Daily Racing Form?

[horseplayer7776]

This weekend i went to a colonial downs otb in alberta, virginia. i saw something that i had never seen before and was curious if anyone else has seen it.

There was a kiosk machine from the DRF where you put in $1 and could print out the DRF program and pp's for one track. (no news articles etc.) The DRF is not for sale in that area, I just wondered if this is a thing of the future since distribution has gotten so expensive.

[Tom]

That's news to me - but a good idea.

[peislander]

We have had one at our track now for a couple of months now. Saw one at the track in Edmonton over a year ago. Pretty handy machines since they cant get the paper to the area.

[Ron]

They've had something like this at one of the local OTBs for a few years now, although I only looked at it briefly. Its kind of like picking up wedding abnd baby registry info at stores?

[JustRalph]

that is the future of many types of literature. I actually worked on a project using one of these about 5 years ago. The one we played with has been replaced by newer equipment but is essentially the same. The problem we were having was with the printers.......but it wasn't hard to make it work. Until you had to have somebody actually come out and service the thing.

Here is an article from 3 years back...........do a google on

"on demand printing" or "On demand printing kiosks"

http://www.kioskmarketplace.com/article.php?id=14089

Want a book on demand?

http://www.instabook-corporation.com/

[xciceroguy]

I like it. It cost you $2.50 to do the same thing at home.

[point given]

This weekend i went to a colonial downs otb in alberta, virginia. i saw something that i had never seen before and was curious if anyone else has seen it.

There was a kiosk machine from the DRF where you put in $1 and could print out the DRF program and pp's for one track. (no news articles etc.) The DRF is not for sale in that area, I just wondered if this is a thing of the future since distribution has gotten so expensive.

I had comtemplated this years ago, but never pursued it. I had already switched over tho the BRIs PP's, gotten free. I am glad to see that DRF has embraced technology , after getting their ass whooped by TSN,BRIS etc for years now with free or 50 C to dollar per card pps. DRF has had distribution problems for decades, and still does. AT $5.50 per DRF, VS low cost online pps, the money talked. ALSO, how often do folks complain that a particular tracks pps are not in their issue of the DRF ? Happened a couple of weeks ago with Turfway park. This Kiosk by DRF is using todays tech to address a long standing problem. Kudos to Crist and staff . Now if they will only advertise it , at the facility and online ,so people will know it is available there on track for them to buy !!! What good is a great product or innovation of an old product, if few know it is there ???????? Ask Sony about Betamax and proprietary rights, its all about distribution.

[Dave Schwartz]

What a great idea!

Imagine how that would cost the cost of the Form when the distribution is done electronically.

Printing PPs at home is not an inexpensive thing to do. Not sure what the price per page for black-and-white but I would assume that, including the paper, it has got to be close to $.05, maybe more. (Especially on ink jets.)


Ralph, you got any ideas on that?

[bobphilo]

Terrific idea. The most important part of the Form at a fraction of the cost.

The only downside I see is that you don't get the PP's at home the day before the races and don't see them until raceday at the track - not a good way to handicap, IMO.

Bob

[point given]

Terrific idea. The most important part of the Form at a fraction of the cost.

The only downside I see is that you don't get the PP's at home the day before the races and don't see them until raceday at the track - not a good way to handicap, IMO.

Bob

Maybe i missed something, but i didnot read that you could NOT print them out the day before on track at this kiosk. This indeed would be a shortcoming to the on demand kiosk. I've got to guess that they would have the same access to pps as online pps and would be available for download and printing a day or two out.

The only potential problem with this kiosk is the maintenance of the printer, etc. by someone at the facility. If not maintained and/or fixable by a responsible party (or two, like when the guy is out sick),at the facility, then the customers would not be able to rely on it and it could soon be in disuse gathering dust. I've seen it many times before in diverse situations. Good technological solution to a problem, but spotty or worse support for the technology. The admins see it as THE solution, but are not willing to pay/assign responsible people to make sure it works well for the end users. Users lose trust in the technology and go to more reliable , low tech ways to do it.

[Ron]

Right, when I saw it at the OTB it was "OUT OF ORDER". And I doubt the OTB tellers could fix it.