For the most part I don’t sneak anything in because I’m just not very stealthy and couldn’t pull it off, but sometimes I bring some cough drops or hard candy or something like that in my pockets.
I really don’t buy snacks much (for movies, I mean), but I gotta have a drink.
What you fail to address is that food sneakers wouldn’t necessarily buy food from the theatre if they didn’t sneak it. When theaters start offering some healthy choices, then maybe I’ll leave my raw almonds and pita chips at home. If I couldn’t bring them, I just wouldn’t buy anything. I do occasionally buy a small popcorn because the smell gets to me, and am usually disappointed.
How do you know theaters don’t already project for food sneakers? They know it happens.
I’ve already addressed this at least twice. Look at my last response (post 100 I believe) and get back to me.
My wife has certain allergies, so we smuggle in food sometimes. Now it turns out we are unethical. I’m just hoping we don’t bankrupt our local AMC cinema. Couldn’t live with myself, if that happens.
20-30% gross profit sounds not bad, right? When you get to the 85% gross profit they make on the concessions, you might get angry. Until you hear that their overall net profit after overhead (employees, insurance, property cost, heating and cooling massive venues, etc.) is 4%. I mean, that’s surely a nice chunk of change at the end of the year, but I can’t get all indignant about a company that has the temerity to earn **four fucking percent profit! **
So, I agree, it is odd. And counter-intuitive and true. It also makes sense. The cinemas keep the ticket prices low so they don’t lose the most price sensitive demographic and earn the bulk of their profit from the least price sensitive demographic. They also lose potential profit from people like me who don’t have much interest in eating or drinking in theaters. They also lose potential profit from people who do want to eat and drink in theaters, but don’t want to pay for the privilege. The difference is, one of us is following the rules of the business we are patronizing, the other is circumventing them.
As I said earlier, it’s an ethical transgression. Ethical deriving from the Greek word “ethos” meaning character. It’s not ethical to circumvent the rules of a business because you don’t agree with them. I don’t claim to be 100% ethical in all of my actions, but I own my transgressions. As Shakes said:
While I’ve generally been in support of Shakes here, I should also add that comparing snack snack smuggling to outright theft is also False Equivalence (and kind of silly). I have another response or two, so I’ll leave it at that for now.
Boy, if theaters are now in the popcorn business, they suck at it. The popcorn is usually okay, but I can’t remember that last time I was impressed with it. They should have ten flavors of gourmet popcorn you can’t get anywhere else.
Exactly. If I bring something, it’s not to avoid “temptation,” it’s to avoid the garbage they sell.
I would settle for genuine fresh-popped, with real butter. The couple places that I’ve been that actually had that, I was more than happy to buy it.
Curiously, it was also cheaper.
Cite?
/hyperbolic 
LOL, I can’t believe I missed this the first time around.
No rules, by its very definition are not “optional”, what you’re thinking of is “requests”.
Even if they were optional, who gets to decide which rules are to be followed and which are not?
The last several Major League Baseball games I’ve been to have allowed me to carry in candy, nuts, chips, Subway sandwiches, and plastic bottled soft drinks.
Which begs me to argue that I have heard this same argument with regard to stadiums- that they make their profit on the overpriced concessions, not admissions. If that is true, how can they allow carry-ins?
I agree that the loss of cinema revenue to smuggled concessions must be built into their strategy. It’s been going on as long as anyone can remember, and management would have to be severely brain damaged not to be aware of it and build in the expectation.
I agree that neither was an example of theft and also just clarified my opinion that movie snack smuggling is not theft, period. I should have made that point earlier as I was supporting most of Shakes arguments other than that one.
bienville already made an argument supporting equivalence between cinemas and bars. Consider carefully the profit motives of bars and cinemas as you read it:
If you believe the articles I linked (The Economist and Wall Street Journal) despite the high prices, hotels do not want to be in the minibar business, and many are getting out in favor of vending machines and on site convenience stores.
The profit center of a hotel is in rooms, on site dining and on site bars. The minibar is at best a break-even proposition and possibly a loss leader. Cinema concessions are the exact opposite. At a cinema, the concession stand is the main profit center. Movie tickets are at best a break even proposition and possibly a loss leader.
There are no rules against bringing your own personal food and beverage into your hotel room. Most hotels will provide delivery menus or recommendations to local bars and restaurants at the front desk. A quick Google search leads me to “No Outside Food or Drink” policies at Regal, AMC and Cinemark, the three largest cinema chains in the US.
That is why comparing hotel room minibars with cinema snack bars is not anywhere close to reality. If you choose to reply again, please read the links I’ve recently posted first so you understand my starting point, and I will do the same for any articles you post.
For the record, I’m fine with capitulating on the “it’s stealing” bit.
Still though, that doesn’t make the act any less unethical.
Consider “popcorn” as a euphemism for all concessions if it makes you feel better, because that’s exactly how it was intended. Also consider the concept of captive audience. If you want to eat and drink in a movie, by agreement with the cinema, you are supposed to only eat and drink the shit they sell there. In most venues, that means they don’t have to produce a product that is impressive. “Doesn’t suck too bad” is usually sufficient.
Despite histrionics like this:
Most people who are physically capable of attending a movie in a cinema have the ability to abstain from eating and drinking for two hours or paying cinema concession prices.
We have a new Micro Brewery/Pub/Theater that is coming soon to our area (Google Flix Brewhouse if you are interested). They serve pub food and beer with your movie. Should I show up with a bag of McDonalds and a six pack of PBR and just tell them that they are too expensive and I just want to enjoy their comfy chairs and wonderful sound and picture?
If you think that is not ok… then where do you draw the line on where it becomes ok just because they aren’t serving food at the same level?
If you do think it is ok… well I don’t quite know what to say.
Ding. Agreed. It’s funny, there’s theatres in my city showing obscure-ish movies to 25% full audiences, selling reasonably-priced popcorn with real butter. They seem to stay afloat, and they actually have to pay an employee to run the booth still.
The multiplex down the street showing blockbusters to packed houses have to charge double the ticket prices and triple the concessions prices just to stay afloat. Po’ widdle multiplexes. Won’t somebody think of their feelings?
Kevin Murphy, in his book A Year at the Movies, describes smuggling in a camp table and a complete Thanksgiving dinner with several other people when he caught a movie Thanksgiving day. They set it up on the front row when the lights went out.
Beats anything I’ve ever done by a mile.
I have a hard and fast rule that no company can charge over a 500% markup. Movie companies violate that rule.
Why should a theater get to make rules and I can’t? What authority do they have that I don’t have? My rule is just as valid as theirs is.
According to who? The theater thinks it’s unethical for me to bring in my own snacks. I think it’s unethical for the theater to charge a 500% mark-up.
Why should I support their unethical behavior?
Sure. And if the contract they offer does not respect your rules, you have every right to not enter into a contract with them. Once you’ve bought your ticket, however, you have entered that contract of your own free will.
You don’t have to. Simply choose to not enter into a contract with them.