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The £3 Booking Tax


dune

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Does anyone know if the fee applies if you send in a postal application with a cheque and stamped envelope? Very old fashioned, but could be a way round it!

 

They won't accept a SAE - you can be sure of that!

 

Cost of an evelope = 10p, Cost of a stamp = 39p, so the ticket tax is £2.50 for a member of staff to put a ticket in an envelope. I wish I could earn £2.50 for piece work like that!

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So, all those hoolier than thou fans are actually not so brillaint after all

 

Oh dear, I've just bought 2 season tickets, normally buy just the one but I do bring extra people down for games which generates more money for the club, however I can't see many of them wanting to pay a rip off fee for online sales

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They won't accept a SAE - you can be sure of that!

 

Cost of an evelope = 10p, Cost of a stamp = 39p, so the ticket tax is £2.50 for a member of staff to put a ticket in an envelope. I wish I could earn £2.50 for piece work like that!

 

You are forgetting the cost of paying for the staff to take your phone call, or respond to your email. As mentioned on the other thread, £3 equates to under 15 minutes (wage + office expenses) for a person on £15k pa.

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You are forgetting the cost of paying for the staff to take your phone call, or respond to your email. As mentioned on the other thread, £3 equates to under 15 minutes (wage + office expenses) for a person on £15k pa.

...and it IS NOT per ticket. Buy more than one ticket and the £3.00p is spread.

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...and it IS NOT per ticket. Buy more than one ticket and the £3.00p is spread.

 

Exactly...

 

I find it crazy how it only takes a single rogue poster to start 3 or 4 threads and keep them going by repeating embarrassing drivel. I'm starting to think he is a Skate on a mission to give us a bad reputation.

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You are forgetting the cost of paying for the staff to take your phone call, or respond to your email. As mentioned on the other thread, £3 equates to under 15 minutes (wage + office expenses) for a person on £15k pa.

In which case, why isn't it applied to tickets sold at the ticket office window as well? Presumably they're not unpaid volunteers, after all...

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In which case, why isn't it applied to tickets sold at the ticket office window as well? Presumably they're not unpaid volunteers, after all...

 

Good point, perhaps it should be. Wonder which method takes more time to process? Ticket office window only seems to take a few minutes... but then I guess I'm not stood there being indecisive about which seat to take like some would.

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Good point, perhaps it should be. Wonder which method takes more time to process? Ticket office window only seems to take a few minutes... but then I guess I'm not stood there being indecisive about which seat to take like some would.

Online is almost certainly the quickest. You only get a choice of block and "level" rather than any individual row or seat (although personally I think you should be able to select a block and view a grid of all the available seats in that block and select an individual seat), and once it gets to the staff actually processing it, the card payment's already been done automatically so all that's needed is to print the ticket and put it in an envelope. One or two minutes per transaction at the very most.

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Online is almost certainly the quickest. You only get a choice of block and "level" rather than any individual row or seat (although personally I think you should be able to select a block and view a grid of all the available seats in that block and select an individual seat), and once it gets to the staff actually processing it, the card payment's already been done automatically so all that's needed is to print the ticket and put it in an envelope. One or two minutes per transaction at the very most.

 

You make a very good point.

 

Wonder if there is some other cost difference - e.g. cost of phone lines, cost of purchasing online ordering system etc that might explain the fee.

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You make a very good point.

 

Wonder if there is some other cost difference - e.g. cost of phone lines, cost of purchasing online ordering system etc that might explain the fee.

The main implementation cost of the online booking system was absorbed years ago, I think it cost upwards of £500k initially to set up with AudienceView, although I assume there is an ongoing licence and support contract with them which obviously has to be paid for.

 

The phone lines only cost significant money on the rare occasions it's particularly busy, when they then use an external call centre in Dunstable, which obviously comes at a cost. At all other times, it's whatever the cost of running an 0800 number - no idea whether that's a fixed monthly/annual fee or on a pence-per-minute-per-call basis.

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Assuming we sell 10,000 STs (I can't see how, but we might). Minus the segregation and away fans, on average about 2000 seats. That leaves around 20,000 seats per match, or 23x20000= 460,000 seat sales per season.

 

If costs are either £2 or £3 per booking and that most bookings aren't multiple tickets, that's about a million quid they're making from these charges.

 

Even if there are 15,000 STs and 3,000 away fans at each home match(!) leaving 14,000 x 23 = 322,000

and one £2 booking fee for every 5 tickets bought, that's still over £125,000 in booking fees alone.

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Assuming we sell 10,000 STs (I can't see how, but we might). Minus the segregation and away fans, on average about 2000 seats. That leaves around 20,000 seats per match, or 23x20000= 460,000 seat sales per season.

 

If costs are either £2 or £3 per booking and that most bookings aren't multiple tickets, that's about a million quid they're making from these charges.

 

Even if there are 15,000 STs and 3,000 away fans at each home match(!) leaving 14,000 x 23 = 322,000

and one £2 booking fee for every 5 tickets bought, that's still over £125,000 in booking fees alone.

 

I did the same maths yesterday and got roughly the same result; + 1 million.

 

Additionally i think it is fair to assume it will be more expensive to buy a single ticket game than a season ticket divided by the number of home games and that could add another 1 - 2 million.

 

Although it is a mind shift, the reality is, with cash flow not being an issue the Club are better off with fewer season tickets.

 

They know roughly how big the core support is, they know roughly how big the "occassional" fan base is and they know roughly how big the "glory hunter" (Winning streaks and promotion chasing) and the reality is that having them buy for each game, is worth more to the club.

 

I'm disapointed because they have gone back on the Charter (Don't beleive a word of it being just for a year - Listen to Cortesses comments when he delivered it) but this is a big big year for Saints and commercially they will milk it for all its worth and if we all want the same thing (Promotion) then may be it's something we have to swallow.

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I did the same maths yesterday and got roughly the same result; + 1 million.

 

Additionally i think it is fair to assume it will be more expensive to buy a single ticket game than a season ticket divided by the number of home games and that could add another 1 - 2 million.

 

Although it is a mind shift, the reality is, with cash flow not being an issue the Club are better off with fewer season tickets.

 

They know roughly how big the core support is, they know roughly how big the "occassional" fan base is and they know roughly how big the "glory hunter" (Winning streaks and promotion chasing) and the reality is that having them buy for each game, is worth more to the club.

 

I'm disapointed because they have gone back on the Charter (Don't beleive a word of it being just for a year - Listen to Cortesses comments when he delivered it) but this is a big big year for Saints and commercially they will milk it for all its worth and if we all want the same thing (Promotion) then may be it's something we have to swallow.

 

I'd probably be swallowing it if I had £300 floating around, but as it is, as I don't have it, and I won't be paying a £10 premium per match compared to the ST cost which I think is reasonable for div 3 footy, so I won't be going.

 

If I'm not going, there's not much point in me buying any kit, which I've bought the whole caboodle of in every season since we came to St Mary's. So that's another £150 I've saved.

 

I'll give Cortese one thing, he's got me re-evaluating what's important in life.

 

Also just noted that this assumes sell-outs for every match... cough.

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Assuming we sell 10,000 STs (I can't see how, but we might). Minus the segregation and away fans, on average about 2000 seats. That leaves around 20,000 seats per match, or 23x20000= 460,000 seat sales per season.

 

If costs are either £2 or £3 per booking and that most bookings aren't multiple tickets, that's about a million quid they're making from these charges.

 

Even if there are 15,000 STs and 3,000 away fans at each home match(!) leaving 14,000 x 23 = 322,000

and one £2 booking fee for every 5 tickets bought, that's still over £125,000 in booking fees alone.

 

 

And that £125,000 could well be spent on an extra player's salery ... the player who goes on to win us promotion. A bit of extra dosh for the club is fine by me.

 

Haven't all you moaners got something better to do with your time??? The World Cup starts next week. I am sure that will give you enough moaning ammunition until the pre season friendlies start. Between now and the start of the World Cup you could spend some valuable time watching grass grow..... mind you it would probably grow in a wrong direction or in the wrong colour for you lot!!

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You are forgetting the cost of paying for the staff to take your phone call, or respond to your email. As mentioned on the other thread, £3 equates to under 15 minutes (wage + office expenses) for a person on £15k pa.

The price of the ticket should be to cover the costs involved and a profit element. Booking fees are a rip off and always have been whether for theatre tickets or football tickets

 

I feel a point of principal coming on and that invariably means I will be 'cutting off my nose to spite my face' and seeing less of Saints this coming season but I really begrudge being taken advantage of because I am a helpless fan.

 

Living out of area I will be restricting my ticket buying to the odd occasion I am in the area and the ticket office is open.

 

Still on a brighter note my local club Crawley Town will benefit from seeing more of me!!

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And that £125,000 could well be spent on an extra player's salery ... the player who goes on to win us promotion. A bit of extra dosh for the club is fine by me.

 

Fine, if you're that concerned, why don't you give your house to the club as a gift, a bit more cash and they might be able to buy Wotton an ivory back-scratcher or something.

 

You have no control over how it is spent anyway - how about all the purchases the non-renewers now won't be making, you can knock that off the "profit" immediately ?

 

Sell a few crappy squad players and get them off the bloated squad's wage bill, they'll make that amount back in a couple of months. Why penalise the fans ?

 

I don't think criticising the fact that I am now unable to purchase a ticket to see Saints THAT I VERY MUCH WANTED TO BUY is unreasonable.

 

No notice of the change = Bad decision for the fans, maybe not for the club

No payment plan = Bad decision for the fans, maybe not for the club

Additional charges = Bad decision for the fans, maybe not for the club

Consequences = fans peed off, and fans not attending. Bad for the fans, bad for the club unless they can get a significant walk-up.

 

If the club doesn't want me to be able to buy their tickets, then I'm not going to put myself out for them either. They can hope we're going to have loads of people on a walk-up basis, but so far that non-renewal figure is running at around 30% on here - and they're going to be completely dependent on the team winning all the time and people going match-by-match to make up that shortfall. It's a gamble from a financial perspective, and an absolute disgrace in terms of exploiting their club loyalty from the perspective of people who want to buy STs but can't.

 

And the one thing I WON'T be doing... is stopping moaning about it.

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Good point, perhaps it should be. Wonder which method takes more time to process? Ticket office window only seems to take a few minutes... but then I guess I'm not stood there being indecisive about which seat to take like some would.

 

and online purchase?

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Fine, if you're that concerned, why don't you give your house to the club as a gift, a bit more cash and they might be able to buy Wotton an ivory back-scratcher or something.

 

You have no control over how it is spent anyway - how about all the purchases the non-renewers now won't be making, you can knock that off the "profit" immediately ?

 

Sell a few crappy squad players and get them off the bloated squad's wage bill, they'll make that amount back in a couple of months. Why penalise the fans ?

 

I don't think criticising the fact that I am now unable to purchase a ticket to see Saints THAT I VERY MUCH WANTED TO BUY is unreasonable.

 

No notice of the change = Bad decision for the fans, maybe not for the club

No payment plan = Bad decision for the fans, maybe not for the club

Additional charges = Bad decision for the fans, maybe not for the club

Consequences = fans peed off, and fans not attending. Bad for the fans, bad for the club unless they can get a significant walk-up.

 

If the club doesn't want me to be able to buy their tickets, then I'm not going to put myself out for them either. They can hope we're going to have loads of people on a walk-up basis, but so far that non-renewal figure is running at around 30% on here - and they're going to be completely dependent on the team winning all the time and people going match-by-match to make up that shortfall. It's a gamble from a financial perspective, and an absolute disgrace in terms of exploiting their club loyalty from the perspective of people who want to buy STs but can't.

 

And the one thing I WON'T be doing... is stopping moaning about it.

 

 

 

Ok... but please moan quietly somewhere else!!

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And that £125,000 could well be spent on an extra player's salery ... the player who goes on to win us promotion. A bit of extra dosh for the club is fine by me.

 

 

a shirt sponsor would have acheived exactly the same, but NC thinks that fans will be impressed by that and forget the fact that they are actually funding it.

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What i can't understand is apart from the cost of the postage and envelope, how can they justify £3. Isn't the idea behind the ticket office, is to have people employed to sell tickets. We are being treated as an inconvenience, and must pay for the privelage of disturbing them doing their job, Which is selling tickets, or perhaps i have it all wrong?

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What i can't understand is apart from the cost of the postage and envelope, how can they justify £3. Isn't the idea behind the ticket office, is to have people employed to sell tickets. We are being treated as an inconvenience, and must pay for the privelage of disturbing them doing their job, Which is selling tickets, or perhaps i have it all wrong?

Hae you tried buying theatre or concert tickets lately?? I bought two tickets for Cineworld the other day and had to pay a booking fee even though I booked on line. It`s the modern world I am afraid.

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Hae you tried buying theatre or concert tickets lately?? I bought two tickets for Cineworld the other day and had to pay a booking fee even though I booked on line. It`s the modern world I am afraid.

 

It is a massive difference though and that being when buying concert and Theatre tickets you are usually using an external agent such as 'Ticketmaster' or 'see' who distribute tickets on behalf of the performers and artists.

 

Southampton FC tickets are sold by Southampton FC and as such no booking fee should be in place. As said above it is like selling tickets is an inconvenience to them. I can understand a small fee on the phones because of the external agents but online is a complete joke. By using this system we are making their life and costs a lot easier so it does not stack up!

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It is a massive difference though and that being when buying concert and Theatre tickets you are usually using an external agent such as 'Ticketmaster' or 'see' who distribute tickets on behalf of the performers and artists.

 

Southampton FC tickets are sold by Southampton FC and as such no booking fee should be in place. As said above it is like selling tickets is an inconvenience to them. I can understand a small fee on the phones because of the external agents but online is a complete joke. By using this system we are making their life and costs a lot easier so it does not stack up!

 

I have been paying a booking fee for a while now...

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It is a massive difference though and that being when buying concert and Theatre tickets you are usually using an external agent such as 'Ticketmaster' or 'see' who distribute tickets on behalf of the performers and artists.

 

Southampton FC tickets are sold by Southampton FC and as such no booking fee should be in place. As said above it is like selling tickets is an inconvenience to them. I can understand a small fee on the phones because of the external agents but online is a complete joke. By using this system we are making their life and costs a lot easier so it does not stack up!

Not true. Look at my cinema example. I even booked tickets for the cinema, printed my own ticket and STILL paid a booking fee! Most theatres now, if done over the phone or online will charge a booking fee PLUS a handling charge in some cases.

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Not true. Look at my cinema example. I even booked tickets for the cinema, printed my own ticket and STILL paid a booking fee! Most theatres now, if done over the phone or online will charge a booking fee PLUS a handling charge in some cases.

 

Yeah your right it is true I always buy my concert and theartre tickets direct from the artists and theartre's! :rolleyes:

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If the club decide to treat us like customers and not supporters, it will backfire.

Most of us buy into the club long term, and week after week, month after month.

When we buy tickets for a concert or whatever, its a one off decision, and the "booking fee" is part of the decision to buy.

 

Football is NOT the same. Clubs rely on us to turn up time after time, rain or shine win or lose. Charging a £3 booking fee, or not bothering to have an installment plan sends out completely the wrong message. It says, "we need your money, and we are prepared to get out of you whatever we can."

 

I always said when lowe started treating us as customers that i would behave as one.

NC has decided to treat us like customers, and we should behave appropriately.

 

THe management might also contemplate the fact that a return to the pot of gold that is the PL is a LONG way off yet, and they might need a a loyal fan base for a while yet, until the corporates and plastics return.

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I can't believe there is a thread this long about a £3 charge... I'm sure you have all cost your workplaces a lot more than £3 drivelling on about this crap.

 

 

So what would be an acceptable charge then? At what level would you complain ?

This charge is a BLATANT attempt to squeeze more money out of a loyal fan base, in a way that does little credit to the club.

 

The charge is well above the industry standard, and may well have been badly thought through in terms of customer loyalty.

 

There IS a recession on , at least it feels that way to lots of us.There IS unused capacity most of the time at SMS. There IS a good way to treat your customers and there IS a bad way.

Sadly, I think this is a small sign of things to come.

 

Remember NC's comments about staff parking? Now the hard hit to push fans into buying ST's, or paying through the nose for any king of convenient system of ticket purchase.There will be more little surprises on the way back up, I'm afraid.

 

I'm sure all supporters are prepared to pay well to have a good team.There has been little complaint about an increase in prices. But that is different from being taken for mugs .

 

People don't complain about lack of installment plans or £3 charges for fun. They complain because they NEED the installment plan, or they object to being ripped off on booking fees.

 

And lots of us do this in our own time, not the company's time.

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I can't believe there is a thread this long about a £3 charge... I'm sure you have all cost your workplaces a lot more than £3 drivelling on about this crap.

 

You do realise the season is 46 games long and times that by 3 equates to a potential charge of £138 per season, feel free to pay others if you think it's drivel :rolleyes:

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To compare football to going to the cinema etc. does not really work. Footballers normaly play better when being cheered on by larger crowds, therefore you want as many fans attending as possible. Sitting down in a cinema does not turn an average performance from an actor, into an oscar winning performance, just because the cinema/theatre is full. Also would you be expected to go to the cinema a few days in advance to get a ticket, because i would be a pit peed if turning up I was told thats £2 more as you didn't buy your ticket beforehand, but hey if you had ordered online you could have got your ticket for £3 more.

Why do Saints try and put off as many people as possible from turning up to give their support??

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I wonder if, since the membership scheme is going to be re-launched, that one of the 'perks' of membership will be no booking fees on ticket purchases?

 

To be fair, what other perks could there be for being a member?! It's not as if we sell out for games so the priority system hardly counts. Maybe for a JPT final ticket? They were allocated for attending the semi final and season ticket holders, so its feasible that members may get the next set, but then if you're a member its pretty likely that you'll have been to one semi-final leg anyway. I can only think/hope there will be a monetary saving per ticket to be had, which will really just negate the booking fee.

Edited by The Kraken
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Because you're a dimwit who didn't use a debit card and/or the online sales facility. Not everyone has been quite so thick in the past, tbf...

 

You just said what everyone else was thinking.

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You do realise the season is 46 games long and times that by 3 equates to a potential charge of £138 per season, feel free to pay others if you think it's drivel :rolleyes:

 

If you want to go to every game then surely you'd have a season ticket anyway?

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If you want to go to every game then surely you'd have a season ticket anyway?

 

Which brings us neatly back to the point that many people feel they are being denied that very thing because of the short cutoff date for payment coupled with the lack of an instalment plan.

 

An away match season ticket would be a good idea imo.

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Because you're a dimwit who didn't use a debit card and/or the online sales facility. Not everyone has been quite so thick in the past, tbf...

my choice..never complained.

 

luckily im well off enough to afford it..I may just buy a ST for the fun of it...

 

this will make me a supa fan...:o

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You just said what everyone else was thinking.

why...I chose to use my credit card and pay it back interest free at the end of the month..

 

paying a booking fee is of no meaning to me..

 

unlike you it seems...if you want me to pick you up a programme or two next season..give me a shout..

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Hae you tried buying theatre or concert tickets lately?? I bought two tickets for Cineworld the other day and had to pay a booking fee even though I booked on line. It`s the modern world I am afraid.

 

I dont want to go the the theatre I want to watch a f*cking football match without having to pay an unneccesary £3 everytime, seeing as i've now been priced out of a season ticket.

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why...I chose to use my credit card and pay it back interest free at the end of the month..

 

paying a booking fee is of no meaning to me..

 

unlike you it seems...if you want me to pick you up a programme or two next season..give me a shout..

 

Good for you stop going on about how great your life is at being able to get a credit car at 0%

 

Maybe some of us cant afford £1000+ for a family within 1 month, and already f*cked with other bills?

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why...I chose to use my credit card and pay it back interest free at the end of the month..

 

paying a booking fee is of no meaning to me..

 

Which makes you a dimwit. Everyone else payed with a debit card where possible to avoid the fee.

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