From: mparker@adobe.com (Mike Parker)
Subject: Club Vertical
Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated, Mountain View
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 19:26:59 GMT


NorthStar (Lake Tahoe, CA) has a new thing this year, they claim to be
the only ski area in America that has it.  I can easily think of lots
of pro's and con's, I can also think of lots of ways to apply the
same technology better.  So I thought to start a discussion...

It starts out with a wrist band, the band has your photograph, two
little metal contacts, and an internal "microchip" with your serial
number.  There are readers at each lift, just bump your wrist up against
the reader and it knows who you are and does whatever the computer
was programmed to do.

Here's what NorthStar did.  You buy as many days of skiing as you want
for $5 less than the normal rate, you can always add more days if you
use them up.  In the morning you go straight to the lift, go to the CLub
Vertical gate, touch the reader and bang! one day deducted from your total.
No standing in lift lines, no tickets and wickets, no punches.  Clearly
I like this.  The first ticket costs $20 extra to pay for the wrist band
but then you save $5 a day and lots of standing in line.

Next, they intend to have special lines for Club Vertical members, with an
electronic gate, touch the reader and you're in.  You can take friends in
this line so ne fear that if you join and they don't there will be a problem.
I'm not so fond of this, non-members might be pretty put out.  Besides if
there's one Club VErtical line and 5 non-member lines and everybody joins
the club, then those lines will be slower.

Next, they will keep track of how many vertical feet you ski.  Ski 100,000
feet and get some free stuff, when you hit 150,000 you gt more free stuff,
etc.  Cute, kinda fun to keep track, compete with your friends, etc.
The one person who scores the most feet gets next year's season pass free.

Finally, they give you free ski check and a few other minor but not
insignificant perks.

So what do y'all think?

I think they missed out on lot's of opportunity.  First, the opportunity to
replace cash.  Why can't I buy hot dogs with the thing?  I could either
have a credit card on file, or if I was afraid of losing the thing and
thus losing a fortune, I could always keep a small cash balance on it.

Second, what about pay as you go.  True skiing a la' carte.  A half
day ticket could be any piece of a day, you'd pay by the run and thus
could sleep in, or leave early without feeling like you hadn't gotten
your $39 worth.  They could use the system to fiddle with supply and demand.
If it cost $2.50 to ride up the popular lift with the long lines and only
$1.00 to ride up the unpopular lift with no line, things might even out
a bit.

Third, how about standing credit.  IF I buy 5 days and use them, I gotta
stand in line to get a few more days, heck they've got my credit card
number, just put it on my bill (with the hot dogs).  The danger of losing
the thing is somewhat prevented by the fact that my picture is on it,
and I could establish a credit limit as well.

So, what else can we do with this new toy??

What's the net's opinion?

mike
Organization: Freshman, Design, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA