How much are tickets really???

Milquetoast · Post by **Milquetoast** » August 23rd, 2007, 9:55 am

As someone who ran box at CTT for a few months, I never had trouble with the $7-10 thing. It strikes me that semi-arbitrary discounts, like Kareem brought up with that example, are likely to cause more problems than having to explain that they can 'pay what they want'.

I never had someone angry that they had freedom in how much they wanted to pay, and most people will pay the $10 anyways.

apiaryist · Post by **apiaryist** » August 23rd, 2007, 11:07 am

Milquetoast wrote: I never had someone angry that they had freedom in how much they wanted to pay, and most people will pay the $10 anyways.

I'm adding my one night of box office to this. Nobody was ever confused, and every person paid $10. If people are balking, then it might be the way you are presenting the information.

Shawn · Post by **Shawn** » August 23rd, 2007, 12:09 pm

As an audience member I (along w/ my friends) ALWAYS felt awkward with the sliding scale. It puts unnecessary pressure on the audience member. It is a social pressure to pay the $10. If you are on a date do you look like a cheapskate if you pay $7 instead of $10? What if you with friends? Do people who make less money pay $7 and those making more pay $10? It also just looks unprofessional like we don't have our shit together. If we want people to pay $10 then make that the price, don't pressure people into paying it. Targeted discounts make a lot of sense.

Making students, seniors etc. show a valid student ID is reasonable since they have to do it at the movies, at museums and such.

By offering the discounts we can get a slightly better sense of who our audience is. If we separately mark how many student tix we sell, vs. senior tickets etc..

Also if ticket prices for AIC shows are an official AIC policy the signs can specify this.

The sign at the Hideout for example can read:
Threefer and Double Barrel Tickets
General Admission $10
Students, seniors, military $7 *

* a valid student ID, military ID, or AARP card must be presented to receive discount. Seniors over 65 may show a drivers license instead of an AARP card.

Hopefully the Hideout would post a sign listing the prices for Maestro etc.

Finally we should offer discounts to:
Students (with valid high school or college id)
Seniors (over 65 or with AARP card)
Military (with valid ID)
improv students (either on a list or with a pass or something)

other ideas for discounts:
state employees with valid ID
AAA card members (maybe in exchange for an ad, listing or article in their magazine - I have a contact over there)

ratliff · Post by **ratliff** » August 23rd, 2007, 12:15 pm

This would mean that Heroes students would need ID cards, yes?

kaci_beeler · Post by **kaci_beeler** » August 23rd, 2007, 12:23 pm

Shawn wrote:It also just looks unprofessional like we don't have our shit together.

I have seen lots of other theatre companies do the sliding scale on prices (some with a much larger gap than $3), and I don't think it's a matter of professionalism. It is just a different way of doing things.

Post by **bradisntclever** » August 23rd, 2007, 12:46 pm

ratliff wrote:This would mean that Heroes students would need ID cards, yes?

It wouldn't be hard if they had some form of photo ID and we had a roster of Heroes students, or even CT students.

ratliff · Post by **ratliff** » August 23rd, 2007, 12:47 pm

bradisntclever wrote:
ratliff wrote:This would mean that Heroes students would need ID cards, yes?
It wouldn't be hard if they had some form of photo ID and we had a roster of Heroes students, or even CT students.

Oh, yeah, what was the ruling on that? Do CT students get in free?

Audience Member · Post by **Audience Member** » August 23rd, 2007, 12:57 pm

I really don't care if it's $10 or sliding scale, just make the show worth my money.

HerrHerr · Post by **HerrHerr** » August 23rd, 2007, 1:00 pm

I propose a locked forum where those persons designated can post the minutes of meetings and all AIC policies/procedures.

Easy access to answer questions on policies, procedures without all the "I thought it was our policy..." cluttering up the other forums.

Yes, I am gulity of being a clutterer.

Shawn · Post by **Shawn** » August 23rd, 2007, 1:53 pm

bradisntclever wrote:
ratliff wrote:This would mean that Heroes students would need ID cards, yes?
It wouldn't be hard if they had some form of photo ID and we had a roster of Heroes students, or even CT students.

That could work. Though since it would be hard to keep an updated list, we could also make passes that say: "This improv student pass entitles (write name here) $3 off admission to all AIC shows (or whatever). This pass is valid from start date of class to end date of class." If we do blank passes - Andy at the Hideout and the folks at Coldtowne can write the names of the registered students in the blank and write or stamp the dates in. I don't really care either way. Whichever way the folks acutally doing it think is easier.

Post by **bradisntclever** » August 23rd, 2007, 3:37 pm

Shawn wrote:
bradisntclever wrote:
ratliff wrote:This would mean that Heroes students would need ID cards, yes?
It wouldn't be hard if they had some form of photo ID and we had a roster of Heroes students, or even CT students.
That could work. Though since it would be hard to keep an updated list, we could also make passes that say: "This improv student pass entitles (write name here) $3 off admission to all AIC shows (or whatever). This pass is valid from start date of class to end date of class." If we do blank passes - Andy at the Hideout and the folks at Coldtowne can write the names of the registered students in the blank and write or stamp the dates in. I don't really care either way. Whichever way the folks acutally doing it think is easier.

Improv students typically get into shows for free. When I was talking about the $3 discount, I mainly meant high school/college students

arclight · Post by **arclight** » August 24th, 2007, 1:42 am

HerrHerr wrote:I propose a locked forum where those persons designated can post the minutes of meetings and all AIC policies/procedures.

Easy access to answer questions on policies, procedures without all the "I thought it was our policy..." cluttering up the other forums.

They should be posted on the AIC wiki

Just a general note (meaning not directed specifically at Chris): Under no circumstances should the discussion forums hold permanent documents, meeting minutes, policy, procedures, or anything of lasting importance (links are totally encouraged, but keeping The One True Copy of Something Very Important is not.)

Discussion forums are for discussion, not file storage. Aside from technical reasons (the forums are shit for access control, file storage, organization, management, revision control and history, document format, searchability and pretty much anything but (anti)social discussion), there are much better tools for keeping and organizing that exist right now. There's a link right at the top of the page; that's what it's there for.

I haven't been paying much attention to the forums lately, partly because I'm busy on the board of directors of a national non-profit. At some point I'll post about how they do things - they very much have their shit together.

HerrHerr · Post by **HerrHerr** » August 24th, 2007, 10:47 am

Thanks, Bob!

acrouch · Post by **acrouch** » August 26th, 2007, 5:59 pm

I don't think there's any problem with the current system (except for the rare uninformed box office employee). Let's just inform them. Hey, everybody, read Roy's post! Ann and Brad, please explain ticket pricing to anyone who works box office. In the meantime we'll update the box office and house manager checklists so anyone who takes on the job can get caught up quickly.

I don't care about that awkward moment of "I thought it was $7." If someone gets uppity and asks why the people in front of them got their tickets for $7, and, after the explanation that we want to make our shows accessible to people of all income levels, they feel that they deserve $7 tickets as well, that's fine! That is the Hideout's official position on ticket prices at the moment; we are of course open to persuasion.