supply, and what the market will bare. Too many small businesses go broke because they don't price their products or services correctly.

Nor do I find this practice unjustified. Time is money, and the ability to schedule yourself around predictable conditions is important. When I do contract work, if the client wants it done in a shorter time frame, the charges go up accordingly. Those who give me a lot of time and flexibility get the benefit of lower prices. If they want work done during busy times, yes, the charges go up too because juggling multiple projects at the same time is a pain. As a contractor, do you operate any differently? If you do, you're either extremely small-fry or a chump.

[gyre]

I thought I couldn't put a price on going to burning man.

Apparently I was wrong.

I found I was unwilling to pay over $300 for a ticket.
I haven't changed my mind.

Maybe next year, I'll feel differently.
Then again, as the economy staggers, the options for other experiences get cheaper and more plentiful.


I abhor the insane lack of flexibility of airline pricing, so rarely fly.
If that is their business plan, it works for me.

I would rather drive on a trans-oceanic trip, given the choice.

A remarkable marketing scheme, to disrupt the lifelong habit of paying to fly, yet it has succeeded.

It is true that on my last flight, the airline offered me a special discounted rate for a seat that would allow me to travel without risking a deadly stroke from the traditional veal pen seating.
Only $1,216.00 additional, each way.

[ygmir]

I thought I couldn't put a price on going to burning man.

Apparently I was wrong.

I found I was unwilling to pay over $300 for a ticket.
I haven't changed my mind.

Maybe next year, I'll feel differently.
Then again, as the economy staggers, the options for other experiences get cheaper and more plentiful.


I abhor the insane lack of flexibility of airline pricing, so rarely fly.
If that is their business plan, it works for me.

I would rather drive on a trans-oceanic trip, given the choice.

A remarkable marketing scheme, to disrupt the lifelong habit of paying to fly, yet it has succeeded.

It is true that on my last flight, the airline offered me a special discounted rate for a seat that would allow me to travel without risking a deadly stroke from the traditional veal pen seating.
Only $1,216.00 additional, each way.

had you flown with them before?

[gyre]

Yes.

One noteworthy event was the near miss landing at LAX.
I did get to experience a full throttle, maximum attack angle climb in an airliner from twenty feet off the ground until we were over the ocean.

A very, very quiet cabin, other than the turbine roar.

They will climb much more steeply than you might expect.

[goathead]

Don't you know, you all have a new BLM office in Gerlach to pay for?

[MyDearFriend]

Don't you know, you all have a new BLM office in Gerlach to pay for?

Marble bathrooms, granite kitchen, SCIF... oh yeah I'm sure.

[trilobyte]

Ticket prices are definitely a pain point, but ticket prices for everything seems to have gone up in recent years. Local/regional weekend campouts, which used to cost $25 (plus all your costs to get there and back again) all seem to start north of $150, and some are at $200 plus additional parking fees. For a weekend. 7-8 days at most KOA campgrounds would cost $300 (or more, depending on location). Bleacher seats at a baseball game now seem to go for $40 (it's the same damned bleacher that was in the $20-$25 range 5 years ago).

Glad you're able to make it, though, and hopefully you end up having that much more fun at the event.

[AntiM]

Our regional, which used to be free, jumped up to $25, then 40. This year we saw tiers, 65, up, up, until it hits $120 at the gate.

[xenira]

$5,000 for a single ticket. http://tinyurl.com/3hsl9da

Auction isn't even over yet, with 40 bidders (albeit, some of them look phony).
But this is where we're at now?
Wow. I'm sick.

[Savannah]

There's nothing to be gained by hanging out on eBay this week, unless one is a millionaire. It's full of faux bidders. And Burners who will sell their tickets at realistic prices--which 95% of remaining ticket buyers need--are not heading there first (or second).

[illy dilly]

No but eBay is fun to watch right now.
And sit back revel in the idea that I paid less than $500 for a ticket.

To the OP.
The BMorg has nothing to do with the tickets selling out.
They have a maximum number of people allowed inside the event. If they sell more tickets than that, there will be more people than that on Burn night. People bought there tickets early. And the BMorg has nothing to do with the fact that you had to pay 500 for a ticket. It has nothing to do with them trying to make *extra* money. They sold it to someone for 320 and you paid 500 for it. And yes it totally sucks that people are selling tickets for higher than face value.

And the 320 dollar price for a ticket is more than reasonable! If you break it down that turns out to be 45 dollars a day. Shit, six flags costs more than that, if you pay at the gate.
We recently paid 70 dollars for two tickets to Global Dance Fest in Denver. And that was because we got a deal on them. On line they were going for 82 after taxes and fees. We bought our Saturday tickets off a gal who bought two 3 day passes for 180 each, so 60 bucks a day. We paid her 70 each (140) for her two Saturday passes. If it was 60 dollars a night for the burn it would cost you 420 dollars.
320 dollars for a Burning Man ticket is just fine with me.

[dadara]

Even BM tickets for one Million Dollars can be totally cool. Especially if the offer includes the burning of the Million bucks on the Playa

http://blog.artasmoney.com/art-as-money/burning-man-ticket-for-a-million/

[jkisha]

Aren't you the sly fox! Finding a way to slip in a plug. Kudos to you

Even BM tickets for one Million Dollars can be totally cool. Especially if the offer includes the burning of the Million bucks on the Playa

http://blog.artasmoney.com/art-as-money/burning-man-ticket-for-a-million/

[dadara]

Aren't you the sly fox! Finding a way to slip in a plug. Kudos to you

Even BM tickets for one Million Dollars can be totally cool. Especially if the offer includes the burning of the Million bucks on the Playa

http://blog.artasmoney.com/art-as-money/burning-man-ticket-for-a-million/

Now that I have left my past as an artist behind and have become a bank director my slyness is increasing rapidly. I am starting to adapt to the Default world.
Hey, I even cut my hair and starting wearing a suit and a tie ! haha

[Mitch]

I bet you're starting to feel as if you've gotten a bargain, huh?

[dadara]

I bet you're starting to feel as if you've gotten a bargain, huh?

I guess it really IS a bargain. After all burning millions is something we do every day.........

[capjbadger]

Even BM tickets for one Million Dollars can be totally cool. Especially if the offer includes the burning of the Million bucks on the Playa

http://blog.artasmoney.com/art-as-money/burning-man-ticket-for-a-million/

Lame and selfish. Just like those other guys you know that burnt 1M (pounds as I recall).

Instead of burning it to make some stupid point, think of the good they could of done with it instead.

Wasteful and selfish.

-Badger

[dadara]

Even BM tickets for one Million Dollars can be totally cool. Especially if the offer includes the burning of the Million bucks on the Playa

http://blog.artasmoney.com/art-as-money/burning-man-ticket-for-a-million/

Lame and selfish. Just like those other guys you know that burnt 1M (pounds as I recall).

Instead of burning it to make some stupid point, think of the good they could of done with it instead.

Wasteful and selfish.

-Badger

A lot of people have accused them of the fact that instead of burning it they could for instance have fed poor kids in Africa.
Their answer was: 'We didn't burn food or loaves of bread, we just burnt pieces of paper'

I also received an interesting reply to the Burning of the Million British pounds topic on the Art as Money blog:
'In a talk show the audience once accused them of being immoral. Instead of giving the money to a charity they burned it. This is interesting because it implicitly criticizes the whole concept of private property. Why is burning money immoral and buying a luxurious yacht of equivalent value not? Such a yacht depreciates (loses its value) around 10% a year. Showing this controversy is a great achievement of the K-foundation.'

Sure. I agree that they could have done things with it which might be better for the world. But so many people use their money in a wasteful and selfish way. And maybe spending a million on making people think about that might actually be something good done for the world. Because I feel that someone owning ten huge houses and four yachts and eight luxury cars like one of those Bling-Bling rappers on MTV is much more selfish and wasteful. But for a few years my thoughts about the Burning kept going from 'Brilliant' to 'Wasteful and Stupid' and back again as well. The reason I like what they did is that after six or seven years I realized I still couldn't make up my mind if it was stupid or great and then realized it had kept my mind busy for all those years. more thoughts and info: http://blog.artasmoney.com/?p=50

And no, this is not just a sly way of slipping in a plug for the blog and getting kudos from jkisha. I really think that thinking about the value of money might be a better way of exchanging the world than just spending a week without money on the Playa and then return to our selfish and wasteful way of living as if nothing happened..........

[Raymaker]

we bought $360 tickets, we didn't know tickets sold cheaper earlier when we purchased them, so we felt $360 was a good deal, so it is. I know some people don't make a lot of money, but I bet the ones making the biggest noise about ticket prices spend at least ten times as much yearly each on drink, smokes and other drugs, they probably have $90 a month payphone subscriptions they don't need and could get by on $10 a month top-up payment plans, just sorting stuff like that out can save you enough money to pay for this, just saying.

NB I am not selling tickets

[marck]

I really hate it when people assume and generalize.

Some of those who "make more than others" are saddled with supporting families and relatives.

Many home owners in California(I am not qualified to comment on other states) have additional expenses that renters will never have to deal with.

Students who pay their own way have their own set of funding issues and priorities which must be met.

Some of those who attend feel the desire to contribute to the overall experience of everyone else.

Because some of us have complex lives others should not assume a simple generalization can adequately describe their situations.


Please, I prefer to judged based on my actions and not on the assumptions of others. And I will always feel that I'm being included in blanket generalizations.

The job I have now wasn't handed to me, I had to educate myself and work within the bullshit system in order to get the job I have. I earned my current income through years of underpaid labor and accept that not everyone wants to take that path. I also feel that I'm still underpaid.

I do feel I sometimes spend my income on unnecessary items or services. But I also feel that giving my spare change to someone asking for a handout, supporting Political Parties(Republicans, Democrats, Scientologists, Mormons, Catholics, Baptists or any other organized church.), spending money for cable TV, or tipping for mediocre service, is a waste of my money.

However, I have learned that I should never not hold my values up to other people and expect the same from them. There is no right or wrong at this level only different paths.

What it comes down to is this, If the cost of going isn't worth it to you then don't.
I didn't attend for over six years because it either conflicted with my job as a wilderness fire fighter for the USDA Forest Service or my schooling. If you go, then accept that you share a common bond with everyone else attending and forget your differences. At least until they prove otherwise.

Ticket prices are one thing, people making a profit off of them is another. If no one purchased a ticket over the printed price(plus actual cost of shipping) on the ticket then the scalpers wouldn't bother with them. But as long as people are willing to pay recockulous prices then the price will continue to rise to meet the demand.

[trilobyte]

It all gets filed under First World Problems. In some parts of the world, you get to live in a relatively lawless shitty camp in the desert for free.

[The CO]

Trilo, between your posts and your work as a mod, I think I'm getting a man-crush on you.

[capjbadger]

A lot of people have accused them of the fact that instead of burning it they could for instance have fed poor kids in Africa.
Their answer was: 'We didn't burn food or loaves of bread, we just burnt pieces of paper'

A completely fallacious argument. They were not just pieces of paper. They had value assigned to them and that value was wasted instead of using it to do something useful. If they had exchanged those "pieces of paper" for food and burnt that, it would be the same thing.

Food = potential money. Money = potential food. Burning money = Burning food.

-Badger

[capjbadger]

Ha! I think I just stumbled on next year's theme.

Burning Man 2012 - Burning Food

-Badger

[dadara]

A lot of people have accused them of the fact that instead of burning it they could for instance have fed poor kids in Africa.
Their answer was: 'We didn't burn food or loaves of bread, we just burnt pieces of paper'

A completely fallacious argument. They were not just pieces of paper. They had value assigned to them and that value was wasted instead of using it to do something useful. If they had exchanged those "pieces of paper" for food and burnt that, it would be the same thing.

Food = potential money. Money = potential food. Burning money = Burning food.

-Badger

In 2002 I built the Fools Ark, which cost me a lot of money, blood, sweat, tears, paint and wood, then I shipped it to the States, which was costing an extra few grand and then I burnt it. Art=Potential Money, Money=Potential Food . Did I burn food? Lots of people declared me crazy. One of them being my accountant.......