Concert tickets: Mailed VS Printed

"Last night we bought tickets to see Elbow (British band) in November. Tickets could either be printed immediately at home, or for an extra $2.50 we could have the tickets mailed. I paid the $2.50. Anyone else feel like the ticket stub is an important part of the experience? A sheet of printer paper doesn't have the same feeling." a post from a friend.

This facebook post got me thinking about the differences between the two. For one a printed ticket doesn't look as good, and is of course printed on paper instead of card stock. The feel of it both physically and literally is different despite the fact that in the end they are the same thing. I've realized I look at a ticket as a concert memento and I want hang on to it. Mailed tickets are simply nicer looking and sturdier.

The Pros of a printed ticket: You have the ticket instantly. You don't have to pay for it to be mailed. If the show is soon you don't have to worry about it arriving on time. The ink the tickets tends to not fade away as much or as quickly as mailed tickets. For instance none of my printed tickets have faded but several of my mailed ones have.

The Cons of a printed ticket: It doesn't look or feel as nice as an actual card stock professionally printed concert ticket. I've had a few instances where my printed ticket was just taken completely upon entrance to the show so I was left with nothing.

The Pros of a mailed ticket: Once received you have what I call 'the real thing'. I also consider these concert tickets to be meaningful souvenirs from the show with all the info from it. Waiting for the ticket to arrive and receiving it can be pretty exciting.

The Cons of a mailed ticket: You have to wait as long as a month to get your ticket. You have to pay $2.50 which is actually excessively high when you think about the price of postage for flat envelopes. Mailed tickets can easily fade over time.

And yes, there is of course tickets that can be emailed to you and scanned off your phone, but those are terrible and provide no hard copy whatsoever. Sure you could print out the page later, but it looks like shit.

Do you prefer mailed concert tickets or printed?

What do you think?

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