How do you pay for concert tickets?

[jean]

Yesterday I heard an excellent concert by the Manchester Collective. I bought my ticket online, but I recommended the concert to someone and was concerned to find out afterwards that he'd turned up and wanted to pay cash, and they had no facilities for cope with this, though they could have managed a card. They did say they'd make a special exception for him, but he went home in protest.

It was a great shame, because the audience was not large.

They explained to me afterwards:

It was a really unfortunate situation. As we are such a small organisation, and we sell about 90% of all of our tickets online leading up to the concerts, we are simply not set up for cash payments at this point (no till, no change, etc.)...

I've also noticed that for free concerts too, you often now have to register online (usually with Eventbrite). The Liverpool University free lunchtime concerts won't let you in if you don't.

Is this the way things are going?

[oddoneout]

Not so long ago it would have been the card payment that caused the problem.
And in answer to your question, yes I think it is.

[pastoralguy]

When booking for this years Edinburgh Festival, I noticed that a 'service charge' has been introduced so whether your booking for one concert or all of them, you get caught with this 'tax'. I appreciate that this has been the norm for pop concerts and shows for some time but it's a shame its infiltrating classical music too.

[CallMePaul]

Not so long ago it would have been the card payment that caused the problem.

Some venues (eg Bridgewater Hall in Manchester) appear to be making a profit on card transactions, charging 2% of the total ticket cost. This is considerably more than banks charge for processing debit card transcations and probably more than for credit cards. Not everyone likes carrying large amounts of cash and venues should be aware of this. Online and phone bookings are more expensive - most Manchester area venues use Quay Tickets, a commercial company, to process these, thereby incurring extra charges.

[jean]

But in those cases you can avoid the fee by paying cash (which disadvantages those who live at a distance, of course).

In the example I gave, that was just what you couldn't do!

[teamsaint]

But in those cases you can avoid the fee by paying cash (which disadvantages those who live at a distance, of course).

In the example I gave, that was just what you couldn't do!

My own preference is for all inclusive pricing. Card merchants and online systems do have to be paid for, but I can't really see why costs can't just be spread across all tickets. IIRC Anvil Basingstoke and Poole Lighthouse do this.
Odd that, for instance at the SBC, and Barbican there is no charge to buy in person,which must be the most costly form of transaction for the centre.
I guess they'll try to bring in automated ticket machines one day......

Some of the London colleges also ask you to register and collect your free ticket, Royal Academy do, I'm sure.

[Padraig]

Thank God we're still unsophisticated enough in our most distressful country to still pursue the pimitive custom of 'paying at the door'.

[P. G. Tipps]

Yesterday I heard an excellent concert by the Manchester Collective. I bought my ticket online, but I recommended the concert to someone and was concerned to find out afterwards that he'd turned up and wanted to pay cash, and they had no facilities for cope with this, though they could have managed a card. They did say they'd make a special exception for him, but he went home in protest.

It was a great shame, because the audience was not large.

They explained to me afterwards:



I've also noticed that for free concerts too, you often now have to register online (usually with Eventbrite). The Liverpool University free lunchtime concerts won't let you in if you don't.

Is this the way things are going?

Yes, the cheque has now virtually gone the same way as the quill pen and cash is fast doing the same?

We are in an age of a fast-changing technological revolution and it is heartening to know that even 'Collectives' have learned to move with the times.

The only place I normally use cash is in my local pub once a week with friends and even there an increasing number of customers are now producing debit/credit cards.

Anyone involved in a business knows handling cash means extra security problems like depositing receipts in bank-walls at night, employee theft, etc etc. Best avoided if at all possible.

Also looks like your friend missed a really good concert!

[teamsaint]

Yes, the cheque has now virtually gone the same way as the quill pen and cash is fast doing the same?

We are in an age of a fast-changing technological revolution and it is heartening to know that even 'Collectives' have learned to move with the times.

The only place I normally use cash is in my local pub once a week with friends and even there an increasing number of customers are now producing debit/credit cards.

Anyone involved in a business knows handling cash means extra security problems like depositing receipts in bank-walls at night, employee theft, etc etc. Best avoided if at all possible.

Also looks like your friend missed a really good concert!

Cash is a very long from being obsolete, as the statistics show, thankfully. Germany has the highest use of cash in the large economies, so despite pressure from the banks and governments, we can look forward to using cash for a long time yet.
And cheques are still not obsolete,as ( ask your local piano teacher) alternatives are stil not necessarily easy or available.

[P. G. Tipps]

Cash is a very long from being obsolete, as the statistics show, thankfully. Germany has the highest use of cash in the large economies, so despite pressure from the banks and governments, we can look forward to using cash for a long time yet.
And cheques are still not obsolete,as ( ask your local piano teacher) alternatives are stil not necessarily easy or available.

You could be right, ts, but the world will be a quite different place in ten years' time if only judged by the last ten. Cash is just another form of credit, and a relatively cumbersome one at that, so it will do well to survive to any great extent.

As for alternatives to cheques a Bank Transfer is much simpler and more efficient and recipient-friendly. Only last Sunday morning a sibling in Scotland requested receipt of my share of the cost towards a wedding gift. I already had her bank details so simply sent her bank the money online and then emailed her to advise accordingly.

Five minutes later she emailed me back with grateful thanks and to gleefully report that the money was already deposited in her account ... and all done from the comfort of the Tipps' armchair. No envelope and stamp required, no trip to the post-box, no time-wasting queuing at a bank to deposit a cheque and no waiting at least three days for it to be cleared by the bank.

At the obvious risk of this ending up on the 'teeth on edge' thread surely a veritable 'no-brainer'? So let's, for once, hear it for modern technology and the cashless society, I say!

[Pulcinella]

As well as transaction fees, venues need to get rid of costly box office phone numbers and smarten up their web sites.

I wanted to book for a couple of the forthcoming Opera North short operas as a double bill.
It was not at all obvious how to keep the same seat for both if booking online.
I also had some vouchers to use.

Luckily I am in possession of a free bus pass, and I also had time to spare, so I had a quick trip on the York to Leeds ZAP bus, went to the theatre, and did the business there in person.

[oddoneout]

Some venues (eg Bridgewater Hall in Manchester) appear to be making a profit on card transactions, charging 2% of the total ticket cost. This is considerably more than banks charge for processing debit card transcations and probably more than for credit cards. Not everyone likes carrying large amounts of cash and venues should be aware of this. Online and phone bookings are more expensive - most Manchester area venues use Quay Tickets, a commercial company, to process these, thereby incurring extra charges.

Businesses are charged for both the transactions and the use of the equipment, the main reason for the minimum value often seen at tills for card use. However there is little doubt in my mind that some businesses do regard this as another money making stream.Given the level of automation in online transactions, and that any staff employed are going to be at the bottom of the pay scale, 'administrative costs' as an excuse sounds a bit hollow. Some years ago I remember being disgusted(but not really surprised) to find out the turnover of BTs little company that handles non-DD payments, which they always claimed only covered costs of the alternative forms of payment and was not a profit-making exercise.

[jean]

What I'm really interested in is how people feel about not having the option of paying cash at all.

The person who wouldn't go to the concert I mentioned in my OP writes:

Cash is the only universal payment method; the only one available to everyone. Even someone who has no money can go to a friend or neighbour and borrow a few bob to go to the concert when trying to pay by card would have the effect only of reminding them, and telling everybody else, that they haven't got any money. Until we get the socialist dream of abolishing money itself, cash is the most democratic means of exchange and worth sticking up for. I don’t think that meekly complying when told they don’t take cash is something to be done lightly.

...The notion that the banks, in collusion with the state, are in the process of taking control of every detail of our lives is not fanciful but deadly serious. Remember Jack Straw seriously floated the idea of introducing national identity cards in collusion with the banks. Tfl would, if it could get away with it, phase out the Oyster card and make contactless debit cards the only way of making single bus and tube journeys in the capital. It's something that must be resisted when we can resist it. Count on it; if this trend continues we will sleepwalk into a situation where not only will the banks have complete control of our spending but we'll be getting told we chose it even though the choice is one that would be very familiar to Hobson.

I would like to know how much support there is for this veiw, because if many people feel like this, the Manchester Collective really needs to be persuaded to revise their procedures if they are going to build an audience in Liverpool (though even with things as they are, they did sell out in Sheffield!)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I particularly resent having to use a corrupt agency who slap a surcharge on the ticket, even though there is no alternative but to use the aforementioned corrupt agency.

[jean]

What about Eventbrite? They're everywhere now.

And doesn't anyone have any views about not being allowed to pay cash?