TICKET PROCESS
The cycle of the ticket process actually starts each year right after the
previous year's event. The team starts thinking immediately about every aspect
of this very intense cycle pricing structure, image ideas for the physical
ticket, and how to share information including any new message that needs
to be communicated to smooth the process.
Burning Man is enriched by the most amazing creative community, and participants
continue this tradition by decorating the envelopes that bring us ticket requests.
We love the decorated envelopes! They are exciting rewards during
the adventure of fulfilling ticket orders. We never know what will come through
the post office, but we know it will always be full of delightful surprises.
We showcase all the great envelopes at the office for all to see.
Other parts of the process
slow us down (and drive us up the wall):
- Calling us and
asking, "Where's my ticket?"
- Calling us and
asking "Have you received my money?"
- Not reading the information printed on the ticket postcard, which means that we end up answering
the same questions over and over again. The Ticket FAQ
answers almost all questions that we hear. If someone has a question that is not answered there, then a simple email to
partiserv(at)burningman(dot)com will get that answer.
- Sending in a ticket request before the opening date. We feel that the only way to make
the ticket process fair is to eliminate requests sent in before the official start date.
- Did you move recently and forget to notify us? And now are you wondering where your ticket
information postcard is? Do you suppose it went to your old address?
We continue to simplify the ticket process:
- Only money orders
and cashier's checks are accepted. Since we no longer accept personal or
business checks, ticket orders no longer sit in the hold pile while we wait
for the check clearing process. This policy change eliminated much confusion
in an already complicated process. It also means we can process orders faster
and get them out the door and into your hand.
- We group orders
by postmark date. We give equal treatment to each piece of mail that has
the same post mark date. No matter where you live, be it Alaska, Russia,
or Antarctica the mail is sorted by the postmark date, not by arrival date.
Ticket distribution is still a manual process in which we handle each piece
of mail 12 times. We gather mail from the post office, sort by postmark date,
open and sort by price request, photocopy each piece of information, create
a data entry stack, enter the information, print out a receipt, double-check
all information, attach ticket(s) to the receipt, fold & stuff into the
envelope, add postage, and finally haul it back to the post office. By taking
so much care, we make sure you receive your ticket.
The process for 2003 will be further tweaked and honed to
ensure that you receive your mail-order tickets in a timely manner. In
2002, unfortunately some participants didn't receive their tickets within
the four-week period that we had committed ourselves to achieve. Staffing
and training were ramped up as quickly as we could at that time. For 2003,
we've already begun training volunteers and have further streamlined the
fulfillment to make sure you receive your pretty little tickets in a timely
manner.
Submitted by,
Crimson Rose 
2003 Ticket information can be found here.
Click here to read the 2001 Ticket report.