BYO Movie Snacks and Drinks-A Do or a Don't?

Cafe Society
121

Are you serious?

What role did you play in having said theater built, getting the licenses and zoning permits etc? And how will it effect your financial portfolio is said theater goes bankrupt?

Sorry dude, a company can charge whatever markup they want. No matter HOW much it offends your sensibilities.

I’m really curious why you feel it’s your god given right to patronize businesses and not follow the established rules?

How would you like it if visitors came to your house and had absolutely zero respect for YOUR rules?

122

Of course they know it happens. That doesn’t mean it’s ethical to participate. This has been the mantra of IP thieves since forever. “If we can’t afford to buy it, we might as well steal it, because we couldn’t afford to buy it anyway.” A Tautology if ever there was one. The software analogy is useful, I think.

“I wouldn’t buy it anyway, so if I get it free, the company hasn’t lost anything. The company hasn’t lost money I wouldn’t have spent, and my enjoyment of the product is irrelevant.” Photoshop CS6 at full license street price is about $800. Many people pirate it because the price is so high that they could never afford it, so they get a bootleg copy and a crack utility to generate a license key.

When Adobe starts to offer a full version of Photoshop at a more reasonable price, they might find more profit at the bottom of that well, but they haven’t made the transition yet, and maybe never will. In the meantime, some will protest by using GIMP, some will protest by bootlegging a copy of Photoshop. That’s the difference between the non-snackers and the snack smugglers.

123

I’m a bit offended by the assumption that people who smuggle food into a theater are just as likely to steal intellectual property, pirate movies/music, don’t tip delivery people and commit all sorts of immoral acts. You forgot to mention, we also eat babies. They’re a bit harder to smuggle in to theaters but yeah, we’re an awful bunch, but we also seem to be the majority.

For the record, I turn off my phone just before the previews start, rarely ever talk during the movie and try to eat quietly and I don’t kick the seat in front of me or fart excessively (at the theater).

My boyfriend is really the brains of the operation. He buys candy and sometimes juice boxes and has me hide them in my purse. Sometimes I don’t even partake of my illicit Reese’s pieces, not out of guilt, but usually because I had some sugary pastry for breakfast and can’t stand to eat anything else sweet.

I’m pretty sure this theater expects and doesn’t care that people bring in snacks. There’s a Target and a Dollar Store nearby and when I am at those stores I am always seeing people there just buying candy or snacks. You never want to go to the Target on a Friday just before 7pm because it’s packed with teenagers buying snacks to take to the movies. The theaters don’t even seem to police anymore as I have seen people walk in with obvious drinks they did not buy there (there’s also a Starbucks nearby).

I did buy some pretzel bites a while back because I was really craving them but they were disappointing. We do occasionally buy the popcorn or a soda. We have rewards cards and when one of us earns a soda or popcorn we will buy a popcorn or soda to go with it. But even if we didn’t bring candy we would never buy the movie candy, we would just go without. We have also spent plenty of money in the claw machines and some other games in the arcade.

I have to agree with those that feel the whole business of overpricing all the snacks is just a bad business model. If they priced them with a smaller markup and had some healthy options I bet more people would actually buy them at the theater.

124

Absolutely none. They owe me nothing and I owe them nothing. We’re equals.

And that’s the key point. We’re equals. I don’t concede that a business has any moral authority over me. And they obviously don’t concede me having any moral authority over them. That’s fine by me. I’m not asking for any favors. I’ll look after my self-interest and they’ll look after their self-interest.

I’ll obey the law because that’s a moral issue. But rules? Anyone can make up rules. I’ll follow the ones I choose to follow. But I have no moral obligation to follow somebody else’s rules.

125

No, one of the terms of the contract was that I’m allowed to bring in my own food. I put it in there. It’s not my fault the theater failed to ask what terms I was inserting into our mutual agreement.

Why should the theater be the only one who gets to negotiate the terms of the implied contract between us? I never agree to simply accept their terms.

126

I once saw (and heard) someone eating soup during a movie. The slurping sounds were quite distracting. I have no idea how this person got the soup into the theater, but I presume that a thermos was involved. This was a long, long time ago (the movie was Patton and the theater is long gone).

Do drive-in theaters count? You see people bringing huge coolers of picnic food into those places. I’ve even seen drive-ins that provided grills (you had to bring your own charcoal, though).

127

I’ll bet you make an awesome house guest.

128

I don’t get the problem with this. In the last few years, many theater chains absolutely allow food in the theater. I’ve walked into Arclight and Cinemark theaters here in CA also back on the east coast with my own food about half of the time I see a film (about 20-25 a year). I used to work for an AMC theater in the '80s, and they allow outside food now.

Not that ALL the theaters in a chain will allow it. Some do, and some post that online, due to special dietary needs. Theaters don’t want to alienate special needs customers OR enforce their teenage staff to act like food Nazis and piss off the regular folks. I’ve grabbed a bottle of Cactus Cooler or even Gatorade to drink from my fridge and waltzed in with it right in my hand at many theaters. The theater doesn’t sell it. Nor do they sell Nizza Chocolate and Licorice bars from Europe, but I can grab some at Rocket Fizz up the street from the theater. Some theaters only have one chocolate item or things you just don’t like. So what is wrong with honoring the customer’s tastes? If I want a huge bag of Twizzlers, 'cause they only sell the awful, awful excuse for licorice called Red Vines, I’m bringing the one-pound bag and maybe suggesting they sell my brand.

Now on the other hand, Lammelle theaters will allow outside food too, but they have great hot dogs and even sandwiches. If I’m going there, I’ll be purchasing their food proudly. And if I ever want popcorn, what better place than a movie theater? Of course I’ll buy that-- if I’m in the mood.

Let’s look at some other ways the theaters bring it in these days. Arclight sells tickets for $15, but you pay an extra dollar for buying it online. If you want to avoid that, you’ll buy it at the theater or BUY a membership card at about $40 for a year. So 12 showings a day for the new Batman movie and and extra ticket buck from half the patrons, that’ll surely make up for the food I didn’t buy among many others who bring their own.

When I worked concessions at the AMC, I was told yes, the food markup is HUGE, but more than half comes from the popcorn and soda. A super size Coke was 96% markup. So since these are the two big cash cows, I don’t feel bad when I choose to bring my own snack. I’m probably getting at least a soda, and they get, like, $4.37 from a $4.50 soda sold, multiply that by 200 sodas per sold-out blockbuster at twelve shows a day— with all that, I think you’re being ridiculous if you feel it’s stealing, ill-willed, or just rude. The theaters are doing very well. And they will continue.

129

You’d win that bet. I’m definitely an awesome house guest. I’m polite and considerate and respectful towards the people whose home I visiting.

Because I choose to be that way. I don’t subscribe to the notion that man’s home is his castle and all who dwell within are his vassals.

You need to start asking yourself some basic questions when people tell you you have to do something.

  1. Does this person have any moral authority over me as an individual?
  2. Do I owe this person my obedience?
  3. Did I consent to let this person have authority over me?
  4. Does what this person is telling me to do in accord with my own ethics?
  5. Whose interests does this rule serve? Mine? The people around me? Or the person telling me the rule?
  6. Is there any reason why this person’s interests are more important than my interests?
  7. Do I agree that what this person is telling me is right?
  8. Do I agree that what this person is telling me makes sense?
  9. Is it in my interest to do what this person is telling me?
  10. If I told this person they had to do something, would they do what I said?

Start asking these questions to yourself when people around you tell you you have to do something. What you’ll find is that quite often you don’t have to do what they’re saying you do.

And if you don’t want to go through the whole list, it all boils down to one question: Why should I do what this person is telling me to do?

This isn’t an excuse to go through life being an asshole. There’s usually a good reason why you should do what somebody is telling you to do. If nothing else, it’s generally more polite and courtesy is important. But you should still be asking and not just assuming you have to do whatever you’re told.

130

No you’re making it way too complicated. The only thing you need to know is the phrase you probably first heard when you were a teenager:

“My house, my rules. If you don’t like it, you can leave.”

Anything beyond that is just narcissistic bull shit rationalizations for your self entitlement.

Tell me something, if you really believe these theater chains are out of line, what’s so wrong with waiting for the movie to to come out on online streaming or something of that nature?

Is it because you feel you shouldn’t have to wait?

Yeah, that’s called self entitlement.

131

are the theaters actually saying this? They certainly have the right to enforce the terms of the contract, or refuse to do business with food sneaks, but they don’t.

So, some people fail to live up to the terms of the sales contract. If the theater doesn’t like it, the contract has provisions to deal with it.

132

My wife and I smuggled a six pack of beer into a rare big screening of Lawrence of Arabia one time.

Hey, it’s a long, dry movie.

133

Well, I feel grateful for those folks.

Trying on clothes, those dressing room mirrors make me feel dreadfully out of shape. Out in the real world, surrounded by folks who obviously can’t go two hours without stuffing food down their throats, I feel much better about myself…

134

You have at least begun to address the concept of contract, after ignoring it for much of the thread. Of course, you have now demonstrated that you don’t understand how it works. That’s progress, of a sort, i guess.

135

I think this is key to the whole discussion. I’d be interested to know exactly what percentage of theaters have a clear and unambiguous rule, displayed somewhere for customers to see, that outside food is prohibited.

136

Yes, you do. In all my years working with contracts, I have never heard “well, my terms were in my head and it’s not my fault they didn’t ask me about them” as a defense, and I guarantee if it were, you’d be laughed at by all involved. You bought the ticket. Their house.

This was my expectation when starting the thread. :slight_smile: I thought I’d hear about soup and bloody marys, and six foot sub shared with the whole audience. I was not planning to read about ethical obligations (we get enough of that at work).

Drive-ins who have policies allowing carry in food do not count here, just those which post rules disallowing it.

137

Is Little Nemo provided with a complete contract specifying each term and condition prior to the theater taking his money? If not, then at least some of the terms are “in the theater’s head”, or if you prefer, implied rather than specified. Generally, I think the term winds up being that you agree to follow their rules, and if you don’t they reserve the right to kick you out.

138

Of course I talk on my phone at the movies. I also murder people because rules don’t apply to me.

Cite that buying a ticket, entering into a contract, covers food and drink and not just watching the movie.

139

Look, I just expect hot, salty and butter. My last theater had good popcorn, and yes, I ate too much (they had free re-fills on the Large- sigh). But Regal? Blech, nasty, stale, flavorless. And they make you add your own “butter-like substance” which is the nastiest stuff I have seen in a while. I loves me some good popcorn- too bad they dont serve any.

I also enjoy a fountain diet cola- Pepsi is best but Diet Coke is Ok; but only if i am seeing a daytime film. At nite, I cant have that much caffeine. I’d happily buy and drink a caffeine-free diet beverage- but even after a email and a letter (which went unanswered) they continue with 4 sugared and 2 diet & caffeine.

Trust me, when I used to go the the Camera, and it was a daytime show, I’d gorge myself on a large diet Pepsi and large buttered popcorn (butter in two layers please!) and a pack of Junior mints.

But I cant buy what they wont sell me.

140

And better for you than that chemical laden crap.