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
Don’t forget about the service fees, the inconvenience fees, then more convenience feed to undo those and another round of inconvenience fees and then more convenience fees to undo those
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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.
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You might be seeing fees I’m not, but some cell service are actually mandatory in the US. Usually a few dollars a month, they go to various state and federal agencies.
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Essentially automated greed. They make more money by automating their employees and they charge you even more because of how convenient it was for them to do so.
For the convenience of getting screwed over…
… 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.
Ads are fairly new, like the car commercial kind of ads. Before you’d show up early to watch the trailers. No one would show up early to watch ads.
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.
Adverts have been on at the cinema for as long as I remember although they might have been for products sold at the cinema.
This is the oldest advert that I remember and it’s from 1986. https://youtu.be/rlyrlsf3EfA
Edit: although your point of both previews and ads getting progressively worse is still very correct.
That’s the thing that bugs me so much. Most movies have around 10 minutes of ads. That is ample time to promote some of the lesser known movies that company has made but instead we get ads for insurance companies pretending that they are green, banks gaslighting you into thinking they care about you, McDonalds trying to trick you into their food I synonymous with a happy family and Matt Damon pushing cryto currency on you. I would rather watch an ad for a good movie.
i don’t mind true previews, but seeing standard TV ad garbage in a theatre that loud legitimately pissed me off last few times I went. swear they got louder. i also age incrementally, unceasingly, which doesn’t help
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
You’re paying $20 to watch a series of giant, unmutable, unskippable and loud ads. It’s like going to a restaurant and the waiter reminds you to stop by the car dealership on the way home to experience the thrill of the new Chevy Equinox. Get ready for a journey that combines style, performance, and endless possibilities.
it’s not that serious, get there a couple minutes late and that’s it
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Would be good if it was only 10 minutes. Where I’m from it’s 15 minute ads (with horrible sound usually too), followed by 15 minutes of trailers.
Though we don’t have this bullshit with “convenience fees”.
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
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.
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.
Thing is…usually the “convenience fee” isn’t there if you pay in person. It’s usually done in online sales. It actually costs less for you to use their online portal because they don’t have to staff more employees in house. But for some reason companies like to charge you extra for buying online and put it as a “convenience fee” instead of going inside to pay. You could theorize that it has something to do with credit cards, but then why don’t they charge you for paying by a credit card in store?
And you have to create an account (with 2FA) to buy the tickets. In specifically inconvenient.
And the fee stacks too which is insane.
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.
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.
I watched the new spiderverse. I liked the Dolby Atmos/HDR demo as I hadn’t seen them before, but they’ll need to shorten them a little bit going forward
The first Dolby movie I saw Thor Ragnarok, and they ran that same damn ad for the projector then, so that’s like 5 and half years. But I do prefer the Dolby to imax, or at least the bullshit imax they run in amc theaters.
I bought a 65" TV for $300 and good speakers. Never been to a cinema after that
I got a $600 projector and have about 90 inch display ( can hit 120 if my apartment was bigger). No need to go to a cinema, overpay for drinks and snacks, and I can pause and pee whenever I want.
LEGEND!
When you get divorced, you make decisions 😂
From the tone of your phrasing, it sounds like you got rid of TWO expensive things at once! lol
😂
I have a very good setup at home but we still like going to the cinema once in a while, it’s more of an event and we don’t spend the movie with our nose in our phones.
We do select movies where it’s worth it, big action, etc. Last one was the new avatar in “4D” where they splash you with sprays, the seats move and you feel the wind, pretty cool.
Maybe you should have a no phones rule when you watch a movie at home? Seems like a good idea otherwise what’s the point of watching
We probably should and sometimes when it’s a movie we’re actually looking forward to, we’ll admonish each other when we see ourselves do it, but a good chunk of our relax time is also “put whatever on and scroll” and we’re ok with that.
That last bit sounds detrimental to you brains, not a very healthy practice, but I also sometimes catch myself slipping up.
The hell is a “convenience fee”?
That’s when you pay extra because money is yucky
Usually charged when you use a credit card online. Because “fees”. At least that’s what I’ve seen.
Came here to ask the same thing. Whatever it is you expect it to be included in the ticket price already when they are this high
Find a new theater, you’re being robbed.
I gave up on theaters a long time ago. I wanna watch a movie in my PJs, smoke pot, and pause it when I need to. Plus I get lots of kitty snuggles during the viewing as well.
If you’re stoned enough, a big screen and decent sound system is just as engrossing as a movie theater.
I was so stoned the first time I smoked hash, I kept falling asleep to Inception in theater. The score would jolt me awake and I had no clue what the hell happened in that movie.
I went back and watched it sober a few days later with another friend. After that, I had no clue what happened in that movie…
That sounds very convenient, how much is the convenience fee?
About a bag of cat food per month
Kitty snuggles are priceless too. Win win.
Nothing beats sitting on my own couch in my bathrobe with one kitty on my lap and another snuggled up to me at my side. Don’t have to go out of the house, snacks are cheap. You’d have to pay me money to go to a theater, and a hefty amount at that.
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
A convenient way to give the customer the finger.
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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.
What the fuck? A convenience fee??? They’re just making shit up at this point
AMC has this fee for choosing your seat and booking online ahead of time. It’s a dumb fee that they waive for spending $15/yr on a stubs membership.
I honestly just paid the $15 because it annoyingly makes things “cheaper”
You don’t need to pay for the stubs membership. Just sign up for the basic stubs which is free and the fee is waived. They get your email and can send you marketing materials but that’s easy to unsubscribe.
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
Convenience fee? What does that even mean?!
Convenience of driving to the cinema with kids and dealing with their shenanigans, then finally getting in the cinema where they sit and watch the film for 2 hours without disturbing you. You are paying for that convenience.
Convenience fee for the convenience of making that shit right up
For the convenience of the sticky floors and seats so you don’t slide down the stairs - it’s a safety meausure
It’s very contradictory as it’s pretty inconvenient
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.
