CONVENIENCE FEES HAHAHAHA
God what a scam that shit is
“Hey, we saved money by computerization, so we’re gonna pass that cost onto you!”
“Don’t you mean ‘pass the savings onto us?’”
:D “Nope!”
Honestly they probably spend so much on devs to maintain their website that they don’t break even lmao
The amount you’d save not hiring physical ticket sales workers would absolutely dwarf any amount of possible dev salaries for one website.
Lol in my local cinema I have to use a computer next to the ticket taker to print my ticket I bought online and then they physically look at it to tell me which theatre I should walk to, it’s like Idiocracy’s costco
What you don’t find paying extra money convenient?
It’s a convenient way for them to rip you off
I saw Indiana Jones today it had 25 minutes of trailers, an admonishment to not ruin the movie, Nicole Kidman telling me how great going to the movies is, and a commercial for the projector. So a movie listed to start at 11 started at 11:28. it’s fucking ridiculous.
I find that pretty consistent for AMC. What ever the listed time is the film will play after 30min of trailers/promos. Its annoying but easy to plan around.
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Was literally thinking the same thing. Afternoon matinees in the mid 2000s were like $5 in my, admittedly small, hometown. You and your friends could get dropped off at the shopping center, hit up the arcade, see a movie, and go bowling in the evening all for like $30 lol.
… and on top of that you have to watch like ten minutes’ worth of ads at the beginning. Ugh.
I quit going to movies when they started blaring loud obnoxious commercials under the guise of “entertainment” prior to the movies supposed start time. Going to a movie used to be a social thing you did with friends, but now with them blasting that shit at you at a volume that makes talking impossible what the fuck is even the point? The fact that ticket prices are climbing to this level with this kind of jack assery is ludicrous. And don’t get me started on the 20-30 minutes of previews they show after a movies supposed start time. Just fuck this shit.
So you haven’t been to a movie theater in, like, 20 years? Because none of that is new.
First time I remember going to see a movie was about 20 years ago. There might’ve been a movie preview or two; I don’t remember ads. Both “trailers” and ads have gotten progressively worse over the years - almost to the point that you’d think they alone fund the movie and the theatre - but you still pay a ridiculous ticket price.
lol what? you go to the movies to watch the movie… if you want to talk you can do it afterwards. also, it’s not like the ads take time off the actual movie
lol what? you go to the movies to watch the movie… if you want to talk you can do it afterwards. also, it’s not like the ads take time off the actual movie
lol what? you go to the movies to watch the movie… if you want to talk you can do it afterwards. also, it’s not like the ads take time off the actual movie
lol what? you go to the movies to watch the movie… if you want to talk you can do it afterwards. also, it’s not like the ads take time off the actual movie
What the heck is a convenience fee?
A convenient way to charge you for more
But you can avoid our unreasonable fee by signing up for a monthly subscription!
$15/year is pretty reasonable for the perks for AMC. Most theater chains are trying to charge monthly for membership which is outrageous
Are there perks aside from just avoiding their extra fees? I remember last time I was at AMC they added a charge on at the snacks when I said I wasn’t a member
They don’t add extra charges for not being a member for snacks. You get free upgrades and get a special line for concessions. So worth it if you get concessions normally ever, not if you don’t. I think they also have another tier up that gives you 3 movies/month but I have no idea what that costs.
Maybe I’m confused. The cashier asked me, and then he put on a “delivery fee” or something
I think you’re going to the wrong place. That or the US is just insane.
I think I’d pay about £8 per ticket here in the UK. That is without buying food.
Before the pandemic, the US wasn’t too bad. Large cities got expensive, but most places a movie ticket ran around $10.
Now, to make up for lost money, some chains are trying to charge extra for getting “a good seat” or other perks that used to be just part of the price of the ticket.
I think they overestimate demand. I haven’t been to a movie since 2019. I don’t think I’m missing out. Home TVs are just so big now.
It’s crazy these days, it makes no sense to go pay $20+ each to see a movie when I can wait a month and stream it on an 80 inch OLED at my buddy’s place if it doesn’t break any records at the box office. Color quality is better, couch is more comfortable and I don’t have to worry about anyone dragging their screaming kids in.
Seems like the whole world became a lot more expensive after the pandemic. Same here in Germany and my family in Brazil tells no different story.
Especially all kinds of recreational activities, day or night. I for myself can’t afford many things i used to do before the pandemic.
AMC is a huge multiplex chain, they seem to own about half of all theatres in the US, as a result they can overcharge to their heart’s content because they might be the only one in town with the movie you want to see. They also attempt to pass their service off as a “premium” experience. In reality it just means larger seats. For this they’ve destroyed the movie-going experience. Not much love lost on my end, however, I’m not really a movie person. It mostly sucks when my child really wants to see something.
We went for the first time in years a couple of weeks ago. Cost us £14.50 each only on the tickets. Just a regular Odeon.
You can still find more reasonably priced tickets. We go to a second-run theater that only charges like $8 a ticket for movies that have just left the main corporate theaters and even Regal offers discount days where ticket prices are more reasonable.
JESUS FUCK. I can pay $20 a month for UNLIMITED movies.
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Question from an European: What is that convenience fee? Which costs does it cover?
Nothing for the customer. It’s just convenient for the theater to charge more for the ticket.
Nothing, it’s just an extra charge so that the company can make more money.
Answer from another: nothing. We also have them in various places, like parking, or highway vignettes - you are not using their facilities, you save them money, so they charge you some extra
I think the “convenience” is referring to using a credit card. They charge businesses any time their card is used. This is the business passing that cost on to the consumer.
We go to AMC quite a bit and I think it’s actually the fee for buying tickets online or through the app. So probably even worse than passing CC fees on to customers lol. Always buy our tickets in person for that reason (and matinees).
Adding to this for more context, in America, credit card fees on merchants are like 3-5% of the transaction. That’s why some places have started to pass them to consumers, especially in low-margin businesses like restaurants and movie theaters. If your margins are around 5% and Visa is taking 3.95%, that’s not super sustainable. Card network fees tend to be much lower in Europe. I’m not sure about elsewhere.
In the early days of the internet in the US the convenience fee was what the 3rd part sales software charged for online transactions but I think now with the it mostly being first party sales or integrated to the vendors POS it’s just a way to charge more money without advertising it on the sticker price.
See, if you didn’t pay that fee, then buying the tickets would be “inconvenient.”
Jokes aside, it’s really just a way to pad profits. It should be called the “We want more of your money” fee.
I’m paying added convenience fees left and right, but I’m not feeling the added convenience. Please send help.
This is why you should support any surviving local theaters that aren’t chains. Monopolies aren’t created solely by the companies but with the help of the consumers too
There was a movie theater when I was a kid in the 80s and you could see movies that had already stopped being shown in the regular theaters for a while for $1. So, like, if you missed Return of the Jedi or Temple of Doom in its original run, you could catch it later on the big screen for $1.
We had that here too. Tuesday and Wednesday was $1 for a ticket, $1 for a popcorn and $1 for a drink.
Yup, second run theaters are (were?) awesome. Saw so many classic movies like Temple of Doom and Total Recall at my local one.
We had one of those in the 2010s here in Texas, although it might have raised to $2
We still have that in MA. And independent theaters with unique programming.
Have to hit the matinees. I take my son to a nearby movie theatre that has a full bar/menu and the tickets for he and I to go are around or under $20 for both of us. It’s like $9.25 per person.
For real. With just a short wait, I can spend less, own the movie permanently, and watch it without wearing pants. Wins all around.
Once the lights are out, no one can see you aren’t wearing pants 😏
Yes we can. Please stop doing that in the theater.
Well, on the plus side, if I keep doing it at least no one will sit near me.
That convenience fee is damn annoying. I usually just try to get the tickets in person.
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Convenience fee is the best name they can apply to soften a fee, which is really just a way for them to charge more than the list price.
Fees should be universally folded into the list price by default.
