Total check of theatre tickets not needed

Photo: Margus Ansu

Culture ministry proposes: with fixed-seat theatre shows, general check of tickets might be scrapped – saving the ticket-scanner money. 

Piletimaailm, the ticket sales system managed by Estonian Drama Theatre, is appealing to Ministry of Culture for €70,000 for software development and €20,000 to purchase new bar code scanners. However, the internal audit department of the ministry thinks this needs to be analysed first: are these really needed? And: perhaps the scanners could be rented?

At the moment, Piletimaailm has 38 scanners; however, these cannot be used to read ticket code from a mobile phone screen. At the same time, mobile tickets are a rising trend and by Piletilevi, these have been sold for two years already.

«Having a closer look at the experience of other EU member states, turns out in Finland it is increasingly the custom not to check tickets in halls with numbered seats,» says the audit department in its advisory paper sent to Drama Theatre.

As theatre tickets are currently sold both via Piletimaailm and Piletilevi, those checking the tickets need to handle two scanners – one for each. «At the same time, there’s the tiny risk that without checking the tickets at the door, people with no tickets may enter the hall,» notes the ministry.

«Instead of total all-out checks, the staff at the theatre might just as well solve the problems occurring with seats, as all fraud immediately surfaces – there will be several people to claim the same seat; or else a person will be sitting on a seat that should be vacant as shown in the sales programme,» says the ministry.

By giving up all-out inspection regarding the tickets, fewer scanners should be bought. One would do – for a house, or for a hall.

There will still remain the need to check tickets at summer-time outdoor events, for example, with no numbered seats.

In case of no checks during the season, the option of keeping part of the scanners with Piletimaailm could be considered; as the need arises, these could be rented. At the end of the season, licence holders would return the scanners to Piletimaailm; then, these would be rented to be used at summer events according to need.

So, purchasing 35 to 40 new scanners would not be necessary – much less would do, says the audit.

The audit department also thinks that the €90,000 needed to develop software and buy scanners could be taken from the total net gain by Piletimaailm over the past years.