The9 Posted 11 February, 2011 Share Posted 11 February, 2011 Easy if you dont want to pay the charge and get a ticket to the game(unless it a Ballot game) go down the ticket office in person pay and pick your ticket up. No £3 Booking fee Have you read any of this thread ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 11 February, 2011 Share Posted 11 February, 2011 I made my protest at the beginning of the season by REFUSINg to buy a programme as this too costs £3 Funnily enough so did I - and doubled up with not paying the tax if I could possibly avoid it (which has meant mates going to pick up Cup Tickets and away tickets for me and me doing the same for them, all to avoid paying the £3). I've also completely stopped buying online, which is something I used to do a lot last season - end result is I haven't gone to as many matches, because by the time I've got the time to go to the ground (rather than just spending it on the card online), I've usually decided to spend it on other things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alain Perrin Posted 11 February, 2011 Share Posted 11 February, 2011 I would venture that you may well be right in that I would guess that it would be cheaper to outsource all your ticketing operations (and insist on a premium if bought in person at the ticket office!!!!!!). However, the downside could well be a fall off in numbers if people still demanded that personal service. But I think this point does highlight that I very much doubt that the transaction cost per ticket is any more expensive on the phone than it is in person (P&P excluded) It would be cheaper to outsource the whole lot except for the fact you'd still have many of the same fixed costs. The extra cost of having a ticket office in the stadium is tiny (much less than running a call centre). You'd pay wages to the counter staff and that's about it. You still need the stadium, the computers with the database on it, staff to liaise with clubs on away/cup fixtures. I can't imagine a call centre charging much less than £2.50 per transaction to be honest. 50p post and package, £0.75 staff costs, £1 overheads (computers, telephones, utilities), plus profit etc. I wouldn't be surprised if Saints take a turn on the cost, say 50p, but that's business. The ticket tax is fair, it's not discriminatory in any way. I'm sure you could always just quote "supply and demand" and set any price you see fit, but as you say I think there has to be an element of fairness and equitability in our pricing structure and I'm just not convinced this booking fee is fair. As you quite rightly point out, there is a section of our fanbase who are adversely affected by this fee and they are probably the ones already laden with the highest transport costs (and also probably with the easiest excuse not to come - travelling time). Should we not be looking for every opportunity to encourage people to come as opposed to potentially hitting certain sub-sections with an additional cost? Or is this small fee just that, a small fee, that doesn't discourage people either way (of course, the counter argument to that would be to start throwing in a Ticket Office booking fee if prices are that inelastic). Finally, what is sad is that for some people an honest and upfront debate about issues that affect supporters is somehow seen as disloyal, offensive or counter productive. I would counter that by having such debates it may be possible to find a better solution, one from which we all benefit (the Club included). I would also suggest it is somewhat draconian to start suggesting that certain topics (or even individuals) are off limits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Bad Bob Posted 11 February, 2011 Share Posted 11 February, 2011 (edited) Funnily enough so did I - and doubled up with not paying the tax if I could possibly avoid it (which has meant mates going to pick up Cup Tickets and away tickets for me and me doing the same for them, all to avoid paying the £3). I've also completely stopped buying online, which is something I used to do a lot last season - end result is I haven't gone to as many matches, because by the time I've got the time to go to the ground (rather than just spending it on the card online), I've usually decided to spend it on other things. Not knowing where you live but I'd hazard a guess that the cost of you travelling to the ground (petrol, wear and tear etc) comes close to £3 Now, as I don't have an ST and I live in Poole, getting to SMS to buy tickets is a tad more expensive. I could, if I wanted, try and plan ahead and buy tickets for the next match(es) when I'm at the current match. That way I would pay a max £3 booking fee (for the first ticket of the season) However I'm a lazy fecker and don't know what I'm doing from minute to minute let alone week to week (I think that that might also by the senility creeping in) so I have no choice really, pay the £3 per ticket basically! Is it fair, hardly! But I sort of justify it to myself by knowing that it is due, in part, to the cost of running a Contact Centre (Call Centre is so passe don't you know) and as I work for a company that runs various Contact Centres, I know that they ain't cheap. I understand totally the £2 on the day as they want to guage the crowd they'll have so they can get adequate staffing levels in and save money by doing so.. Edited 11 February, 2011 by Big Bad Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonibell Posted 12 February, 2011 Share Posted 12 February, 2011 Easy if you dont want to pay the charge and get a ticket to the game(unless it a Ballot game) go down the ticket office in person pay and pick your ticket up. No £3 Booking fee Yes l wonder how many moaner PAID the £3.00 booking/tax fee for the Man Utd or the JPT final game....Some of you on here do not KNOW what to moan about....... Simply if you dont like the charge dont go. As for the people going on about its difficult to get to St Mary what a load of s--t (is it their first time down the ground ? You can buy most game in advance ) Maybe that why over 25000+ tomorrow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dickyhale Posted 12 February, 2011 Share Posted 12 February, 2011 Have you read any of this thread ? Yes read a few. I have a streamline visa machine in my shop the bank charge me £19.95 rental a month 3% for sales Credit cards and 50p for Debit cards. I put this cost in all sales even if they pay cash. Back to SFC charging a booking away round it is to go to the ticket office in person(I know some customers may have a small prombloem going) anyway time for bed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dickyhale Posted 12 February, 2011 Share Posted 12 February, 2011 Yes l wonder how many moaner PAID the £3.00 booking/tax fee for the Man Utd or the JPT final game....Some of you on here do not KNOW what to moan about....... Simply if you dont like the charge dont go. As for the people going on about its difficult to get to St Mary what a load of s--t (is it their first time down the ground ? You can buy most game in advance ) Maybe that why over 25000+ tomorrow Well said for a girl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gingeletiss Posted 12 February, 2011 Share Posted 12 February, 2011 Yes read a few. I have a streamline visa machine in my shop the bank charge me £19.95 rental a month 3% for sales Credit cards and 50p for Debit cards. I put this cost in all sales even if they pay cash. Back to SFC charging a booking away round it is to go to the ticket office in person(I know some customers may have a small prombloem going) anyway time for bed Pray tell me where your shop is. I pay cash in most places, and I'd like to give yours a miss if possible. On the other hand, if this is wide spread, then methinks this should be bought to someone's attention! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 12 February, 2011 Share Posted 12 February, 2011 (edited) Not knowing where you live but I'd hazard a guess that the cost of you travelling to the ground (petrol, wear and tear etc) comes close to £3 Even at current petrol prices it's nowhere near £3 for me to drive a mile and a half there and back - and parking at the ticket office is free for 30 minutes. Even if it was more than £3 I'd probably collect it myself on principle. That's ONLY because I live nearby and have the opportunity to work flexibly enough that I can get there during opening hours if I need to. However, if this had been the situation 5 or 6 years ago when I was living in South Wales I'd have probably not bothered to pay the additional fee, on top of the train costs, and with my ties to the club weakened I'd never have moved down to put myself in the position to own a ST. Though I'm assuming that doesn't mean much to the club any more based on last summer's marginalisation of ST holders. It's only a transparent charge in the sense that it's transparent that it doesn't have to exist, there are hundreds of other sources of revenue that could be diverted to cover the costs - if they want to maximise revenue I'd be inclined to think charging extra for tickets for no good reason is one way of directly reducing current AND future sales, and therefore a false economy. Edited 12 February, 2011 by The9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAY-Z Posted 12 February, 2011 Share Posted 12 February, 2011 whether we like it or not there is going to be cost incurred to saints for allowing people to book tickets (staff, post, processing etc) and they as a business are entitled to make money on it. the fact is they are offering a servicde that allows you to avoid that cost if you want to. why do people get so hung up on it whether its optional or included within the overall price. so just a comparison if everytime yo went to the supermarket you got charged a trolly fee, an item scanning fee etc would you be happy? the supermarket get their revenue from selling you products and tehir overheads are part of their pricing structure, the club earns money from selling tickets so their overheads should also be included in the ticket price Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avenue Saint Posted 12 February, 2011 Share Posted 12 February, 2011 Dune obviously has an agenda against cortese you would have to have to keep at the single mist important figure in our recent history! We should be thanking him for what he's doing for our club let alone stirring it up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deppo Posted 12 February, 2011 Share Posted 12 February, 2011 The club are going to charge what they like anyway, but i'd rather it be one rate. At present it's a con. Especially for fixtures where there is no option but to pay the tax, i.e Bournemouth away. I agree with this. At the moment I pay £28 for a ticket. If they scrap this tax, then I'll probably end up paying £28 for a ticket. It's just so unfair and such a con. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st alex Posted 12 February, 2011 Share Posted 12 February, 2011 Why? Its simply spreading the cost of a necessary facility. If you went to restaurant, the cost of fitting out the whole place is factored into the price you are paying for you meal. The cost of toilets, whether you use them or not, the cost of the an oven even if you've only ordered a garden salad etc. You're not literally paying for 20 mins of the chefs time and the ingredients of the meal, you pay for a fraction of the whole lot. Because of falling programme sales, some clubs (not Saints - as far as I know) are considering increasing ticket costs by £1 and including a match programme with it. Higher print runs would reduce unit costs and attract more advertisers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now