Shrewd students are padding their pockets this week as they capitalize on the free concert coming to Mac at the end of the month.

The TD Pump It Up event has, through the combined effort of student votes, resulted in Diplo, Classified and Keys N Krates playing a free show at the Hamilton Convention Centre this Saturday exclusively for Mac students.

Students waited in line on Nov. 20 for their tickets, which they were eligible for if they voted in the promotion, with preference given to TD members, and some students are turning around and making a tidy profit on their opportunity.

“Selling one ticket with VIP. Message me with offers. Ticket goes to highest bidder,” posted one Mac student on the promotion’s offical Facebook page.

It was just one among many similar postings, as the page’s comments were riddled with more than a hundred such offers, with prices ranging from as low as $25 to heights of $90—which would be all profit.

“By the provincial law, you are technically not allowed to sell a ticket above its price. On the ticket it says zero dollars, so anybody selling a ticket at any price over a dollar or a cent is technically illegal,” said Al Legault, director of campus events.

Ticketholders will be required to present their Mac ID card to gain entry into the event, so ticket scalping will be limited to other McMaster students, but that has not stopped the less than scrupulous entrepreneurial spirit of the student body.

“I think you’re always going to have a black market with tickets. If it’s a ten-dollar event, or a Rolling Stones concert, people are always going to find a way to make money off of it, because of the need. The second that someone needs a ticket, they’re going to want to pay for it,” said Legault.

The sales were not limited to the events page, as likewise offers were being billed on classifieds websites such as Kijiji, where the sellers were not explaining that non-Mac students would be barred from entered the event, creating the possibility of Hamilton citizens being duped of their time and money.

Despite this, the MSU is committed to stem this practice wherever they can. “[The MSU] has been on our social networks. People posting it in ours, we’d remove it right away, so you can’t be selling that. It’s a free event for students,” said Legault.

The act of ticket scalping does not end at Mac, as the universities of Acadia and Moncton, the two other winners of the TD promotion, had comparable amounts of ticket offers on their official event pages.

Universities are hubs for innovation and creativity. And sometimes, this creativity can be used to cheat the system and park for free.

Since the start of 2013, McMaster Parking and Security Services have issued 75 tickets to people who were caught trying to circumvent the parking system.

There are an indeterminate number of students, faculty and visitors whose parking-related mischief goes completely unnoticed and unpunished. And there are plenty of methods being used to beat the system.

Sarah, a McMaster grad, said that she parked illegally all the time.

“My best tactic has been to use a previously issued ticket and put it on my windshield pretending that I had already been ticketed [that day]. Works like a charm,” she said.

A Fleming College student named Dan had a similar tactic. When visiting McMaster to see his girlfriend on weekends, he would park around the west quad, in Lot M, or the one behind Bates Hall.

“Over there, they give you a warning slip before they issue a ticket,” he explained. “I just keep the warning in my glove box, put it in under my windshield wipers when I park, and they just assume someone already gave me a warning.”

Other approaches can be less simple. Justine, a Mac grad, said that she used to use a frying pan to get out of paying for parking.

Her story references the smaller parking lot in front of Ivor Wynne. In that lot, a driver pulls up to the automatic arm and ticket dispenser. A metal detector identifies the car and issues a barcode that says what time the driver arrived at the lot. Upon leaving, the driver is supposed to insert this barcode, and be charged according to how long he or she has been parked there. The driver can then pay using debit or credit.

A stay of less than 15 minutes is free of charge.

Justine invented a scheme one day, when for a reason that is forgotten, she had a frying pan in her car. She thought “If it’s a metal detector, I bet it will pick up this frying pan”.

And so it began. When leaving the parking lot, instead of using the voucher she got when she parked, Justine would go back to the entrance, wave the frying pan in front of the metal detector, and receive a new voucher with that time encoded on it. While exiting, she would simply insert that new voucher into the machine, and being less than fifteen minutes since waving her frying pan, she could leave the lot for free.

“I probably did it 40 or 50 times,” she said. “I didn’t have to pay very often.”

The plot thickened if someone started looking at her waving a frying pan in a parking lot. Of course, she would wait for quiet moments to run over to the metal detector, but if someone did notice her, Justine would call them over, and offer up her secret method in exchange for their silence.

Those without the fortitude to amass a scheme can get away with free parking too. Will Farr, a Kinesiology student at McMaster, told a story of a very simple way to escape parking charges.

“I was walking from Les Prince when I looked over to the parking lot in front of Hedden. I saw a guy in a big, black SUV drive over the curb and turn around the barrier, so he didn’t have to pay for parking.”

Terry Sullivan is the director of Security and Parking Services. He said that his department is doing important work to stop this issue.

“Not paying for parking is theft and we treat is seriously.”

“Parking revenue contributes to the betterment of the University through reconstruction of sidewalks, roadways and bike pads,” said Sullivan.

Anyone caught attempting to scam free parking receives a $75 fine and a suspension of their parking privileges for a month.

Parking lots are regularly monitored by staff and closed-circuit video cameras.

Photo credit: Julia Redmond / News Editor

Those looking to catch a basketball or volleyball game in Burridge Gymnasium this year could be in for a shock as they try to walk through the doors.

For the past three years, McMaster students who wore maroon and presented their student card were given free admittance to basketball or volleyball games. The no-cost event was part of the Athletics and Recreation department’s Colour Your Passion campaign.

But as the department puts down the crayons and launches The McMaster Way initiative, the free admittance is falling to the wayside and students will now be charged $5. Parrish Offer, manager of Athletic and Recreation’s marketing, says that this fee is about much more than trying to bolster revenue figures.

“The thought process behind this is that we had devalued our tickets. For our students, the value of our tickets was zero and it didn’t feel like we were putting on a valuable show,” said Offer.

The athletic director, Jeff Giles, associate director, Mark Alfano, and Offer collectively made the decision over the summer. The free admittance did not drastically impact attendance figures, as the three years saw virtually no increase, according to the athletic department.

But as tuition costs rise and students are more reluctant to drop dollars, the $5 ticket has the potential to be the tipping point for someone who is undecided on whether to attend a game or not. However, the head of marketing does not see it that way.

“There’s a perception out there that students are poor – that they don’t have money. I don’t think that’s necessarily true, I think they are on budgets and they will spend for good value,” said Offer.

The opportunity to free admittance has not completely disappeared, however. The department launched the McMaster Marauders Mobile App towards the end of August, which rewards students for checking in at places either on campus or the surrounding area.

Every check-in is worth one Maroon Point, and it takes ten Maroon Points to receive free entry to a basketball or volleyball game for free.

While the opportunity for free entry is a good alternative, the impact on attendance numbers will be an interesting story to follow. The casual Marauder fan is getting the short end of the stick here, with the die-hard being rewarded for their dedication.

The change has the potential to chase away fans from the brand, but the department has addressed this by adding more vendor rewards in their app than just athletics.
“The app has TwelvEighty, the Campus Store, the Phoenix, who are all on campus and you can get points. Then you can go off campus to places like the Snooty Fox and Pita Pit to earn rewards there,” said Offer.

Currently, football has a $5 cost for students and the fee has not deterred students from going to games. The athletic department says it is optimistic that on-court success mixed with stronger brand affinity from students will bolster attendance figures in the coming years.