Hundreds of thousands of Australian households will begin receiving letters this week telling them on which of five Sundays their Olympic Games tickets will be home delivered.
The Olympic ticket delivery has been divided up across the five Sundays starting from the first Sunday in August (the 6th) and ending on the first Sunday in September (the 3rd).
‘This is not only a very large exercise, it is very complicated one,’ said the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Ticket Delivery manager, Mr John Purdie-Smith.
‘Some people have sent us notes like: ‘Our street has no numbers, so we’ll paint big red 2 on our fence’, or ‘We are the first driveway without cattle grid, halfway up the second hill’.
‘There’ve been something like 20,000 address changes since tickets went on sale that our customers have told us about – and there’ll certainly be more we haven’t been told about.’
Mr Purdie-Smith said he was asking ticket holders to become partners in the delivery process in order to make it work as smoothly as possible.
‘We’re asking people to plan to either be at home, or have someone at home to receive their tickets, on the Sunday of their delivery,’ Mr Purdie-Smith said.
‘We are undertaking to deliver the tickets between 8 am and 5 pm, but we’ll do our best to get to people as early as possible in the day.’
Mr Purdie-Smith said ticket holders will be sent a green card telling them on which Sunday their delivery would occur. The card also doubles as proof of identity and can be given to a friend or family member if you cannot be home.
However, if someone has improperly secured a card and tickets it would do them no good.
‘These tickets are worthless in the wrong hands because we will issue a voucher if they are lost or stolen which will take precedence over the ticket at the Games.’
The home deliveries include all Olympic Games tickets for which payment was ordered and paid for on or before June 24. All the tickets delivered will be commemorative tickets which are larger and feature more elaborate designs than those issued at the box office.
Ticket delivery arrangements for customers who have since purchased tickets by phone, and for other purchases, will be announced in the near future.
Mr Purdie-Smith said special arrangements were being made for people in remote rural and regional areas. ‘For instance some people who live on properties have a mail box some kilometres from their house,’ he said.
‘We’re planning to telephone those people before our couriers set out, and, provided they’re home, their tickets will be delivered to their door.’
Home delivery will be the easiest and most convenient way for people to get their commemorative tickets.
But for people who can’t be home, or can’t arrange someone to be home on their behalf, there will be a limited opportunity to collect tickets – although they will have to travel to a collection point and there may be queues.
In capital cities a collection point will be set up in the CBD and in rural and regional areas that point will usually be a courier depot. Details will be announced at the time of delivery.
Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Community Relations and Communications General Manager Glen Marie Frost today also unveiled the commemorative tickets.
The tickets feature the bold Sydney 2000 ‘fluid energy’ design and the Opening and Closing Ceremony commemorative tickets include images of two Sydney school children – 7-year-old Alex McLean from Oxford Falls and 5-year-old Montana Colosi from Gladesville.
‘These commemorative tickets are unique souvenirs of Sydney’s Games,’ Ms Frost said.
‘They are keepsakes which will remind their owners that they were part of an event which, like the Melbourne Games of 1956, will go down as a landmark in our country’s history.’
Ms Frost said the delivery packs would also include a free 132-page Spectator Guide.
‘The guide will help families to fully plan their Games experience by giving them comprehensive information and maps of Sydney, the venues, transport routes and details of other Games time activities.’
Source: SOCOG