Physical Tickets... Thing of the past?

I'm getting a mix - most West End venues are still firmly in the e-ticket bucket, but many of the smaller regional venues are back to issuing paper tickets.

LW Theatres still offer paper tickets, but there's a £2 postage fee, which is probably pitched at a level to deter most bookers. There's no COBO option.

Are flyers/leaflets still being printed for new and returning West End shows?

When given the choice I opt for physical tickets. I don’t have a smartphone, but even if I did I would still always opt for physical tickets.

I saw something last summer where I had to print the ticket off instead. I’d have much preferred showing a simple ticket to waving a couple of pieces of A4 at the usher.

That's definitely a part of it. Tbh most shows don't attract touts these days but it's an easy anti-tout measure to have in place.

Also though, with a huge wholesale shift towards e-tickets and QR codes on phones, the traditional queue for collection will diminish to almost nothing, meaning a less frustrating customer experience, and fewer box office staff needed.

The tickets I had booked all came by email shortly after the booking confirmation and I would have had lots of time to resell them had I wanted to. If they want to stop touts then they need to sort that out, but in doing so they’ll also make it very difficult for non criminals to resell tickets for genuine reasons (like our Noticeboard sales).

I have several souvenir key rings and almost all of them have sharp edges that seem to be trying to set new records for how quickly they can wear through pockets. They look great but it would be nice if they were useful as well.

Good shout on the magnets, I will certainly take a look. I buy the odd mug like you just end up in cupboard not being used in case it gets broken!

My local theatre's still doing box office collection for physical tickets, but that won't help you much as you're a couple of hundred miles from Cambridge! The handful of London performances I've been to in the last couple of months have all been e-tickets only. I'm particularly disappointed about the ROH, who have not only made their tickets online-only but also their cast sheets. I have 15 seasons of proper ROH tickets & cast sheets, 2004-19, and now it's going to be a mess of A4 printouts instead.

The Panto at the Palladium allowed paper tickets to be sent for £2 which I took up.

I always print off e tickets as I don’t like having to fiddle with my phone at an entrance. Ditto I plain to print off covid passes rather than rely on e versions. My phone once randomly went crazy one day a few years ago and I couldn’t fix it till I got home so I don’t like having to rely on it working or otherwise losing entrance.  

I got an email today from Stratford East telling me I'm booked in for something for March 2022, and that I will need to collect my tickets at the box office. It made me oddly happy, as I do love physical tickets. (Also my phone is so old and the battery so bad that I'm always worried it will run out before I get to show the electronic ones.)

A ticket I collected at the Donmar recently had my name handwritten on it. Loved that, it was such a sweet touch!

Dream on, dontdreamit!