There’s an interesting story in the world of sports involving something called a Timeless Ticket. The Milwaukee Brewers baseball team offered a special offer of $1,000 for a Timeless Ticket good for any future game along with the option to purchase three other tickets at face value.
Well, the Brewers are in the World Series and, surprise of all surprises, all those people with their Timeless Tickets want to cash in. And, surprise of all surprises, the Brewers are not living up to the offer.
The Timeless Ticket
The original offer came back in 2015 and for $1,000 fans got not only the Timeless Ticket good for the “best available seat locations” at the game of the fan’s choice but also the option to purchase three more tickets to that game.
Needless to say, the Brewers cannot accommodate all the fans who want to take advantage of the offer. The fans, of course, say, hey, you made the offer, we gave you the cash, you held that cash for eleven years, and now we expect you to fulfill the obligation.
It’s important to understand the Brewers literally cannot fulfill the obligation. There aren’t enough seats available. It’s impossible. The Brewers acknowledge the problem and are doing their best to accommodate the ticket owners as best as possible.
The Greed and Stupidity of the Timeless Ticket
What I’d like to discuss today is the utter stupidity, fueled by greed, of the original offer. The eventual problem is obvious. People will wait for a momentous game to cash in their ticket. It will be a big event and there will never be enough tickets available to accommodate the demand.
The Brewers sold one thousand of these tickets, netting a profit of one million dollars and, at the time, provided nothing for this. The team simply collected a million dollars and laughed all the way to the bank. They are not laughing now.
The Analogy of the Timeless Ticket and the World
The world is currently plunged in a Timeless Ticket fiasco.
Health insurance in the United States is an example. People pay insurance premiums but the healthcare companies can’t afford to treat them so deny claims at an astounding rate.
People pay taxes for services but those services are not provided. Our roads are falling apart. Our schools are falling apart. Our airports are falling apart. Our food chain supplies are breaking under the strain.
The only solution being offered is to buy more Timeless Tickets to keep things barely running today and shrug our shoulders at tomorrow.
Hope, they say, is a wonderful thing; but it isn’t a good way to run the world.
Tom Liberman