The Met Will No Longer Give Visitors Colorful Tin Buttons

Apparently they are too expensive to provide.

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If you have ever visited the Met Museum in New York City, chances are you received a colorful tin button bearing the institution's name. Well, cherish that small memory because the Met will no longer give out buttons after 42 years. Even America's largest art museum is affected by the economy.

The tin buttons are being abandoned because of the rising cost of providing the keepsake. On Monday they will be a thing of the past, being replaced with paper tickers and detachable stickers. Annually more than six million people visit the museum, which caused the institution to order 1.6 million buttons four times each year, according to the New York Times. They now cost three cents per button, up a cent more than previous years. The change occurs as the institution becomes open seven days a week (previously it was closed on Mondays).

Although each paper ticket will cost only one cent, people at the institution still feel bad about the change. “I regret it slightly myself,” said the museum’s director Thomas P. Campbell. “One of my assistants has a whole rainbow of the colored buttons on her desk.”

[via NYTimes]

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