Just gone to have a look at our ticket stock which is 'OPATB 2 TYPE E' made by a company in Germany called Hummel, with the magnetic strip etc. etc. - checked the last bill and have to say that we weren't charged anywhere near £5 a set either...if this is the same type as I am not a ticketing expert...
We have very low in-house accounting costs, rarely use IATA Clearing House and utilise the infrastructure of our handling agents/GSA sales offices so cant comment on the overall costs that can be incurred...
If we are talking the same ticket type/spec (sorry Bealine as I say I am not an expert) then I was not aware that we could use it as a boarding pass...umm and neither did our sales dept...