Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Do you charge your customers a service charge if they pay with a credit card?

This is topic Do you charge your customers a service charge if they pay with a credit card? in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=001805

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 11-26-2006, 12:06 PM:

The Carmike theater in Dover, Delaware does. At least at the box office. We didn't try the concession stand to see if they do too. I've never heard of a theater doing that. Do all Carmikes do that? Does anyone else do that? That irritated the crap out of us, and I'm sure we're not the only customers of theirs that felt that way.

Posted by Steve Scott (Member # 630) on 11-26-2006, 12:11 PM:

That's a lot of small change floating around...

We don't charge any extra for a card. Carmike never had 0.25 increments behind their stand, either. That's inconvenient on its own [Mad]

Posted by Chad M Calpito (Member # 3736) on 11-26-2006, 12:12 PM:

Fortunately, we don't charge a service charge for credit card use at any of our Pacific Theatres location. Thank goodness we don't deal with that kind of headache. [Big Grin]

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 11-26-2006, 12:38 PM:

Their service charge wasn't an even amount either: 99¢ [Mad]

Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 11-26-2006, 01:20 PM:

That's crap. In many states you are not allowed to charge extra for the credit card. I believe your merchant agreement disallows this as well. This was how the CC companies got rid of the cash/credit prices at the gas stations. Companies that charge extra for this are not very customer-friendly.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 11-26-2006, 01:25 PM:

Conversely, why should a theatre have to pay the CC company for the use of its card? The theatre would be just as happy to take CASH. People pay service charges everywhere if they want the luxuary of services...why not credit cards?

BTW...the way around the CC fee is to install an ATM and let IT do the service charge (and the theatre can then share in the profit).

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-26-2006, 02:29 PM:

You're not supposed to be able to charge a fee, but you can allow a 'cash discount.'

Supposedly all the card makers have the same policy and these surcharges are 'strictly prohibited.'

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 11-26-2006, 02:48 PM:

quote: Steve Guttag
why should a theatre have to pay the CC company for the use of its card?

Because it's the cost of doing business. It makes things easier and cleaner for everyone. The employees are handling less money so there are fewer chances of mistakes, there's less money to count and ship off to the bank at the end of the night, etc.. It's not just a luxury for the customers. And there is no way that they are paying 99¢ per credit card transaction with the credit card companies. I think this is just a slick way for them to grab more cash at the box office.

quote: Mike Blakesley
Supposedly all the card makers have the same policy and these surcharges are 'strictly prohibited.'

Hmm. Maybe I should call Visa and complain...

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 11-26-2006, 03:02 PM:

The rules vary by CC company. American Express has a "most favored nation" clause that if you don't charge for other CC, then you can't charge for them.

I believe Visa and Mastercard have a "strictly prohibited" clause.

Personally, I don't think credit card acceptence should be an entitlement. The CC companies charge their 3-5% and it is mostly the customer that benefits from the charge. But lets say that a family of four buys their tickets....the cost can easily get up to $35, depending on location and times....3% of that exceeds $1.00. Also, depending on the film and what week it is in, location, the take on the box may only be 10% of the profit.

There just isn't that much left over to dole out.

There are certainly ups and downs on the labor side to it in both time and mishandling of either system.

Why does everything in our lives cost something for every little bit of service but Credit Cards are exempt? I swear, every time I look at my bills and see all the little fees, charges and other made up stuff...it drives me nuts...just how did the line get drawn on credit cards?

Personally, I'd much rather see toll roads banned than credit card fees.

Steve

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 11-26-2006, 06:43 PM:

Steve; you have joined me as an "angry (young) man." Louis

Posted by Ky Boyd (Member # 23) on 11-26-2006, 06:45 PM:

If a theatre is charging a credit card transaction fee, then they should be reporting that fee as part of the film grosses.

From the Sony Pictures Releasing MLA (Master License Agreement): Sec. IV Part C: "For purposes of calculating Film Rental, "Gross Receipts" means all monies, exclusive only of admission taxes collected as required by law, received or determined to have been received by Exhibitor for admission to Theater for the performance of the Film or when the Film should have been played, regardless of when paid."

Fox, Paramount, Universal, Warners, etc. all have similar language in their contracts as well.

Interestingly, NATO is joining a consortium of retailers in the Merchants Payments Coalition to mount a governmental challenge to the interchange fees, which are a portion of the fees. There is an article about it in the Oct. 2006 issue of In Focus.

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 11-26-2006, 06:49 PM:

Cash is the only payment we accept, there are very few complaints.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 11-26-2006, 07:00 PM:

Ky,

It would be a legal issue since the fee charged is not for the showing of the film but to provide a service (accept the credit card)...The studio is no more entitled than they are willing to be partners in determining the gross minus the fee charged by the CC company. That is, for the $10.00 ticket, the studio is factoring on the whole $10.00, not $10.00 minus the CC fee of .30 for a 3% CC fee or $9.70. Either they are basing it on the money for the show or they aren't.

The ATM in the lobby can solve both issues and it clarifies the situation. The theatre can collect a service charge on the ATM for those that don't choose to carry the legal tender of the land, the customer can pay the full ticket price, the studio gets its money...the theatre gets the few cents left over after the studio takes its cut.

Either way, a service fee would not be for the license to see the film but for the exchange of monies from plastic to paper.

Posted by Jarryd Beard (Member # 2543) on 11-26-2006, 07:11 PM:

Mark,

Are you sure they ran it through as a credit card? Most Carmikes do not yet accept credit cards; they only use debit. The .99 fee sounds like a debit transaction. If you go to the webpage for the Dover Carmike, only debit cards are listed as a form of electronic payment. I know the manager at the Carmike 16 in Allentown, PA. His theater is in the same district as the Dover theater and they don't accept credit. He's been told it's coming soon, however. One of the few Carmikes that does accept credit cards is in Greensburg, PA. At their webpage, it says there's a .99 fee for debit transactions, but NO fee for credit transactions. When you paid, did you type your PIN? I have a suspicion that the theater didn't accept credit cards at all and simply processed the transaction as debit.

I believe it was either the September or October issue of "In Focus" magazine that had an interesting article on credit cards and the movie industry. It explained a lot about the fees businesses have to pay with credit transactions.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 11-26-2006, 07:29 PM:

Hmm... that's interesting Jarryd. I didn't end up paying with my card, so I'm not sure, but what you're saying sounds like it might be a possibility. I'm hardly ever at that theater (or that mall) but the next time I'm down there I will check. I probably won't pay to watch a movie there again though given the horrible presentation they put on.

Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 11-26-2006, 07:39 PM:

There would not have been a .99 fee on the CC transaction. There would, however, be one on the debit transaction. An no matter how you slice it, for providing cash back, the .99 fee is a BARGAIN compared to most ATM's.

As best I know, you can NOT charge a FEE for a client paying with a CC. You either accept the payment and pay the user fee to gain additional $$ from folks such as myself.. who use cards for points back rewards... or you lose the business...

It took Carmike FOREVER to figure this one out... [Roll Eyes]

I miss the business.. not the single mindedness of the company...

Posted by David Buckley (Member # 2600) on 11-26-2006, 07:53 PM:

If you dont want to pay card transaction fees, then dont accept cards, it's that simple.

We dont accept any sort of plastic, and never have. New Zealand is almost a cashless society, debit cards (what we call EFTPos) is almost universally used, schoolkids buy a $0.49 bag of sweeties with EFTPos, market traders (yes, even in temporary flea markets in car parks) have radio EFTPos machines, they're everywhere. We're a very rare exception [Smile]

What did bug me in the UK was if you booked a ticket over the web you got charged a booking fee. It bugged me because the cost of completing the transaction electronically, where the customer did all the work was vastly lower than employing projectionists-in-training to actually take the money and give me a ticket, and that had no surcharge on top. Grrrr.

Posted by Jarryd Beard (Member # 2543) on 11-26-2006, 08:51 PM:

quote: Jason Black
As best I know, you can NOT charge a FEE for a client paying with a CC.

So how is it that some gas stations can charge higher rates per gallon for credit payments over the cash price?

Posted by Chad M Calpito (Member # 3736) on 11-26-2006, 09:34 PM:

I think they charge more at some independent gas stations (or whoever else) to offset the cost that they have to pay for CC usage where as paying cash keeps their costs down, Jarryd. Of course, that's just my guess.

Posted by John Joseph Fink (Member # 3619) on 11-26-2006, 09:56 PM:

I'm shocked they don't charge customers. Some companies rely on ABO style box offices to cut down lines and personell - I guess Carmike doesn't really opperate in the kind of areas that people go to the movies and require purchasing tickets online or by phone the way that LA and New York and Northern NJ does. It's rare a chain doesn't, in fact I dislike it, but what I dislike more is chains with Pay Pass that haven't trained their staff on how to use it. My Regal Entertainment Group Mastercard has a blink chip in it but whenever I try to use it they say "Oh, I'll swipe it for you sir" - credit card companies are touting Pay Pass as end to buyers remorce, in that moment of hesitation I may say "you know what I don't need that box of Clip's Gummy Stars, I'll only take the water and the popcorn". But honestly, I know small independent now taking credit cards at both the box office and snack bar, amazing to me that a big chain wouldn't want to make things quick and painless in an electronic age. Debit only, as was pointed out eariler is a scam, in effect Carmike becomes an ATM, and they assess an ATM fee. Allentown may have to upgrade to accept credit cards if they don't already with Rave and Muvico building area theaters and Regal accepting cards already, as well as the benifits of stored value "gift" cards that chains like Clearview, AMC, and National Amusements offer. Then again Carmike oddly may be ahead of the curve with Digita Projectionl. What an odd company.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 11-26-2006, 10:04 PM:

When we first set up our merchants account, the paperwork specifically prohibited charging a fee. We've never looked back.

Personally, the whole credit card process works so well for us, I wouldn't consider making it an issue. For one, by accepting plastic and cash, there's little to no complaint that we don't take checks. With the use of thermal printers and online processing, the transactions are as fast for us and convenient for the customer as cash.

Yes, we probably lose out when someone buys a candy bar and hands over a credit/debit card. Those few occasionas are far outweighed by the size of purchases most other customers make. It really is true that many will happily pull out their plastic on a large order and not notice, where they might if they were pulling cash out of their wallets.

For us, in the 12+ years we've taken plastic the benefits have far outweighed the costs... so much so that we now have card readers at every sales station in the place.

Posted by Ron Curran (Member # 3631) on 11-26-2006, 10:05 PM:

In Australia, merchants can legally charge a fee on cc transactions but I don't know if any cinemas do.

Some theatres charge a fee per ticket for booking on line.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 11-26-2006, 10:08 PM:

quote: Ron Curran
Some theatres charge a fee per ticket for booking on line.

Yah... I've never really understood that, Ron... unless it's just a money grab. I understand some online processors charge for the "convenience". However, when we did internet ticketing for our indoor there was no cost to us, and we did not charge extra. It seemed to me that anything that makes the process more convenient for the customer should be encouraged.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-26-2006, 11:02 PM:

quote: John Joseph Fink
I know small independent now taking credit cards at both the box office and snack bar, amazing to me that a big chain wouldn't want to make things quick and painless in an electronic age.

We started taking plastic here 3 weeks ago and it's grown exponentially every week. Some people are like "Oh, thank you!" when they find out we take cards. It's the way of the future. If you only take cash and don't hear complaints from customers, you can bet they are complaining SOMEWHERE, just not to your face.

Posted by Ron Curran (Member # 3631) on 11-26-2006, 11:48 PM:

Right on, Mike.
Only prob with cc is the extra time it can take at the ticket window, especially when the first card doesn't work. But it can be faster than dealing with change from the 20th $50 note on a Sunday afternoon - how can you maintain a float larger than your takings?
Also, having been robbed on more than one occasion, the less cash you take, the better.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 11-27-2006, 01:25 AM:

The $0.99 fee is only for debit transactions. It does not got to Carmike, it goes to the company that operates the credit/debit machines.

If you do frequent that theatre again (or another Carmike that only takes debit cards) you CAN get cash back with your debit transaction, the amount typically allowed is $20. In this way you can use the cash at the concession stand and avoid paying the $0.99 fee again.

Posted by Anslem Rayburn (Member # 1267) on 11-27-2006, 04:22 AM:

quote: Mastercard Merchant Rules
A merchant must not directly or indirectly require any MasterCard cardholder to pay a surcharge or any part of any merchant discount or any contemporaneous finance charge in connection with a MasterCard card transaction. A merchant may provide a discount to its customers for cash payments. A merchant is permitted to charge a fee (such as a bona fide commission, postage, expedited service or convenience fees, and the like) if
the fee is imposed on all like transactions regardless of the form of payment used.

* A surcharge is any fee charged in connection with a MasterCard transaction that is not charged if another payment method is used.

* The merchant discount fee is the fee the merchant pays to its acquirer to acquire transactions.

From Mastercard.com's Merchant Rules Manual. I'm sure other credit card companies have similar wording in their rules.

quote: Dustin Mitchell
The $0.99 fee is only for debit transactions. It does not got to Carmike, it goes to the company that operates the credit/debit machines.

I would be absolutely shocked if some part of the 99 cents didn't go to the theater. I know everything that costs anything in our theater (video games, ATM, pay phones, etc.) we get at least part of the fees from.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 11-27-2006, 04:28 AM:

Not a single penny goes to the theatre. The $0.99 fee is deducted from teh debit totals before they are entered into the computer.

I suppose the lower transacation fee we pay for debit transactions as opposed to credit could be considered a round about way of 'getting part' of the $0.99.

And yes, not every issuing bank allows the $0.99 fee to be charged.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 11-27-2006, 10:55 AM:

Just my opinion, but I wouldn't choose a system that handed out cash to the customer. I know you can do that with debit cards, but then you have to keep the cards separated and there's that pin the customer has to enter... which adds to the time it takes to run a transaction. When you open up and see 4 lines of cars running down the side and across the front of your theatre, anything you can do to shave a second or two off a sale is a really good thing!!! Our system doesn't care what the card is, so neither do we. Since we treat everything as a credit card, there are no pins involved, and we don't (can't) give cash back.

The system we use runs about 3-4 seconds on processing time, then the receipts and tickets print out on the same printer. A thermal printer shoots all that stuff out in a couple of seconds. If the transaction is under $35, a customer signature is not required (you get get $75 worth of gas at the pump without a sig, so why not at a theatre?). That also speeds things up.

Incidentally, card declines have almost disappeared here... maybe only 3 or 4 in the entire season. I'm only guessing, but I figured the banks get a huge penalty fee for over-limit charging, so why not allow the transaction?

As Mike said, it's become a customer convenience that the vast majority seems to be looking for.

Posted by Charles Greenlee (Member # 3856) on 11-27-2006, 12:30 PM:

Locally, the Wynnsong took only ATM/Debit and charged a fee, where the Carmike 10 across town took only credit, and no fee. I always thoguht that was confusing, they're the same company. The customers were confused too, often.

Posted by Paul Van Dusen (Member # 3640) on 11-27-2006, 12:53 PM:

It all depends on the computer system the theatre has. We have the IQ 0, so our machine is seperate from the terminal, and it will only take ATM cards. I know, debit should be ATM as well, but in this case it's not. Nearly every debit card has an Interlink logo on the back of it, and I dunno about all carmikes, but our machine won't take them. However if the theatre has the IQ 2000 they can take credit card transactions and i'm pretty sure there is no service charge. Basically the IQ 0 machines are setup as an ATM who's screen is the box office employee. lol Luckily for us we're getting upgraded to IQ 2000 in the next few weeks. The whole company, actually, is changing over in an effort to be sarbanes-oxley compliant.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 11-27-2006, 07:38 PM:

The credit/debit thing has nothing to do with IQ 0/IQ 2000.

Carmike first started experimenting with taking credit/debit cards in the late 90's. Larger theatres such as the Wynnsong 15 in Moundsview, the Carmike 15 in Apple Valley, and the Oakdale Stadium 20 (all suburbs of Minneapolis/St. Paul) have been taking credit cards since they opened in the late 90's. The Apple Valley and Moundsview plexes opened with IQ 0 systems I believe. When they were upgraded to IQ 2000 that's when the card swipes were integrated into the POS terminals. The third party vendor that Carmike had contracted with to enable these sales though was apparantly not too cheap. On top of the merchant transactions fee charged by the card companies the company that maintained the reader system was also charging very high fees.

The new system Carmike is installing is maintained by a different company. The choice to allow only debit or debit and credit transactions is a business one-it has nothing to do with the computer system present at the theatre as the readers are not tied into the POS system. Any theatre that is still using the built in card swipes on their IQ 2000 registers is not using the new system.

As a note, certain debit cards aren't accepted (such as the ones that say interlink on the back) because they do not allow a fee to be charged to the cardholder. If the theatre is credit capable then transaction can just be ran as a credit one instead of a debit.

Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 11-27-2006, 08:37 PM:

Dustin:

You may want to double check the fact that Carmike doesn't make anything on the debit fee. They do... [Smile]

I won't reveal the amount, and I'm sure it's likely chnaged over the last two years that I've been gone.. but Carmike DOES make money on the fee. [Smile]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-27-2006, 08:41 PM:

So is IQ 0 pronounced "Eye Cue Zero" or "Eye Cue Oh"?

Either way...that's the most doofus computer system name I've ever heard of.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 11-27-2006, 09:13 PM:

'Zero', the reasoning being it only takes an IQ of zero to operate the system (which is a good thing considering some Carmike managers). Course then they came out with IQ 2000....

Jason, news to me. If that is true then it must some form of repayment back to Carmike from the reader company. None of the $0.99 is deposited with the daily reciepts at the end of the night.

All things considered, I would be very surprised if any portion Carmike did get from the $0.99 debit fee even came close to convering the cost of the transaction fees charged by the credit card companies, the per transaction fee I am assuming the card reader company charges, and the rental fee for the readers themselves.

Posted by Charles Greenlee (Member # 3856) on 11-27-2006, 10:44 PM:

Yeah the Carmike 10 had IQ-0's and were taking credit through the standalone reader. Wynnsong 11 had IQ-2000's but still used a standalone reader which allowed only debit/ATM, at a 99c processing fee. Oddly enough, if you had an interlink card, you weren't charged the fee, that is until Carmike realised this and disallowed us to take interlink cards. They eventually had the readers setup not to process interlink cards. I guess Carmike wants their processing fee. I think they're both on IQ-2000 now, and running credit only.

Posted by Anslem Rayburn (Member # 1267) on 11-28-2006, 07:53 AM:

Our share of ATM fees are payed by check (or deposit) from the ATM machine company. I don't ever see the amounts, but I know we get a decent share of the fees. I would imagine that any service fee charged for debit transactions would work the same way, though we don't take debit cards at registers, only credit cards. If a company is charging a service fee, I guarantee that some percentage of it is going to that company at some point.

Also, before we started accepting credit cards, we had several companies approach us about taking debit cards. They offered us free equipment and maintenance, as well as a percentage of the fees charged for using it. Same deal with out ATM.

We pay a fee for every credit card transaction (plus we maintain the equipment), but pay nothing for the ATM in our theater (or it's paper and maintenance, restocking, etc.). We get paid to have the ATM on site by way of a percentage of the fees charged. We only pay for a phone line and electricity.

Posted by Ron Curran (Member # 3631) on 11-28-2006, 04:59 PM:

I believe that the film distributor can claim a percentage of the add-ons to tickets, such as booking fees and credit card fees.

But the theatre can not deduct credit card charges from film hire.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 11-28-2006, 05:49 PM:

An excellent point about fee deductions and film rent Ron.

If you're paying 3% that whole amount needs to come out of YOUR portion of the tickets sales. This means mininum you're effectively paying 6% on your portion of the ticket revenue (assuming a 50/50 split)-and we all know that the theatre share is often less.

What really annoyed me was before we got credit card readers the people who acted like it was their right to use a credit card and we were displaying the worst customer service imaginable by not taking them. "When are you going to enter the 21st century?!" was a common statement from ticked off customers. I feebly tried to explain to one irrate woman once that the transaction fees could be quite prohibitive to us. Before I could even get into film rent (she was pretty upset so I was willing to give a detailed explanation) she fired back with the "Oh I know, I own my own business." Well whoop-dee-fucking doo.

Sorry for the mini-rant. I understand that taking credit cards is a necessary expense for businesses in this day and age and if I was the owner of my theatre I probably would have taken them long ago. The attitude still pisses me off though.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 11-28-2006, 07:02 PM:

You know...each bill in the USA states that it is legal tender for all debts public and private...credit cards do NOT enjoy that status as only the Federal Government has the power to make currency.

Again, the ATM in the lobby would satisfy their "right" to use a credit card and provide a profit center as well for the "service."

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 11-28-2006, 08:03 PM:

I find it interesting that by charging fees, the use of a credit card would be seen as a potential revenue stream for a business. We find that encouraging the use of these cards results in more sales and less reluctance to spend larger amounts than the customers might otherwise spend, which also increases customer satisfaction with their experience here.

Shouldn't that be enough?

As for the customers' expectations... it would seem they expect to be able to use cards most everywhere these days. We got in pretty early. I think only one other theatre in our area was taking cards, and at that it was only for admissions. The chains hadn't started yet. Card usage started very slow, but built each year. Now, it's about a third of our income.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 11-28-2006, 09:32 PM:

I don't dispute that accepting credit cards can potentially increase ones income substantially. When buying at the concession stand...it is much easier on the customer to not think about the total and just sign on the line or in many cases...just swipe the card and out with the goods. With cash, one sees their wallet/purse/money clip holding less and less from the moment they leave the house until they return...what they buy will be determined by "whats left". That handy piece of plastic makes it seem like a bottomless well while purchasing.

The only think I really hate about it is the attitude that using a credit card is a right or feelings to that effect. They are not and most people use them for rather foolish banking. Personally, I use credit cards to avoid carrying large sums of cash around...and always pay to zero at the end of each month. I would NEVER freak out if someone didn't take my plastic...then again I may not spend the money there if it is a large purchase.

Steve

Posted by Ky Boyd (Member # 23) on 11-29-2006, 12:36 AM:

Steve - are you actually a signer of an MLA from any of the major studios? The letters I have recieved from Fox as a signer could not be clearer. Any fee charged at the box office in conjunction with the sale of a ticket to a Fox film is considered by Fox to be part of the revenues on which film rental charges are based and should be included in any gross reporting. They make an exception for on-line sales convenience or service charges but not for sales at the box office.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-30-2006, 02:47 PM:

This is a sideline, but I just got a letter here at my day job from our card processor. Get this: They are going to charge a $20 "Peak Season Processing Fee." The purpose of the fee is "to help ensure you continue to receive quality service during the busiest time of the year."

Hmm, it's the busiest time of the year, they're making MORE MONEY than they usually make so...they add a special fee to help them count it all? [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 11-30-2006, 07:05 PM:

We have, on several occasions been solicited by ATM operators to put one of their machines in our lobby. They pay a monthly fee for the space plus some small percentage of the fees collected. No doubt a major chain would be offered a sweeter deal. We had to turn them all down due to lack of a suitable location for the machine and real difficulty in getting a phone line to the machine.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 11-30-2006, 10:11 PM:

quote: Mike Blakesley
card processor. Get this: They are going to charge a $20 "Peak Season Processing Fee."

Yah... our bank charges us to deposit cash. We're probably changing next season.

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 12-02-2006, 07:32 PM:

Our bank started charging a fee to deposit cash in excess of $200 per month. The account was moved to another bank, one that doesn't charge cash fees. A couple months later the branch manager of bank #1 saw our G.M. on the street and asked why we hadn't been in for a while. When he was told we were very annoyed about the cash deposit fees, he arranged to drop them. Our account certainly is nothing to a mega billion dollar bank, but managers apparently have some strings to pull in order to keep accounts.

Posted by Marc Hansen (Member # 705) on 12-02-2006, 10:22 PM:

quote: Jack Ondracek
We're probably changing next season

Jack - try WAMU. When I told the manager at my branch that I would just get an extra of their free checking accounts, deposit cash into it and then write a check to deposit in my regular account he solved the problem instantly.
Marc

[ 12-11-2006, 09:37 PM: Message edited by: Marc Hansen ]

Posted by Ian Bailey (Member # 1752) on 12-11-2006, 06:47 AM:

We installed one card reader for ticket sales and paid $1000 fees in the first six months.
Forget cards....use ATM's....they don't slow up your ticket sales/candy bar but as Jack said they may not spend as much.
The deals for ATM's down here are great.
They install the machine and the telephone line....train your staff....attend to breakdowns....and you can actually make money out of having one.It's also a great place to store cash when it is topped up each night.It's also a great float when you run short of notes.Just make sure you position the ATM in a real obvious spot before they get to the Box Office.
Cheers Ian
Oh and yes we charge for CC transactions at our sites that don't have an ATM.
One of our biggest companies in Australia "Telstra" who run our telephones charges a fee if you pay your bill online with a CC!!!

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 12-11-2006, 06:04 PM:

quote: Marc Hansen
Jack - try WAMU.

Thanks, Marc. I'll look into that.