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» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Ground Level   » Cinemas - "not including tax." (Page 2)

 
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Author Topic: Cinemas - "not including tax."
Frank Cox
Film God

Posts: 2234
From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada
Registered: Apr 2011

- posted 09-11-2015 01:24 AM      Profile for Frank Cox   Author's Homepage   Email Frank Cox   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I don't accept cards at my theatre. At all. Cash only.

That saves me a ton of money on bank charges and transaction fees. There is a bank with a 24 hour machine a half-block down the street from here, so if anyone shows up without any cash they don't have to go far to get some.

I "lose" maybe two people a year who say they're going to get some cash and then fall into a black hole or a time warp somewhere between here and there. But that's a much smaller loss than the cost of taking cards would add up to over the course of a year.

Everyone here knows that they have to bring cash to come to the show and they do. Maybe someday I'll be forced to start accepting cards but that time has not yet arrived.

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Jim Cassedy
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1661
From: San Francisco, CA
Registered: Dec 2006

- posted 09-11-2015 12:16 PM      Profile for Jim Cassedy   Email Jim Cassedy   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Just as a historical perspective, during WWI a 10%
"war tax" was added to all movie & live theater tickets.
Here's a couple of old movie tix from my collection:

-

"Funding Wars Through Entertainment"
What a novel idea! [Roll Eyes]
-

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Martin McCaffery
Film God

Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99

- posted 09-11-2015 12:20 PM      Profile for Martin McCaffery   Author's Homepage   Email Martin McCaffery   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
And that was on top of local taxes. Sometimes the tix tax could be over 20%. I've run across stories of theatres closing down rather than pay the entertainment taxes. They actually have it pretty good now, comparatively.

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Rusty Gordon
Film Handler

Posts: 33
From: Fairview, Tennessee USA
Registered: Feb 2004

- posted 09-11-2015 01:18 PM      Profile for Rusty Gordon   Author's Homepage   Email Rusty Gordon   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
NOT taking credit cards is the most short-sighted thing any theatre owner is doing. People paying with plastic SPEND MORE. They tend to buy LARGER SIZES and BUY MORE ITEMS than those who pay with cash. Those who don't are stepping over dollars to get to the dimes and if you think otherwise, you're fooling yourself. Ask yourself why every large theatre chain accepts plastic and then ask yourself why you think you're smarter than them. When your customers are walking the half a block to the ATM machine they are cursing you and planning their next movie outing at your competitor.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2013/08/16/why-dont-more-small-businesses-accept-credit-cards/

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Justin Hamaker
Film God

Posts: 2253
From: Lakeport, CA USA
Registered: Jan 2004

- posted 09-11-2015 04:15 PM      Profile for Justin Hamaker   Author's Homepage   Email Justin Hamaker   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Rusty, my company started taking credit cards about 3.5 years ago. What I've found is that most customers are not spending much differently than when we were cash only. In fact, many of our biggest spenders are cash customers. I've also found that close to 50% of our credit card customers are actually using debit cards, which they are more likely to use as cash.

Prior to accepting credit cards we had a cashless ATM machine which might get 50 transactions in a day on our busiest days.

The main reason we waited so long to start taking cards was because of the expensive fees. It was only when the Vantif program was set up that it became more practical. As I said, we didn't see any significant jump in our per capita when we started taking cards, and it's only now that we are getting close to 30-35% of transactions being CC.

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David Buckley
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 525
From: Oxford, N. Canterbury, New Zealand
Registered: Aug 2004

- posted 09-11-2015 05:34 PM      Profile for David Buckley   Author's Homepage   Email David Buckley   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Yes, the problem with the big brand name plastic is the "discount" applied, but its just a cost of doing business.

NZ story: Although big brand plastic and paywave is widely used here, the New Zealand EFTPOS system is unique. It works just like a debit card. It was introduced in 1985 to get rid of cheques, in which it succeeded; cheques are no longer used in a shopping context, no shop will accept them. So, like cheques there was no transaction fee, just a monthly admin fee. What the bankers and EFTPOS networks hadn't anticipated was that EFTPOS would not just replace cheques, but replaced cash as well.

Heck, even Saturday flea market sellers have a terminal.

Of course, the bankers and networks are now pushing paywave, a big name plastic, rather than EFTPOS, as there are per transaction fees with big brand plastic...

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Sam Graham
AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues.

Posts: 1431
From: Waukee, IA
Registered: Dec 2004

- posted 09-11-2015 07:06 PM      Profile for Sam Graham   Author's Homepage   Email Sam Graham   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Definitely seeing this at AMC. As broken down on a ticket 8/8:

ADMISSION: $5.13
TAX: $.34

Cinemark isn't breaking it down, but they are selling tickets for oddball amounts. $5.90 for early bird shows, $8.40 for evening, etc locally.

(Yes, that's cheap. It's an old slope Movies 12.)

I'm on board with Buck. But I suppose as we become an increasingly cashless society and people blindly throw plastic or NFC phones at everything without even knowing how much they're paying until they get their monthly statement, it's really a short-term problem. And by "problem", I mean that it seems low-wage cashiers at all retail levels seem to be getting worse and worse at counting correct change, even when a cash register is showing them how much to dispense.

I would be interested in knowing the real thought behind this, though.

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Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

- posted 09-11-2015 07:13 PM      Profile for Scott Norwood   Author's Homepage   Email Scott Norwood   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Rusty Gordon
People paying with plastic SPEND MORE.
Isn't that just because people tend to use cash for small purchases and credit cards for large ones? I wouldn't consider charging a $4 bucket of popcorn, but it might make sense to use plastic if I were buying a dozen of them for a group of people. The amount of my average credit card transaction would be higher than the amount of my average cash transaction, but only because I use each form of payment for a different purpose.

As a consumer, one of my pet peeves is standing in line behind people who buy small items (e.g. a $1.79 quart of milk) with credit cards or (ack!) checks. I know that there are credit card machines that work quickly, but not every store has these. In most cases, a credit transaction like that takes twice as long as an equivalent cash transaction. As for checks, I don't think that I have ever used one in a retail store. For me, their only function is for sending money through the mail (e.g. paying bills). Do people really write checks for movie tickets? And do theatres accept them?

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Martin McCaffery
Film God

Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99

- posted 09-11-2015 09:44 PM      Profile for Martin McCaffery   Author's Homepage   Email Martin McCaffery   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Scott: Yes they write them, and yes we accept them. Though since we started taking credit cards, they write far fewer checks. I don't think anyone under the age of 50 writes checks to us anymore. Maybe it will become retro and the hipsters will start!

And you want annoying? People who come to the $1 kids shows and buy one $1 ticket with credit, then go to to concession stand and want to buy a 50¢ popcorn with the credit card. (we have 50¢ kids sizes at the kids shows).

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

- posted 09-12-2015 12:16 AM      Profile for Mike Blakesley   Author's Homepage   Email Mike Blakesley   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
We take cards and about 40% of our sales is on cards. Our system is nice and fast (RTS / Vantiv) -- it usually takes 3 or 4 seconds, tops for a transaction to go thru.

The thing I've noticed about credit cards, both at the theatre and at the parts store, is people don't seem to get "sticker shock" when they use a card. If they're paying cash and I say "That's $43.50," Dad will often say "Jeezus!" as he's handing over the bills. But I don't think I've ever heard anybody exclaim like that when using a card. I think it's just not "really" money to them.

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Jack Ondracek
Film God

Posts: 2348
From: Port Orchard, WA, USA
Registered: Oct 2002

- posted 09-12-2015 12:34 AM      Profile for Jack Ondracek   Author's Homepage   Email Jack Ondracek   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Justin Hamaker
I've found is that most customers are not spending much differently than when we were cash only. In fact, many of our biggest spenders are cash customers.
Two different worlds. Most of our largest sales are on plastic, and we're well over 50% now.

We're RTS / Mercury, & our plastic transactions are easily as fast as anything that requires change. I thought my way into a bit of a panic over our internet connection. If we lose it over the weekend, we're cooked. Now looking for a wireless alternative for emergency use.

On kids and change: We don't allow our staff to use the RTS terminals for changemaking... don't even talk about how to do it. Anyone who does cashier duties here learns to count change the old fashioned way or they don't work the registers. For those who want to be scheduled at that position, that's motivation enough to learn how to count money or be satisfied with other job functions here.

BTW... there's a method to that madness. Counting change yourself forces you to do it twice (once to you and once to the customer). That nearly assures your numbers will be right at the end of the shift. Once the kids realize that, they buy into the concept pretty quickly.

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Frank Cox
Film God

Posts: 2234
From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada
Registered: Apr 2011

- posted 09-12-2015 12:49 AM      Profile for Frank Cox   Author's Homepage   Email Frank Cox   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
You can purchase routers that automatically switch to wireless service if the wired service disappears. I have used Cradlepoint brand routers that can do this and it's slick as all hell.

Just get a wireless (cellular) modem from your friendly local telephone company, plug that into the router and hook it up to your standard wired modem as well. Now when the wired connection drops, you're automatically on the cellular service until it comes back. Totally transparent to the end user.

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Lyle Romer
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1400
From: Davie, FL, USA
Registered: May 2002

- posted 09-12-2015 05:55 AM      Profile for Lyle Romer   Email Lyle Romer   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Scott Norwood
As a consumer, one of my pet peeves is standing in line behind people who buy small items (e.g. a $1.79 quart of milk) with credit cards or (ack!) checks. I know that there are credit card machines that work quickly, but not every store has these. In most cases, a credit transaction like that takes twice as long as an equivalent cash transaction. As for checks, I don't think that I have ever used one in a retail store. For me, their only function is for sending money through the mail (e.g. paying bills). Do people really write checks for movie tickets? And do theatres accept them?
I 100% agree about checks. Every checking account gives you a debit card. Why not use that?

As for using credit cards for small transactions, I'm one of "those people." I use credit cards for all spending possible to build up reward points. The one $1.79 transaction may not be much but 100 of them add up over time. I also hate using cash and getting coins as change.

Also, that $1.79 transaction is a lot slower with cash when you get a person that digs out the 79 cents from their change purse. That takes MUCH longer than a credit card transaction.

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Jim Cassedy
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1661
From: San Francisco, CA
Registered: Dec 2006

- posted 09-12-2015 10:34 AM      Profile for Jim Cassedy   Email Jim Cassedy   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Rusty Gordon
NOT taking credit cards is the most short-sighted thing any theatre owner is doing.
I respectfully disagree.

I think it all comes down to "knowing your market" and your customers.

For example, I'm aware of a couple of theaters here in SF, whose clientele
are primarily senior citizens, who rarely use credit cards, and who are
completely befuddled by ATM machines. These older folks very much operate
on a "cash only" basis, and are more likely to call the theater for show times
than to look them up on a website.

As the theaters I have in mind operate on a narrow profit margin, installing
credit card readers and paying transaction fees just wouldn't make sense
for the theaters in question.

Yes, some non-regular customers are surprised a the "cash only" policy,
and if they don't have enough money on them, they are referred to an ATM
at a convenience store a few doors down the street from the theater, which,
just coincidentally, has one of the lowest 'transaction fees' in San Francisco.

I don't think they've lost any business due to their 'cash only' policy.

I'll admit situations like this are 'exceptions to the rule' but you can't
make a blanket statement that not accepting credit cards is a short sighted
or stupid policy. It all depends on your market and your customer base.

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Buck Wilson
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 894
From: St. Joseph MO, USA
Registered: Sep 2010

- posted 09-12-2015 01:21 PM      Profile for Buck Wilson   Email Buck Wilson   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Sam Graham
Cinemark isn't breaking it down, but they are selling tickets for oddball amounts. $5.90 for early bird shows, $8.40 for evening, etc locally.

(Yes, that's cheap. It's an old slope Movies 12.)
Cinemark baffles me how cheap their prices can be. The (VERY nice, stadium, well maintained) Cinemark Palace on the Plaza smack dab in a very nice kinda ritzy even shopping center in Kansas City MO only charges $6.90 for adult evening weekend tickets. Matinee, child, senior is $4.40. The absolute most expensive ticket I can find at that theater is a $10.15 VIP(reserved seating) adult evening weekend... which is STILL cheaper than an most theaters standard adult ticket. Tickets are as low as $3.90 on Mondays for seniors. Yes, this is a first run theater. A very nice one. One of my favorites. Even the concessions are noticeably cheaper than most.

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