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Author Topic: Cinemas - "not including tax." Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 09-09-2015 03:50 PM                     Is there any locations, especially the big box cinemas, now switching over to where they're charging tax on top of the item - both box and concessions - instead of adding the tax into the price? Seems like a sneaky way to do a double hit: raise prices and having patrons pay the tax amount that the cinemas don't have to pay out of their pockets. -Monte  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-09-2015 04:50 PM                        AMC does it here on their tickets, though they actually slashed the price of their tickets in July. I don't know what they do at the concessions stand. See the fine print here  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 09-09-2015 04:56 PM                     Heard that some AMC locations and others are slicing tix prices down to a reasonable level. If the tax rate is 8.25% then the $5.99 tix price becomes a $6.50 ticket. Just a sneaky way to charge the $6.50 tix price.  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-09-2015 09:04 PM                        Tax rate is 10% here.  |  IP: Logged Lyle Romer Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1400 From: Davie, FL, USA Registered: May 2002 posted 09-09-2015 10:29 PM                     Around here at least, Regal has stopped making prices come out to even quarters. Tickets are prices like $8.94 including tax.  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 09-09-2015 11:23 PM                        I'm curious to here about the experience of people who have worked for theatres that do it both ways. My feeling is adding the tax afterwards would slow the speed of service and result in more cash outages. It also creates an additional logistic issue by having to stock rolls of change other than quarters.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-10-2015 07:26 AM                        Agreed with Justin--pricing in "odd" increments will be annoying for the patrons and staff alike. If they do this for concession items, too, it will probably increase line lengths and decrease sales as a result. As a patron, I have seen a couple of theatres that set prices in .50 increments and provide change in half-dollar coins. This sounds silly, but it is a way to make a memorable impression on customers. Same for giving change in $2 bills (do cash registers even have a slot for $2 bills?). If the goal of this policy is to show customers how high tax rates really are, it would seem that a sign under the admission price sign saying something like "XX% tax included in above prices" would be sufficient.  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-10-2015 08:08 AM                        In addition to the odd ticket prices, there are so many levels of pricing at multiplexes now it is difficult to find out how much it will cost you to go. At the above mentioned AMC different movies cost different amounts, they all vary by time of day, sometimes there are kid and senior prices, then 3D charges and big screen charges. Plus tax. The competing Carmike doesn't have quite as many levels and includes the tax in the ticket price, charges more and, for many reasons, is stomping AMC.  |  IP: Logged Buck Wilson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 894 From: St. Joseph MO, USA Registered: Sep 2010 posted 09-10-2015 10:09 AM                     Regal and AMC have both stopped including tax in both concession and Box Office. It is stupid. I cannot understand the logic aside from being able to raise prices more quietly.(You still won't get it past the seniors!!) To be fair though, when we went through the switch at this Regal location, prices remained *roughly* the same, change just became odd one way or the other. quote: Justin Hamaker I'm curious to here about the experience of people who have worked for theatres that do it both ways. My feeling is adding the tax afterwards would slow the speed of service and result in more cash outages. It also creates an additional logistic issue by having to stock rolls of change other than quarters. IT SUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKS. District manager- "It will only add about 15 minutes total combined for all employees over the course of the day" AHHAHHAA HILARIOUS. I'd say that time is closer to two hours. Plus the cost of a professional coin counter, and the ongoing cost of coin rolls. Decreased accuracy. Increased transaction times.(Gotta love the look on a customers' face when you throw a pile of coin at them.) Plus an IMMENSE level of frustration. Why would you do that. Why would you make something simple infinitely more complicated. I truly have a hard time thinking of anything else cooperate could do that has an equivalent "Haha let's see them deal with this, I mean... we don't have to work on the floor, what do we care?" factor to it. WHAT IS THE REASON?! Just another nail in the coffin that already looks like a busy street corner telephone pole. Just squeeze it in there somewhere....  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 09-10-2015 03:18 PM                     quote: Martin McCaffery Tax rate is 10% here. $6.59 .. still cheaper than some of the country for an adult ticket. quote: Buck Wilson Plus an IMMENSE level of frustration. And the way kids can do math these days, being so used to their cellphones thinking for them... Shoot, we put in a new Ast Mgr and this person struggles to count down the drawer to the assigned drawer bank and have to use a calculator to aid with the count, and right now we're just doing the quarter usage. All of the Ast Mgr's are freaking out on the idea of using and counting the small change when that assigned day comes. Talk about the complacency syndrome.  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 09-10-2015 05:04 PM                        Monte I feel your frustration on this one. But I teach every one of my employees how to count change, and never teach them how to have the register calculate it. And when I'm training managers I always teach them how to count drawers by counting up from smallest to largest. I can't say for certain they would all immediately grasp how to apply it with small change, but they have the skills already once they realize you're doing the same thing, just starting with smaller coins. It is a struggle to teach them. I don't know if it's because they forget basic math once they start doing more complex or if they freeze up when they are dealing with actual money. But it seems to be a difficult concept for many teens to get down - especially those who have never had a job. But my staff gets complements almost every day for counting change, and I have had more than a few former employees tell me it made things so much easier for them in other jobs.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-10-2015 05:52 PM                        quote: Justin Hamaker It is a struggle to teach them. I don't know if it's because they forget basic math once they start doing more complex or if they freeze up when they are dealing with actual money. Boy I hear that. We have our employees leave exactly $100 in the till drawer each night and turn the rest into the office, where it is counted up. It is AMAZING how they so frequently are a dollar short, or 50 cents over, or whatever. I would say about 2 out of 7 days, on the average, they're right-on. It drives me crazy.  |  IP: Logged David Buckley Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 525 From: Oxford, N. Canterbury, New Zealand Registered: Aug 2004 posted 09-10-2015 08:54 PM                        I find this all quite entertaining. I've not paid cash for a movie ticket or concessions now probably in over a decade. A survey last week found over 50% of people had no money on them at all. Has paywave not hit you guys yet? Paywave is gaining popularity here in NZ and I believe also in the UK, from something I read last week. Transactions up to $85 NZD don't need a pin, just wave the plastic at the reader. The other thing I'd note is that last time I holidayed in a US territory, most volume tills had automated change dispensers, I'm surprised you cash-heavy folks aren't using them, I'd be certain its quicker than a just-out-of-school-minimum-wager at counting out the coins.  |  IP: Logged James Wyrembelski Expert Film Handler Posts: 114 From: Beaverton, MI, USA Registered: Sep 2015 posted 09-10-2015 10:30 PM                     That's exactly what we do at the restaurant after closing. Count the drawer down to 100, then count the rest and match it to "cash due" according to the POS. Now, of course we're dealing with all types of change. I think during rush hours or stressful periods people tend to "lock up" or get stage fright essentially when confronted with actually having to do math in one's head. It's rare we're ever spot on. Usually a dollar under or over..... Having even change would be fantastic....especially when everyone at a table of 20 comes up and wants each bill separate...all cash...and pay at the same time while everyone at the bar is trying to get your attention.......  |  IP: Logged Andrew Thomas Master Film Handler Posts: 273 From: Pearland, TX, USA Registered: Jun 2012 posted 09-10-2015 10:56 PM                     I'm guessing what has happened is that the big chains have hit a point where the card vs. cash sales have skewed heavily enough to cards that they will deal with the slight head ache of slower transactions on the cash sales. My theater is still skewed 60:40 towards cash though.  |  IP: Logged

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