High Club Kickoff ticket sales suggest increased club incomes

October 16, 2016

Vanessa Yang (Sr.) promoting Key Club’s lemonade

By SABRINA HUANG
Staff Writer
The Club Kickoff ticket system has resulted in a cumulative increase in sales from years prior and an improvement in the efficiency of accounting and transactions during the event. However, the new system has nevertheless drawn criticism from students for disadvantaging consumers due to the inconvertibility of unused tickets.
According to Ms. Cidne Rector (Admin.), over 9700 tickets this year were sold. This could equate to over $9700 earned from Club Kickoff across all clubs. Individual clubs’ profits have not yet been computed or released.
“Based on the deposits made last year, this is a significant increase in sales,” Rector said. “The majority of the clubs turned in more tickets this year than [the money] they deposited last year.”
However, according to Clubs Commissioner Vignesh Iyer (Sr.), some clubs reported to have experienced a drop in their overall profits.
“Based on the statistics provided, the amount of money invested in club kickoff by the students was more than last year’s,” Iyer said. “But I have been hearing complaints from some clubs about the decreased profits they have earned this year. There is a definite disconnect between how much money the school made and how much money the clubs deposited.”
Despite this, Principal Dr. Kevin Astor (Admin.) believes that the new system allowed the administration to follow the rules and regulations of accounting better .
“The most significant benefit to the new system was better compliance with the law and regulations we need to follow and easier accounting,” Astor said. “ Some examples are: We know exactly how much money was raised through the event, cash exchanges were limited to a small number of adults, expenses were not reimbursed through cash from sales, cash was not lost, [and] cash was not sitting in somebody’s home for days awaiting deposit.”
Additionally, the ticket system improved transaction efficiency for club members, who did not have to worry about having enough change as they sold products.
“I thought [the ticket system] was actually more organized than having cash,” Marian Lu (So.) said. “[For example], if you give someone like a 20 [dollar bill] and then they have to look for like 17 dollars in change, it’s less of a hassle with tickets.”
“I thought it was a little bit easier to take all the money in the form of tickets,” Anime Club President Casey Dallman (Jr.) said. “It was easier to count and you didn’t have to [give] change.”
However, the ticket system has drawn negative feedback from students who believe it was not advantageous to the consumer.
“I understand why the ticket system [was implemented], but then at the same time I felt it was not as effective as last year with the cash because people weren’t as motivated to buy anything,” Marina Chang (So.) said. “If someone wanted to buy something and they didn’t have tickets, they would have to go through two really really long lines, [to buy tickets].”
Chang went on to express her concerns about buying unnecessary tickets, which could not be turned back into money.
“It’s really hard to know how much you’re going to buy before you actually go,” Chang said. “[Essentially], it’s like you don’t know how many tickets you want to get. If you don’t get enough, then you have to go to the line again to buy more [and] if you buy too much, [then you would ask yourself] ‘what do I do with these tickets?’”
Other students agreed with Chang about the drawback of using tickets instead of actual money.
“The tickets can’t be converted back to real money, so [it forces] you to spend all [of your] tickets,” Jacqueline Thai (So.) said.
Though there have been differing opinions on the system, the administration plans to continue with the ticket system in the future.
“At this point, we are continuing with the ticket system,” Astor said. “[However], we generally take one year at a time. The ticket system solved multiple compliance issues, but we want to look at how it can be improved or if there is a better system we should consider.”
“I received feedback from both club advisors and club treasurers, and they were very positive about the new system,” Rector said. “Other schools in the area heard about our new system and are also looking into making a transition to a ticket system.”
A further update for this article is planned as individual clubs release information about their revenues.

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