| Overview of ticket printing 1984
The LAOOC developed a unique system for processing
orders which represented a departure from the prevailing practice of producing
preprinted physical tickets whereby each individual order had to be filled
by tedious and error-prone manual methods. The new approach, for the first
time, combined modern computer technology with the latest developments
in printing technology. The result was the printing of custom tickets
for each order.
Ticket printing involved the following steps:
o Preparation of Olympic ticket stock
o Receipt of computer print tapes which contained
all ticket orders
o Processing of the print tape through custom
ticket printer
o Inspection and auditing of the tickets
produced
o Stitching (stapling) of tickets
o Cutting tickets
o Stuffing tickets into envelopes
o Application of registered mail labels
o Packaging of tickets for shipping
o Accounting for all tickets printed, packaged
and shipped
o Registered delivery by the United States
Postal Service
The remarkable feature of the LAOOC's ticket
printing system was the ability to print customized tickets. After receipt
of the raw, unprinted ticket stock, the computerized ticket printing machinery
read information off of the print tape which allowed it to imprint
the raw stock with the appropriate sport pictogram, session, day, date
and time, price, event, location and seat assignment. For tickets ordered
by mail, the tape also provided the purchaser's name which was imprinted
in the lower left hand corner of each ticket. The print tapes allowed printing
of eight tickets at a time, each of which was part of a different order.
Thus, the orders of eight persons who had each purchased ten tickets were
printed simultaneously on ten sheets of eightticket stock. The ten sheets
were then cut to form the ticket package for each person. This ten-sheet
print process was much faster than the conventional method of printing
the 80 tickets involved individually.
The largest problem in the printing process
was related to the receipt of print tapes from the computer center. The
ticketing computer system, because of the complex sorting requirement of
the print process, could not always create print tapes in advance of the
completion of printing the prior tapes. This resulted in a start/ stop
type of print operation while waiting for more tapes to be produced. Another
problem inherent in the printing operation concerned the possibility of
printing duplicate tickets.
This could occur whenever it was necessary
to restart the machine following a stoppage. Stoppages were fairly frequent
because of paper jams or other causes. Extreme vigilance was necessary
to detect the printing of duplicate tickets. In several instances duplicate
tickets were discovered during the final audit process. The final phase
of the process required the application of registered mail labels to the
ticket envelopes for delivery through the United States Postal Service.
This process required large amounts of manpower and could not be mechanized.
Ticket design
Tickets for prior Games were preprinted in
advance of sale and normally included a different ticket stock for each
sport or venue. Since the LAOOC's ticket system printed tickets to customer
order, separate ticket stock for each sport could not be produced. Consequently,
with the exception of the Opening Ceremonies ticket, all ticket stock printed
through the main system was the same. Variable data was printed for each
individual order and included sport, date, time, venue, seat location,
customer name, customer order number, sport pictogram and event code.
The ticket design included a festive rainbow
tint to coordinate with the overall Look of the Games. Security features
included a watermark imbedded in the ticket stock and a recently developed
ink which disappeared when heat was applied. The color would disappear
and then return to its normal state when the heat was removed. The latter
anti-counterfeiting feature was significant since the ink was new on the
market and had not been used commercially in the United States prior to
the 1984 Olympic Games. Tickets were bound in a binder which was color
coordinated with the tickets.
Separate ticket stock was designed for over-the-counter
sales of football tickets for matches held at sites outside of Los Angeles.
These tickets contained minimal security features since the LAOOC did not
believe there was any economic benefit to the counterfeiting of these tickets.
A third stock was used for Southern California Ticket and Information Center
sales. The primary security feature contained in these tickets was metallic
lettering which could not be copied by colorreproducing photocopiers presently
on the market.
(Source document: Official
Report 1984, Vol. 1, page 802) |
