Whether it's your first Bonnaroo or you’re a music festival veteran, we welcome you to Inforoo.
Here you'll find info about artists, rumors, camping tips, and the infamous Roo Clues. Have a look around then create an account and join in the fun. See you at Bonnaroo!!
I dont think the intent was to ever "replace cash" at 'roo....I think they just want to make some things easier to purchase. I would probably still just have cash until the whole thing is proven to be a good idea.
The intent is most certainly to replace cash. Check the email
For the 2007 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, we are considering going "cashless." Pre-loaded swipe cards would be offered in various price levels ranging from $10 to $500 to purchase concessions, merchandise, etc. If you did not use all of the money on your card, you could redeem it at the end of the festival and any remaining money on the card would be refunded.
The survey also asks a question about how dissatisfied you would be if you were not allowed to use cash.
I dont think the intent was to ever "replace cash" at 'roo....I think they just want to make some things easier to purchase. I would probably still just have cash until the whole thing is proven to be a good idea.
if you reas the email it says they want to try and go "cashless" that would be NO BUENO!
Post by spookymonster on Mar 5, 2007 18:55:54 GMT -5
I'm all for cash and cards.
Cards are quick and easy. There's less temptation for a thief to grab my card if he doesn't know what kind of balance it has left on it. If I'm pulling out a carny roll every time I buy a beer, he's got a pretty good idea of what my net worth is...
Cash is good for those unofficial vendors. Even if the festival itself went cashless, you'd still wind up carrying cash for the merch down on Shakedown street.
I don't understand the point of this. Why don't they just start accepting credit/debit cards? That would be great. Another card to carry around in my wallet and fumble around for, not so great.
Post by spookymonster on Mar 5, 2007 19:02:04 GMT -5
danbird said:
I don't understand the point of this. Why don't they just start accepting credit/debit cards? That would be great. Another card to carry around in my wallet and fumble around for, not so great.
If someone steals your credit/debit card, you've got to worry about closing those accounts, getting a new card, dealing with the police investigation, etc. It's a nuisance.
The cash card is anonymous, so there's no identity theft, no clean-up, no new accounts - you're just out the cash it cost you to buy the card.
Which is why I'd want several small denominations of card, rather than one big one. I get drunk and lose my $50 card, I'm not worried too much. I lose a $500 card however....
I hate to say this, but this cashless idea sounds too corporate to me. I'd say MAYBE it's a wash in terms of effects on us concert-goers, but they get the extra benefit of tracking who spent how much and where they spent it.
I know I will definitely not want to wait on some line come Monday with everyone else trying to get their money back. Though I expect the lines during the concert would move faster.
If it's an option in addition to cash, fine, but if they want to go cashless, I question their motives. Maybe it's just to limit theft by register attendants. Either way, it's not concert-goer friendly to force us into a cash-for-card line before we can buy anything.
Post by peaceanlove on Mar 5, 2007 19:22:15 GMT -5
i'm not a huge fan. While in one way it would be a neat little souvenir to take away from bonnaroo, most of them will probably end up scattered all over the place and just like everyone else has been saying, it's just another thing to worry about. I guess maybe if they do both cash and swipe-card I won't really care, I just don't want them to make it cashless completely.
All i know is if they do end up doing this they woul dhave to allow cash in lines. There owuld have to be a card only line and then cash only line.
If they do this, it could work, though I still wouldnt buy one. I dont like the idea of having to divide up m ymoney into "centeroo money" and "shakedown money," you know?
All i know is if they do end up doing this they woul dhave to allow cash in lines. There owuld have to be a card only line and then cash only line.
If they do this, it could work, though I still wouldnt buy one. I dont like the idea of having to divide up m ymoney into "centeroo money" and "shakedown money," you know?
It eliminates theft of vendors. Sadly they have a lot of cash and no where to put it by the end of a long night .
This is exactly what I thought. While I see how waiting in line to get your refund would suck, and of course if you lose it that would suck too, I think going cashless would benefit vendors because workers won't be having to make change, and they won't get stolen from. It does make me think of the cruise I went on - very "all-inclusive resort" - which may or may not appeal to people.
I'm guessing that the Roo folks get a percentage of the take from the vendors. This would make it much easier for them to ensure that they are getting their cut.
Would they have them at the Arepa stands because I'm not willing to sacrifice my corn and cheese goodness!!!!
if they were to go entirely cashless, it would be a tremendous investment to get the infrastructure in place to support it. electronic wiring & machines would have to be run to every legitimate vending space, all networked to some kind of central 'roo server processing the transactions. that's a pretty big investment to make...my question is, what's SF/AC's angle?
its all well and good to talk about protecting the vendors' proceeds and speeding up line waits, but Danbird brings up a good point: why not just make regular credit/debit cards usable if you're going to run all that electrical/network wiring? even if you decided to go wifi, you still have to provide each vendor with a server capable of interfacing with the 'roo mainframe.
here's my theory. let's say this is implemented and the average amount of money people put onto their card(s) is $200. $200 x 80,000 people = $16,000,000. now, if each vendor has to use this system too, all their sales go through this cashless system...so when do they collect their profits? answer: after 'roo is over, which means SF/AC can hold onto ALL the money until 'roo is over before paying out each vendor. so, even if SF/AC refunds all $16,000,000 of the money people put onto their cards, they still are holding onto it for 4 days or more, in addition to the money vendors pay for their space, AND all sale proceeds from vendors.
that's a lot of cash to just hold onto. i bet SF/AC partners with some kind of financial firm/bank and does some kind of very short term investment. let's assume over a 4 day period SF/AC manages to get 2% interest on their money. $16,000,000 x .02 = $320,000.
in other words, if they can force everyone to use this 'cashless' system, they can net an estimated additional $320,000. now THAT to me, is worthy of making the initial investment in equipment.
Maybe I'll throw myself to the dogs, but my back's not to the wall Maybe I'll lay some bricks for the man, but the days just aren't that long So if I settle back and chill will I see far enough to feel the angel's dream? I thought it was the Story of the World!
I think we're over thinking this-- the infrastructure is actually smaller than handling tills for a four-day festival among 80k people. From what I gather, they are looking at Centeroo having this option. (And for those saying they mean entirely cashless, note that one of the questions in the survey is if Centeroo vendors took both.) Yes, it means the funnel cake guy has a card reader, but that is TONS less to deal with than cash. Also, it's no more or less abused than your cash-- except that you could visit a point-of-card ATM or tent and get your card nullified if you lose it and get a new one. It's not a perfect system, but it has a lot of benefits...
...such as: A big reason I see them wanting to go there-- another way to help give police and town/county/state/federal authorities a perception of cooperation without having to actually crack down. By going virtually cashless in Centeroo it cuts back on the likelihood of transactions by those who would otherwise carry money for such things. It confines most if not all cash transactions to Shakedown and the camping areas and allows the liability to plummet inside Centeroo (and lowering the liability takes the burden off of insurance and vendors, which mean they don't pressure law enforcement to step it up). This puts cash transactions as something that is a personal choice.
I'm not endorsing or railing against it, just trying to provide some alternative perspective here.
Post by bluegirlie1257 on Mar 5, 2007 23:58:16 GMT -5
If they accept credit/debit cards, they have to pay the credit card companies to do so (most people are not aware of that). thats probably why they are trying to come up with a way to have plastic for those who prefer it. they sent out the survey to see how people respond, if they get a negative response they won't go completely cashless.
Post by heavymetaldrummer on Mar 6, 2007 0:16:21 GMT -5
xiphoid420 said:
let's assume over a 4 day period SF/AC manages to get 2% interest on their money. $16,000,000 x .02 = $320,000.
in other words, if they can force everyone to use this 'cashless' system, they can net an estimated additional $320,000. now THAT to me, is worthy of making the initial investment in equipment.
I'm going to try to punch a little hole in your theory: according to my quick (and possibly fuzzy) math, a 2% return over four days would work out to 180% APR. Unless Bonnaroo also runs a payday loan or check cashing enterprise, I'm guessing they aren't going to get that nice a rate even with a huge chunk of cash like your proposed $16 million.
My theory is that it is all about marketing. In my mind, creating databases and selling them is the goal. That said, if I have to spend less time in line, I'm all for it.
If you collected cards that people lost throughout the fest, you could BANK. Heh,on a serious note I don't care for the card idea. It seems like a lot of hassle/waste for no real reason.
As the IT guy at work,my motto about system crashes is" not if but when".And the glitches you see in the first two weeks of a new system are phenominal.A system like this - especially if you can't us cash at all is a disaster waiting to happen.
I'm going to try to punch a little hole in your theory: according to my quick (and possibly fuzzy) math, a 2% return over four days would work out to 180% APR. Unless Bonnaroo also runs a payday loan or check cashing enterprise, I'm guessing they aren't going to get that nice a rate even with a huge chunk of cash like your proposed $16 million.
yes perhaps my numbers were a bit fuzzy, i'm certainly no investment banker so there was a lot of guesswork involved i still believe that somehow SF/AC gets to make out by holding onto a ton of money in this system for 4 days, and i know that any industrious businessman will put a large amount of cash like that to work.
my other pet theory is very similiar to RooSkew's, in that they might be getting a lot of pressure from local/state government over lost sales tax revenue...without an electronic system, all they really have to ensure people collect & pay sales tax is the honor system.
bottom line: somehow this is related to someone wanting more money, and that always rubs me the wrong way. thumbs down on the idea.
Maybe I'll throw myself to the dogs, but my back's not to the wall Maybe I'll lay some bricks for the man, but the days just aren't that long So if I settle back and chill will I see far enough to feel the angel's dream? I thought it was the Story of the World!
I think it's a good idea as long as they also accept cash. Plus, if I can buy it in advnace and I'm a little short on money, I can put it on my credit card and pay for it later.
The Bonnaroo management stands to make a tidy profit on those people to (fill in the blank) to go back and get thier refunds. Say I have only 5 bucks remaining; I'm in a hurry to leave the fest and there are 100 people in line waiting on refunds..............my gift to the roo mgt!
im still kinda mixed about this. it seems like a good idea but think they should use cash as well. what if you lose your card or something happens to it and you then you're screwed the rest of the weekend. the card would be nice for the beer lines.
As long as they do both cash and card I really don't mind. What I don't want is to find out in an altered state of mind that I have run out of money on the card and can't get anything to eat or drink inside of centeroo. I would definately do it though, to speed things up...get a couple of $25 cards to use all weekend.
I agree with Happytrails. This would just be a lot of free money for Bonnaroo. I doubt many people at all will go the last day and wait in a long line to get whatever money they have left back. It just seems like a hassle overall. The last thing I would wanna do when I get to Bonnaroo is worry about converting my money to a card.
Think about how many comedians will try to tie string on a used card like they do for dollar bills or putting cards with zero balances on horse sh-t. That could be a funny way to recycle the used cards
HEADED TO BONNAROO!!!!
i still believe that somehow SF/AC gets to make out by holding onto a ton of money in this system for 4 days, and i know that any industrious businessman will put a large amount of cash like that to work.
