George Galloway on cinema popcorn and drinks prices

Reply 20

amyshamblesxx

10

I always sneak my own snacks/drinks in and I've never been checked.

FU Odeon :smug:

Reply 21

theonefrombrum

15

Original post by Bart1331

A lot of cinemas simply can't afford to charge any less. A percentage of all ticket sales (over 50%, sometimes 70% or maybe higher) go to the film company, not the cinema. So the only real way the cinema can make money is through the food.

Most cinemas already state that you can't bring food in, some enforce it while others don't. If their revenue drops to dangerous levels, they'll just enforce that rule a lot more. I know the food seems expensive, but it's not to rip you off, it's how they manage to stay afloat.

That isn't true though. You're acting as if these cinemas just about break even or make a tiny profit and they don't, the big chains make millions each year and they could decide to charge lesser amounts for food and drink and make less millions but they don't want to. I have no sympathy for an industry that is reliant on charging average people a lot more than is neccesary not to keep afloat, but to continue to make a tidy profit.

It's actually done to rip you off. Just like service stations rely on the fact that people travelling on motorways etc need their services and often will just pay their extortionate prices because there's no other options, cinemas rely on the fact that people really like to eat and drink when watching a film there and by prohibiting food coming in, they can safely overcharge, knowing that people will not be able to resist buying it and that's the sad truth of unsympathetic capitalism.

Reply 22

90pies an hour

8

Never been to a cinema that hasn't let me bring my own scran and booze in.

Reply 23

username234673

17

Original post by Darkphilosopher

His issue is probably more to the fact that cinemas often don't allow you to bring your own food and drinks to use as alternatives.

Vue cinemas allow you to take whatever you like in, so long as it's not alcohol or hot food.

Reply 24

ArtGoblin

16

The solution to this is to go to your local independent cinema (if you're lucky enough to have one). Cheaper tickets, cheaper food and nicer atmosphere. The people there tend to go to actually watch the film so it's rare that anyone talks through it or mobile phones go off.

Reply 25

boba

Original post by theonefrombrum

That isn't true though. You're acting as if these cinemas just about break even or make a tiny profit and they don't, the big chains make millions each year and they could decide to charge lesser amounts for food and drink and make less millions but they don't want to. I have no sympathy for an industry that is reliant on charging average people a lot more than is neccesary not to keep afloat, but to continue to make a tidy profit.

It's actually done to rip you off. Just like service stations rely on the fact that people travelling on motorways etc need their services and often will just pay their extortionate prices because there's no other options, cinemas rely on the fact that people really like to eat and drink when watching a film there and by prohibiting food coming in, they can safely overcharge, knowing that people will not be able to resist buying it and that's the sad truth of unsympathetic capitalism.

you are aware that its a businesses aim to make profit right? Its not evil of them to try and do so. If you feel these things are such a rip of just don't buy them. If you think the cinimas are so bad just don't go. They can continue to do this however because the majority of people are willing to, if that wasn't the case they couldn't/wouldn't do it so I hardly see a problem. Its not their responsibility to bring you cheap films and great happiness. Its their responsibility to make their shareholders happy.

Reply 26

Cll_ws

19

Getting your own food into the cinema isn't exactly hard, you could walk in holding a plastic bag full of snacks and they'd rarely check it. You've just been shopping, who's to say you're going to eat it :rolleyes:

But yeah, the prices are pretty high. Although to be fair to them they make virtually nothing on the movie tickets they sell, so they have to get the money from somewhere I guess. I certainly wouldn't object to a price decrease though!

Reply 27

boba

Original post by mikeyd85

Vue cinemas allow you to take whatever you like in, so long as it's not alcohol or hot food.

Original post by 90pies an hour

Never been to a cinema that hasn't let me bring my own scran and booze in.

I always find it strange that most cinimas apparently bad booze, my local cinima has a whole floor dedicated to being a bar. And its a chain not a little independent one so I used to assume it was normal.

Reply 28

Dez

20

So energy prices are through the roof, railway tickets are getting price rises several times above inflation, but Mr Galloway reckons the best way to fight for consumer fairness is… popcorn prices? Why not just lower VAT on them if it's really that big a concern?

Reply 29

username234673

17

TBF on cinemas, food and drink is the only thing they make money on these days. If GG wants a trip to the flicks to be cheaper, he should lobby Hollywood to reduce the cost of having said films.

Reply 30

theonefrombrum

15

Original post by boba

you are aware that its a businesses aim to make profit right? Its not evil of them to try and do so. If you feel these things are such a rip of just don't buy them. If you think the cinimas are so bad just don't go. They can continue to do this however because the majority of people are willing to, if that wasn't the case they couldn't/wouldn't do it so I hardly see a problem. Its not their responsibility to bring you cheap films and great happiness. Its their responsibility to make their shareholders happy.

Yeah I am aware of that, thank whoever it was who turned you into a condescending person, that would be great. I know that businesses need to make profit but that's just it, they need to make in revenue more than they expend each year and that's their profit and that's what sustains them. What they don't need to do is capitalise on the needs of people and their imposed limited alternatives by charging crazy prices but they choose to anyway because they wAnt to make more profit. It's like saying that we shoudnt EVER criticise the price of something because 'businesses need to make a profit'. No, what they need to do from a customer centric point of view is appease the concerns of near enough every cinema goer by not pricing at ridiculous levels and if they choose to, then at least give people the opportunity to counter this by bringing in their own food. You don't get it do you? Businesses prey on the fallacies of consumers and use distorted reasons to justify doing so and you're sitting there defending them? I bet you were at the forefront of Hugo Boss' decisions to price....everything that they sell.

Also, if you had read my previous posts you would see that I mentioned that people don't have to eat there and if they want to change the prices (greed) then they could simply refuse to buy food and drink from the cinemas until they were forced to drop the prices but people are just too lazy and set in their ways to do anything about things that they claim annoys them and their bank account.

Tell me, are you sympathetic towards the plight of service stations who often charge more than double the price for a similar item sold in newsagents and regular shops?

Reply 31

Mr Inquisitive

16

Just do what any sane person does: go to a supermarket before you go to the cinema to buy food.

Reply 32

dgeorge

12

Original post by Ape Gone Insane

It can be ridiculous, yes. But I don't think he appreciates how little cinemas make from ticket sales. They couldn't sustain themselves without advertising and overpriced food and drinks.

You see, people SAY that, but then coming from a place where we get the SAME movies at the SAME time (actually, quite often before) the UK, yet both cinema ticket prices and food are far cheaper (and goods are, on a whole, more expensive than the UK) it really does make me wonder if this is true

Reply 33

boba

Original post by theonefrombrum

Yeah I am aware of that, thank whoever it was who turned you into a condescending person, that would be great. I know that businesses need to make profit but that's just it, they need to make in revenue more than they expend each year and that's their profit and that's what sustains them. What they don't need to do is capitalise on the needs of people and their imposed limited alternatives by charging crazy prices but they choose to anyway because they wAnt to make more profit. It's like saying that we shoudnt EVER criticise the price of something because 'businesses need to make a profit'. No, what they need to do from a customer centric point of view is appease the concerns of near enough every cinema goer by not pricing at ridiculous levels and if they choose to, then at least give people the opportunity to counter this by bringing in their own food. You don't get it do you? Businesses prey on the fallacies of consumers and use distorted reasons to justify doing so and you're sitting there defending them? I bet you were at the forefront of Hugo Boss' decisions to price....everything that they sell.

Also, if you had read my previous posts you would see that I mentioned that people don't have to eat there and if they want to change the prices (greed) then they could simply refuse to buy food and drink from the cinemas until they were forced to drop the prices but people are just too lazy and set in their ways to do anything about things that they claim annoys them and their bank account.

Tell me, are you sympathetic towards the plight of service stations who often charge more than double the price for a similar item sold in newsagents and regular shops?

obviously thats not what they need to do, because if they needed to do that what they were doing now wouldn't be working..

I am not "sympathetic" at all I just don't feel the need to act as though businesses shouldn't be trying to make the most profit they can. They aren't charities. Yes they make more than they need to stay open, yes they want to make as much as possible. That is the point in them they are supposed to maximise profit not just make some. And short of doing something really bad like breaching human rights/ health and saftey of their staff/ lying about whats in their products ect There is nothing wrong with them doing things that do that.
So yes its find for motorway service stations to charge more, its a perfectly natural response to having no competition. If people were that bothered by it their laziness would be overridden they would pack their own food and drink and then the prices would go down as there would be low demand. If people don't care enough to not be lazy then there really isn't a problem. So I don't see how your point about how people will still do it even though they don't like it because they are lazy is even a point. If they cared enough they wouldn't be but they don't and would rather pay for the convenience.

Reply 34

democracyforum

4

Original post by cl_steele

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19980523

[video]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19980523[/video]

Never really liked the man but good luck in his crusade, £8 for a carton of popcorn...****ing outrageous :fuhrer:

EDIT: itappears i cant attach the video, go to the link and get it out though :smile:

I have a business idea.

Stand outside a cinema with a professional popcorn stall, selling it at lower prices.

Who likes my idea ? Who wants to invest ?

Reply 35

pol pot noodles

19

Original post by Aspiringlawstudent

Again, why should you be allowed to do that? They're private companies; they're free to set whatever requirements they want to about that, and if you don't want to abide by their rules, you don't have to go to them.

It's no different to having a dress code, or requiring that people don't run about or make a lot of noise.

No, they aren't free to do what they want. They have to abide by consumer law. If we, the people, feel we are being ripped off, we shouldn't simply just take it, we have every right to attempt to remedy that situation.
Dress codes and the like are often reasonable, forcing people to pay greatly marked up food or have none at all is not.

Reply 36

theonefrombrum

15

Original post by boba

obviously thats not what they need to do, because if they needed to do that what they were doing now wouldn't be working..

I am not "sympathetic" at all I just don't feel the need to act as though businesses shouldn't be trying to make the most profit they can. They aren't charities. Yes they make more than they need to stay open, yes they want to make as much as possible. That is the point in them they are supposed to maximise profit not just make some. And short of doing something really bad like breaching human rights/ health and saftey of their staff/ lying about whats in their products ect There is nothing wrong with them doing things that do that.
So yes its find for motorway service stations to charge more, its a perfectly natural response to having no competition. If people were that bothered by it their laziness would be overridden they would pack their own food and drink and then the prices would go down as there would be low demand. If people don't care enough to not be lazy then there really isn't a problem. So I don't see how your point about how people will still do it even though they don't like it because they are lazy is even a point. If they cared enough they wouldn't be but they don't and would rather pay for the convenience.

So should shopkeepers jointly decide to raise the prices of everything that they sell just because their goal is to make as much profit as possible? Have you ever heard of the concept of fair pricing? I bet your tune would change if petrol stations started to charge triple the prices for petrol and diesel that they do now, all in the name of maximising their profit potential. But they don't and do you know why? It's because they know that doing so would have an adverse impact on drivers and their often tight budgets and its just not a moral thing to so. 'Oh, I'll make you closer to broke so I CAN fulfil an apparent business imperative and make as much profit as I can'. That's basiCAlly the unspoken thoughts of cinema chain executives and an acceptance of it demonstrates that you put money before everything else, or the acquisition of it, and its not right.

It is a problem that people are opposed to but they don't do anything about it for various reasons. Firstly they'll be thinking that they'll be on the only ones not buying the food and drink and they'll feel that their efforts will be futile. Secondly, they are so set in their ways that to break them is extremely hard and without a known big effort from other cinema goers, it will seem pointless. Using your logic you could say that health issues and crime aren't a problem because people don't eat better or exercise more or set up good security systems etc but they are, it's just that people are afraid of failure and of making an effort so they often don't.

Reply 37

Naami

19

Original post by OU Student

I just sneek some in my bag and have never been checked. The prices are ridiculous. One drink in the cinema costs £1.85. The same drink costs £1.19 in the local Spar.