Movie Theater Management 101

More grumpery.

Sunday afternoon the gang of us piled into the car and drove off to go see Salmon Fishing in the Yemen at a movie theater we don’t usually go to because it’s really out of range.  But it was the only place within fifty miles where the movie was playing.

The price of a ticket was $2 more than at our usual multiplex.  The price of a large soda was $2 more than at our usual multiplex.  The price of a large popcorn was $2 more than at our usual multiplex and the popcorn was served in a bag that didn’t look as though it held as much as the large buckets at our usual multiplex.  On the wall behind the concession counter were banners advertising “deals.”  One of the deals was a large popcorn and two large sodas for $18.75, which was a savings of 25 cents.

We went into the theater snackless.

But not until after I went looking for a manager.

I worked in a movie theater in college and I know things haven’t changed all that much since.  Movie theaters make practically nothing off ticket sales.  They make their money off the popcorn and soda they sell at an astronomical markup.  I thought I should let the manager know that his or her theater had made no money off of us today.

The manager I found was a guy about my age.  His age is only important here because it means he’s old enough to know better than to say what he said after I said calmly and politely and with a friendly smile, “I know you aren’t responsible for the pricing, but I’m amazed at how much more expensive everything here is and maybe you could pass it up the chain that it’s costing you customers because we won’t be coming back here any time soon.”

I didn’t really expect it’d be passed up the chain.  I just needed to vent.  But I also didn’t expect the manager to say:

“I understand.  But let me explain to you something about how the business works.”

Here’s a tip from Retail Management 101: When dealing with a disgruntled customer, do not try to explain to him why he’s being ripped-off and why he should lump it if not like it.

His next move was to try to sell me a coupon book which I could buy online after registering.

Oliver, Young Ken, and the blonde managed to drag me into the theater by my belt.

Comments

[Kevin Wolf]

One of the first things I learned doing retail, and later it came in handy in customer service.

[Tom]

You do realize that I clicked on this link because I wanted to read your take on 'Salmon Fishing in Yemen'? I feel like I got a bit of a bait(no pun intended) and switch.

So after all that kerfuffle, how was the movie? My wife and I liked it a lot. It's quite charming and frankly Amr Waked, who plays the Yemeni billionaire gets the best lines.

[Aaron Weiss]

The only theaters I buy food from are cinema grills where the food is of better quality and cost the same as a popcorn and drink at a typical multiplex.

I'm particularly annoyed that theaters have terrible food to begin with.

[Lance Mannion]

Sorry about that, Tom. Didn't mean to reel you in like that. He he he.

I'm working on my review and hope to have it posted sometime later today. I liked it and I agree with you about Waked. I also thought Kristin Scott Thomas was a hoot!

[actor212]

So basically, you nearly bought the coupon book.

And you basically used the same technique on Tom.

Sounds like an infectious and successful technique.

I used to do that working retail, too. Some of my best sales were where I "clued" the customer in on the pricing code usually a ten letter phrase where the letters sub in for digits.

For example, at PC Richard, the phrase was dontgiveup, representing the numbers 0-9 in order (e.g. d=0). That code on a price ticket stood for the rock-bottom price the associate could sell the item for, and was a bit lower than the marked retail.

You'd be amazed how much easier it is to sell a washing machine AND a dryer to someone who thinks they're getting a bargain. We still made a nice profit and I got a bigger commission. Win-win.

Clearly, the manager was getting money for the coupon books.