Brewers Plan to Give Back [Reply #64: $10 vouchers to all fans attending August games]

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

Went to my first and only game on Friday night. Spent way too much of it in line getting food for my family...didn't occur to me at first that things were so crowded due to the vouchers. No one in the lines seemed to mind...if anything it took them away from watching the ugliness on the field. We were with a big group and most of them left in the 7th or 8th.

 

It kind of reminded me of a Dodgers game...long, slow moving concession lines and people leaving early...all that was missing were some gang fights in the parking lot and a few beach balls.

[pretendastronaut]

Fyi, the concession stands are packed because of these. Expect to miss an inning or two every time you go up.

 

I went yesterday and it seemed the regular concession stands weren't much different than usual, but the speciality stands were packed, specifically the Cactus League Nachos and the pretzel stands. The team store was also much more packed, especially after the game.

[Patrick425]

Yeah..lines were long Saturday night, especially during the game. We used some of them before the game started and the lines were not too long. I wasn't going to miss an inning or two just to save $10. I'll be going to some games in September and will use the vouchers then (they are good until some time in September).

 

I also wanted to get a cell phone cover for my new cell phone. So, I went down to the pro shop and it was a zoo. I looked for the covers anyways, and as I suspected, they only had Iphone covers (I have a Samsung Galaxy). Why is there this assumption that everyone that has a smart phone owns a Iphone? Oh well, I wasn't going to stand in the long line anyways.

[panthernick]

Anyone have trouble getting two? My wife went in to pick up our vouchers since we couldn't make the game on Sunday and the lady said it was "one per household" but we could have two bobbleheads. That struck me as odd since we paid for both tickets. Thinking about emailing my season ticket guy.

[Patrick425]

Anyone have trouble getting two? My wife went in to pick up our vouchers since we couldn't make the game on Sunday and the lady said it was "one per household" but we could have two bobbleheads. That struck me as odd since we paid for both tickets. Thinking about emailing my season ticket guy.

 

When you said she "went in", you mean on a non-game day? If that's the case I can kind of see the Brewers having that policy for that situation. If you are not using the tickets but someone else is (or someone else might use them) then they are basically giving away two vouchers for each of your tickets. That may be why they said you can only have one.

 

Otherwise you could just go in and say that you are not going to use your tickets and then go to the game anyways.

[panthernick]

Anyone have trouble getting two? My wife went in to pick up our vouchers since we couldn't make the game on Sunday and the lady said it was "one per household" but we could have two bobbleheads. That struck me as odd since we paid for both tickets. Thinking about emailing my season ticket guy.

 

When you said she "went in", you mean on a non-game day? If that's the case I can kind of see the Brewers having that policy for that situation. If you are not using the tickets but someone else is (or someone else might use them) then they are basically giving away two vouchers for each of your tickets. That may be why they said you can only have one.

 

Otherwise you could just go in and say that you are not going to use your tickets and then go to the game anyways.

 

 

Sorry I should have been more clear. We drove down on gameday just to get the vouchers and she went in with the crowds. Had two tickets, lady scanned them both and said "only one voucher per household, but you can have two bobbleheads".

[Patrick425]

Anyone have trouble getting two? My wife went in to pick up our vouchers since we couldn't make the game on Sunday and the lady said it was "one per household" but we could have two bobbleheads. That struck me as odd since we paid for both tickets. Thinking about emailing my season ticket guy.

 

When you said she "went in", you mean on a non-game day? If that's the case I can kind of see the Brewers having that policy for that situation. If you are not using the tickets but someone else is (or someone else might use them) then they are basically giving away two vouchers for each of your tickets. That may be why they said you can only have one.

 

Otherwise you could just go in and say that you are not going to use your tickets and then go to the game anyways.

 

 

Sorry I should have been more clear. We drove down on gameday just to get the vouchers and she went in with the crowds. Had two tickets, lady scanned them both and said "only one voucher per household, but you can have two bobbleheads".

 

Did just your wife go in. She should have gone in twice. The person handing out the vouchers are probably instructed to only give one to each person as they can only assume that each person has one ticket. Otherwise you could have friends/family go in front of you, get vouchers, then slip you their tickets so you can tell the person handing out vouchers "See, I have two tickets!" This also avoids the necessity for the people handing out the vouchers to have to check the dates on the tickets (as you could also just bring a bunch of old tickets with you to show the people handing out vouchers).

[Baldkin]

Sorry I should have been more clear. We drove down on gameday just to get the vouchers and she went in with the crowds. Had two tickets, lady scanned them both and said "only one voucher per household, but you can have two bobbleheads".

 

Did just your wife go in. She should have gone in twice. The person handing out the vouchers are probably instructed to only give one to each person as they can only assume that each person has one ticket. Otherwise you could have friends/family go in front of you, get vouchers, then slip you their tickets so you can tell the person handing out vouchers "See, I have two tickets!" This also avoids the necessity for the people handing out the vouchers to have to check the dates on the tickets (as you could also just bring a bunch of old tickets with you to show the people handing out vouchers).

 

I've always had to leave and come back in to get multiple of any ticket giveaway. Whether it's bobbleheads or vouchers, or whatever else it may be.

[RightFieldCoder]

Usually they hand out one giveaway per ticket scanned. For the vouchers it is per person with a ticket. Sometimes groups have one person with the tickets and the rest of the group follows them in. The Gate attendants can then only give out one voucher. On Friday there were three of us with six tickets. We had to go in, collect three vouchers, leave the stadium, and come in through another door. I know some Gate attendants. They are being watched heavily and cannot deviate from this policy.

[gypcasino]

I had an extra ticket both Friday and Sunday. Both days I entered, left, and entered again in order to get two vouchers. And on Sunday two bobbleheads.

[hawing]

So, my strategy was going to be to collect my August vouchers (I should now have 7 by month's end, if we get to each game for which we have tickets) and put them all toward something nice in the team store. I figured I'd case out the store last night, since it's a Thursday and the team is out of contention, and surely it wouldn't be as crazy as on that Nats weekend.

 

Hahahahaha. The crowd last night was 36,000+ and it was very much a voucher crowd. We thought maybe it was also a TWC or BP redemption night, but that is not the case. There were slow moving lines absolutely everywhere. I did get to the Friday's-corner team store and identified some items to aim for in September, but the checkout line (3rd-4th inning) snaked back to the team store entrance. The only food stands I encountered on my walk (covering parts of the terrace, loge and field levels) that were not mobbed were the "heavenly roasted nuts" stands (which do not accept vouchers) and the kettle corn/dippin dots cart on the RF loge level (where I finally got something to make me forget that I wasn't really eating supper). The grab-and-go stand on the field level didn't have a dramatically long line, but it was also almost out of food.

 

I'm glad fans are responding to the vouchers, and for the sake of the organization, I hope the program generates enough goodwill to bring them back for other games - but man oh man, I don't think the Brewers were prepared for this level of response. We'll be cutting it close to get to tonight's game by first pitch and I am planning on getting some subs to bring in. I don't think I can count on being able to get ballpark food, for the foreseeable future, without either arriving very early or missing significant amounts of the game.

[igor67]

It seems like there should be a joke about how only in Wisconsin would people pay $20 for $10 of free beer.

[BrewersSuperCollector]

Yesterday, August 15th was a BP night

[bani1717]

Yes it was... I bought some tickets outside the stadium that had the words "BP" printed on them in place of the price.

 

Speaking of which... finding cheap tickets is now a lot more difficult than normal because of the vouchers. Based on my experiences the past couple years, normally for a late-summer game with a struggling team you'd be able to find tickets for $5 each pretty easily. But last night getting anything under $12.50-$15 each was tough even after the game started... and my mission was $10 or less per ticket as that was the limit my brother gave me for what he was willing to spend. The scalpers would use lines like, "You get a $10 voucher per ticket when you get in, so if you give me $30 for these two tickets, you're really only paying $10." Nevermind that I wouldn't buy food at the game anyways due to the fact that I had already eaten and the lines would be really long... not to mention the fact that you don't get change for the voucher, so either you're paying something out of pocket to use it all or are using only a portion of it. And I have enough merchandise that I don't really need the vouchers for that... and no matter what you buy, chances are that you're overpaying for it if you get it from Miller Park. On the whole, a voucher for $10 is (to me) worth significantly less than $10 cash. Rant over... I will eventually use my vouchers, but only because I have them and would prefer to get minimal value as opposed to no value.

[TooLiveBrew]

It seems like there should be a joke about how only in Wisconsin would people pay $20 for $10 of free beer.

[jerichoholicninja]

It seems like there should be a joke about how only in Wisconsin would people pay $20 for $10 of free beer.

 

Thing is, it's not a joke, it's true.

[Daubs]

I'm headed to Sunday's game with my daughters - not only are we getting $10 vouchers, but the kids are getting another voucher for a hot dog, drink and ice cream.....

 

If I didn't have my daughters going - I'd have probably avoided that game.....

[rondoman]

I'm headed to Sunday's game with my daughters - not only are we getting $10 vouchers, but the kids are getting another voucher for a hot dog, drink and ice cream.....

 

If I didn't have my daughters going - I'd have probably avoided that game.....

 

Don't forget after game baserun!!!

[Patrick425]

So, went to our second August game last night. We had an extra ticket and so I went in got my voucher and then left and got back in line. The ticket line "supervisor" saw me doing this and told me if I wanted to do this I had to go to a different gate. What?! It's bad enough that they make you leave and come back, but really?

 

My family was already in so I had to meet up with them again at the original gate. I asked the ticket supervisor why I had to go to a different gate. He took my voucher and showed me the language that said "one voucher per customer per ticket" and I said.."yeah, per ticket". He was nice and said, sorry, these are our instructions, there are cameras that watch us and we could lose our jobs if we give out more than one voucher to a customer. Wow, I really hope the Brewers are not that hard on their employees.

[torts]

god forbid you had to walk an extra 100 yards to get free money

[Patrick425]

god forbid you had to walk an extra 100 yards to get free money

 

Pretty clear you missed the point of my post, but thanks for your jerk reply anyways.

[torts]

I didnt miss your point, I missed why it is any sort of a deal

[Patrick425]

Well, it was a "sort of a deal" because it seemed pointless. I understand why I have to re-enter, but why do I have to go to another gate. If the point is to give back to the fans, and more importantly, generate ticket sales, shouldn't I get 2 vouchers for 2 tickets? Walking 100 yards is not a big deal to get something free, but sorry I found walking 100 yards (and if I had entered at the hot corner...it would have been much longer than 100 yards), waiting in line again, and then my family having to wait for me to be an annoyance when it seems pointless.

 

Anyways...this is what I thought....but after going to the brewer web site and reading the rules of the promotion, I now see that they were actually allowing me to break the rules (the supervisor really did not explain this clearly to me). Here is what the rule state:

 

Please note that vouchers will be distributed as one per fan, not per ticket.

 

I guess when the attendant showed me this last night I thought it said one per fan per ticket. Not sure I agree with this rule or that I understand the reasoning behind it, but knowing this now, I understand better why he made me go to another gate. Again, the guy was very nice with his explanation and I felt sorry for him that he felt his job would be in jeopardy if he let me in the same gate....and for the record, I wasn't a jerk about it, I asked him because I was curious as to what the point was to having to go to another gate.

 

So Torts, just because someone complains about something, doesn't mean they were "put out" by the task they had to perform, maybe they just want to know the reasoning behind it. Do you always just do what people tell you to do without questioning it?

[torts]

no, I do question authority quiet a bit, but if it makes you feel better you can picture me in a lemming suit jumping off a cliff or something on a daily basis. But to the point, I wouldnt question a "supervisor" (why is that even in quotes?) over something as trivial as having to walk to another gate to get FREE MONEY.

[Outlander]

I agree that is kind of silly of a rule but I guess they put it in place for the extreme when somebody goes too far. For example, today is the last BP day and there is the possibility that somebody or a whole bunch of people try to trade in tons of those vouchers and you end up with people just keep on walking in and out of the stadium and that could probably get a little crazy. In the process there will be people that actually want to go to the game that can't because of the people walking in and out.