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Author Topic: Parade Magazine and sneaking in snacks. Rick Raskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1100 From: Manassas Virginia Registered: Jan 2003 posted 07-13-2008 11:44 AM                     Today's Parade Magazine has an article on frugal families. Among the cost saving tricks is this little gem: "A big day out is a trip to the dollar movie theater, with snacks smuggled in 2-year-old Owen's diaper bag." Link At least one comment has been posted questioning Parade for including this in their article.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-13-2008 03:56 PM                        Hey, why stop at that?....Parade should just tell them a good way to save on rising food costs is to just walk down the supermarket isle and stash as much produce as they can into their 2yr old's diaper bag. Stuff expensive meat cuts into their panty-hose. Parade -- total arseholes. [ 07-14-2008, 01:57 AM: Message edited by: Frank Angel ]  |  IP: Logged Thomas Pitt Master Film Handler Posts: 266 From: Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK Registered: May 2007 posted 07-14-2008 03:51 PM                     It seems that more and more cinemas are stopping you from taking your own food and drink into the auditorium; you have to buy it at the concession stand. Many are also stopping you taking any kind of bag in with you - forcing you to leave it at the box office or in a locker somewhere. Apparently this is mainly to stop people smuggling cameras in, but it also works for own food and drink. I wonder how long it'll be before cinemas have a "minimum purchase" sign at the concession stand, and you HAVE to buy food/drink before you're allowed in? If they're that concerned about losing concession sales, they could increase the ticket prices slightly to cover the losses. Not a drastic increase, just a tiny surcharge above the normal ticket price. Multiply that by the number of people who buy tickets, and you've got a fairly large sum of money.  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 07-14-2008 04:59 PM                        quote: Thomas Pitt If they're that concerned about losing concession sales, they could increase the ticket prices slightly to cover the losses. Not a drastic increase, just a tiny surcharge above the normal ticket price. Multiply that by the number of people who buy tickets, and you've got a fairly large sum of money. The problem with trying to offset rising costs by upping ticket prices is that the studio is also taking a chunk of that increase. If you up your prices 25¢ then you're lucky if you get to keep 12¢ of that increase. Plus, every time you raise ticket prices, you have to worry about making it too expensive for some people. Part of the idea is to keep ticket prices as reasonable as possible is to make it as affordable as possible to get people through the doors. I personally wouldn't have an issue with people brining their own candy if they were buying their drinks at the snack bar; or bring bottled water and buy a popcorn. One of the big problems with people brining in their own food and drink is they usually don't take their trash with them - in fact, they usually leave it on the floor. So we're having to clean up after them and add their trash to what is being collected. And we're not receiving any money to offset those costs. Plus you have the issue of people brining in glass containers which create a safety hazard when broken - we had a SoBe bottle break in Wall•E about two weeks ago. Also, watching people's spending habits at the snack bar, you can see that it's not necessary for people to drop $100 to take a family of four to the movies. At my theatre, matinee tickets are $6.50; a 16oz drink is $2.75, a 20oz drink is $3.25, or a bottle of water is $2.00, and a large popcorn is $6.00. It is realistically possible to take a family of 4 to the movies, get everyone a drink and popcorn, and spend about $40.00. It's always the people who are dropping $8-$10 per person who complain the most about the snack bar prices.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-16-2008 01:42 AM                        Why should people who respect a theatre's "No outside food allowed in the theatre" policy and who don't bring in their own food and who buy at the snack bar, why should they have to subsidize people who don't respect the theatre's no outside food policy? I should raise the ticket price on those good patrons? And if you raise your ticket price, then you are putting yourself at a disadvantage of your competitor who keeps his standard ticket price and just is more hardnose about policeing patrons who are actually that tacky as to drag in food in their under-garments. It doesn't take much to train ushers to spot food abusers and make them eat their crap before they are allowed into the theatre. Does anyone think a restaurant would allow people to bring in their own food? Why should a theatre? I say, hose them down with a fire hose if they are caught with food they didn't buy at the snack bar.  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 07-16-2008 02:21 AM                     Frank says, "Does anyone think a restaurant would allow people to bring in their own food? Why should a theatre?" Just to be clear, customers are not irrational here. They do not understand that concessions are important to theatres' finances, and they think the answer to that question is "Because I'm bringing FOOD into the theatre, not a MOVIE." This is not to justify the behavior of those customers, but rather to explain it. Note that person who commented on the Parade article and didn't like sneaking in food decided to just stop going to the movies altogether, and instead to just rent movies. Be careful what you wish for. --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Christopher Crouch Expert Film Handler Posts: 128 From: Holywood, ca, usa Registered: May 2006 posted 07-16-2008 04:14 AM                  Beyond the business aspect, I find it sad that this individual is utilizing their child to sneak in food. Not that I haven't seen such bevhavior countless times, but it never fails to disapoint me.  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 07-16-2008 05:40 AM                        quote: John Hawkinson was the last to post Does anyone think a restaurant would allow people to bring in their own food? Why should a theatre? I used this line once on a lady who was trying to bring in her Starbucks drink and she promptly responded that she brings her own wine to restaurants all the time. That really threw me and all I could do is simply respond "that may be the case, but we still don't allow outside food or drink". The other thing that really bugs me about this is the people who want you to make an exception for them. The response I always want to give to this is "what possible reason would I have for making an exception for you when I don't make an exception for anyone else".  |  IP: Logged Mark Hajducki Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 500 From: Edinburgh, UK Registered: May 2003 posted 07-16-2008 10:01 AM                     quote: Justin Hamaker she promptly responded that she brings her own wine to restaurants all the time. The only restaurants round here that allow you to BYOB tend not to have an alcohol license, also they usually charge a corkage fee. (yes you can bring in your Starbucks, but it will cost you $5!) This brings us on to the food permit idea that some drive in theatres use.  |  IP: Logged John Walsh Film God Posts: 2490 From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way Registered: Oct 1999 posted 07-16-2008 11:23 AM                     Well, personally, I think this is much ado about nothing... After hanging around theaters for 3 decades, I just don't think *that* many people sneak food in. Jhawk is right on both counts: customers don't know where the ticket money goes, and could choose to stay home. I don't know about you, but $40 is still a lot of money for a family of six, especially when compared to Netflix. If I knew more about marketing, I would try to turn this around somehow. Maybe like letting customers know why concession sales are important, and offering some discount to large families ("fourth kid get popcorn and drink free..") or something. I admit things are tough, but confronting people about this issue in public will only come out looking look bad for theaters. Be glad that the woman in the story is trying to pay off their debt. There are people who not only want to be bailed out of their bad loans (while keeping their home) but demand it as their right. A group near me wants to sue the goverment because it hasn't happened yet, and want the goverment to pay all future interest as 'punishment' for allowing the bank to write the bad loan.  |  IP: Logged Mike Spaeth Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1129 From: Marietta, GA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 07-17-2008 01:11 AM                        Is it really worth it to battle the customers over this issue? The customers you confiscate the food and drink aren't going to suddenly go "I'm going to buy something from concessions now." They're just going to sit and watch the movie without food/drink. So, all you've managed to do is piss off a customer and jeopardize his ever coming back to your establishment and buying a ticket (through which you still reap benefit). You're going to have ZERO effect on your concession sales in doing so.  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 07-17-2008 03:12 AM                        The problem with not saying anything is that's basically the same thing as saying it's ok. If people see you not saying something to others about brining in their McDonald's or whatever then they assume it's ok to do the same thing. And yes, there have been plenty of times where I've asked someone to finish a drink before they come inside and then they wind up buying something at the snack bar. Maybe they still would have purchased something, but asking them to finish their food or drink before coming inside didn't deter them.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 07-17-2008 03:51 AM                        I did some research and it appears that the family Parade Magazine interviewed loves to tongue lots of unwiped anus. Just because this family can't get good jobs doesn't mean they should be featured in a newspaper magazine that few people read. Why MUST they sneak in snacks? This implies that they MUST eat during a movie. They'd save more money if they just forgot the food items. They'd probably weigh less as well, fat asses. What a stingy family. I bet Christmas and birthdays suck in that family. "Here little Jimmy, I made you something out of popsicle sticks. Merry Christmas!!!". "Gee thanks mom. For your Christmas present I pissed in your gas tank. It's cheaper than real gas so it must be better!". I'd probably commit suicide if I were part of that stingy-ass cheap-o family.  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 07-17-2008 04:18 AM                  Who the hell would want to eat food that was carried in a diaper bag? YUCK! Mom to little Jimmy: "No honey, that brown stuff is chocolate from a candy bar..." Caddyshack Clip - pool turd. Edit: Changed my poor original choice/misleading title for the link. [ 07-17-2008, 01:48 PM: Message edited by: Phil Hill ]  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-17-2008 10:02 AM                        In the big picture, it's no big deal. We ask people to finish any food items before they come in -- ice cream, burgers, etc. -- but if someone comes in with 1/4 of a bottle of water, we tend not to say anything because we hope they'll buy popcorn and a fresh drink when they get inside and see our attractive snackbar!  |  IP: Logged

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