Info War

As anyone who has purchased tickets for a concert, show, or sporting event can attest, there are significant fees attached to the prices of tickets purchased through the Ticketmaster box office system. While some customers have expressed displeasure at the size of these fees, the fact is that this is how Ticketmaster makes all of their money. Rather than charging venues the costs associated with the operation of their business, they pass these costs on to the customers buying the tickets. Even if a venue were to use box office software and sell their event tickets themselves, many of the fees would probably be very similar. Here are some of the specific fees that Ticketmaster charges.

Ticketmaster Service Charge - This is the fee that Ticketmaster charges customers to cover their operating costs; it is essentially what they charge in order to provide their services. No matter how you purchase your Ticketmaster tickets (Internet, box office, or phone), you will pay this fee. Sometimes there is a difference in fees between different purchase and payment methods.

Building Facility Charge - The venue sets this fee as opposed to Ticketmaster themselves.

Processing Charge - This is the fee that Ticketmaster charges for the actual processing of your order.

E-Ticket Convenience, Shipping, or Will Call Charge - Whether you print your tickets at home from your computer, have them shipped to you via mail or another carrier, or you pick them up at the venue the day of the event, there will be a charge from Ticketmaster.

Between 2002 and 2007, the number of people age 12 and older who had a substance dependency or abuse hovered around 22 million, according to annual data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. What many people who are suffering from opioid dependencies, in particular, may not know is that advances in treatment such as Suboxone are relatively safe and confidential options. Methadone, the popular treatment for opioid dependency since the 1960s, carries much cultural stigma, and for some people, the desire to avoid that stigma is greater than the desire to seek help. As an alternative to methadone, Suboxone does not have to be dispensed by specialized clinics, and it does not carry the same addictive risks as methadone. Suboxone can be administered by certified, trained physicians in-office during induction and at home thereafter with a prescription, allowing for a considerable amount of discretion. The prescription medication also frees up patients to maintain normal work and school schedules and travel at will.

Because buprenorphine, the partial opioid agonist in Suboxone, does not produce the full extent of effects of full agonists, Suboxone causes less physical dependence than other treatments such as methadone. According to the manufacturer of Suboxone, buprenorphine is effective at controlling opioid withdrawal symptoms and cravings for two to three days, depending on the dosage. Moreover, buprenorphine’s ability to bind to the mu receptor blocks other opioids from doing the same during treatment.

In a 2004 article from The New York Times, buprenorphine was called “the most important advance certainly in heroin and opiate treatment if not all addiction treatments in the last 30 years,” by Dr. Alan I. Leshner, a former director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. At present, nearly 9,000 physicians and more than 1,800 treatment programs in the U.S. are authorized to provide buprenorphine treatment, according to the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration. However, the maximum number of patients that each physician can treat with buprenorphine is limited by law. As efforts to increase awareness and encourage more physicians to receive training continue, the number of physicians and programs will hopefully increase and provide opioid-dependent people with an effective, confidential treatment option.

RELECTRIC is a not just a leading supplier of electrical parts like Zinsco circuit breakers. They also purchase used electrical components from companies every day, usually giving a detailed quote within 48 hours. But what do you do if you have a large amount of used parts and you don’t want to send in for a quote for each piece?

All you need to do is send your bulk used electrical parts to RELECTRIC and we’ll do the rest. If you send us a blind shipment of circuit breakers and other electrical parts, we’ll send you a purchase order for the value of the electronics and you can choose if you want a check or credit account. For more information on our Blind Ship program, please visit www.relectric.com.