It really helps us keep track of the inventory levels off-mountain,” Hampshire said. “We can now ship large parcels of lift tickets to wholesalers, bus companies, sports shops and the like, and we can activate those tickets as they are sold.”
The new bar codes allow for more retail promotion, too, such as sport shops selling a snowboard package or a skate ski package and the buyer receiving a pair of lift tickets or trail passes as appropriate, he said. “We could do that before, but this new system just allows the process to be streamlined for the shops and for our accounting department.” The bar codes also serve another purpose: they will help eliminate ticket fraud, which has become a real threat at Mount Washington as the resort has grown. All passes – season passes and day tickets – will be scanned as riders use the lifts.
“We won’t implement scanning on the nordic trails this year, but skiers riding the Hawk to access the Upper West Meadows Nordic Trail will have their trail pass scanned at the lift,” Hampshire said.
“We saw an increasing number of individuals attempting to use fraudulent season passes and the bar coding will virtually eliminate that.”