B David Pibworth - OVERHEADS
efore I rant on, I expect many management anyway, so my advice, if you ticket price by 8% then do so. I'm sure no one of you noticed, as did I, that my do tip, is to make sure it goes to the person would mind and everyone would be happier. name was spelt wrong in the you want it to go to and if they are decent I'm not having a go at that venue especially, last edition of the Phonebox. theywillslipabitofittothechef-orinthe as it's becoming a standard procedure and
It was spelt Pipwo h instead case of establishments that I prefer - the we should stand up and shout about it.
of Pibworth. I'm not taking cook. As soon as I see a menu with 'Drizzled If you buy a ticket for my company, MK umbrage over it, as it's better than many with olive oil' or 'Lightly dusted with sea salt' Theatre of Comedy, as indeed you should names I've been called. I'm off to the pie shop with the speed of an for our next production which is Allo Allo
Funny word isn t it, 'Umbrage'? There's not a lot more you can do with it than take it, so I decided against that.
Anyway, what was I going to say... Oh yes, occasionally my family all go out for a meal, or after a show a few pals and I go out for something to eat, and come the end of it, we are expected to give a tip.
This tipping business is a really curious thing. Why do we give tips to waiters and waitresses? Surely they have just done their job for which they are being paid anyway. Sometimes a 1O per cent service charge is added to your bill automatically, which is a terrible cheek. I suspect that the automatic 1O per cent charge goes nowhere near the people who have served you in any case. Are we just shoring up an industry that don't pay their staff enough money? After all when any other business works out what to charge, it's all in the final bill. Apparently in the USA waiters will chase you down the road if you don't leave a tip, which is the only reason I can see for taking up running as a hobby. I've known waiters (in this country) who have told me that the tips go straight to the
American waiter. I hold a deep loathing for poncey food.
The only other industry that I know that is worse than that are theatre companies. Or some of them I should say. They now put on a 'Booking Fee'. Initially a booking fee was to cover credit card fees and postage if the tickets were sent out. Even then I thought that it was a rip off. These are all overheads which a company need to consider before setting a ticket price. The booking fee, to me, always seemed as if they'd gone all the way down the line and then suddenly thought, Aaaah, we forgot to cost in the credit cards and postage!
Recently a good friend of mine went to a well known 'jazz' venue near Milton Keynes, a fine little theatre, with excellent acts on and a delight to visit, but when he went to pay cash of £36 at the counter for his three tickets was amazed to find that he was charged £2.80 on top as a 'Booking Fee'. Well what on earth was that for one may ask? They were printing out the tickets there and then, he was handing over the folding stuff and was just going to go
and ta-
ke his seat. If they need to increase the
/ ·-£ } SYSTEMS
on from the 1?th-21st September this year, then you are charged £12 or £10 (if you are a concession) per ticket and that is clearly stated. Most people download their tickets now, and if they haven't got a computer then they buy over the phone from our box office (01 234 241 357) and we send them out to the person. We don't charge any1hing extra at all. We advertise exactly what the cost will be and that's that. I now make it a selling point that we don't charge a booking fee and it seems that we are one of the very few to do that.
Yes, we have to pay credit card fees, we have to pay our 'on line' box office a percentage, we have to pay the bank a fee for cheques when we receive them, and indeed every other overhead that a business has to pay in whatever field they work in, but if we can do it, then surely it's worth other theatre companies considering being up front about what it costs to walk in and enjoy the show. So moan about booking fees and be careful who you tip.
Here endeth the lesson.
Cheers
Dave Pibblington
    Fully Equipped Workshop & Showroom in Olney
Unit 1 , Lower Farm, Warrington, Olney, MK46 4HN (Near Captain Carpe
et &TheGolfStudio)
Open Monday to Friday 9am to 5.30pm (plus out of hours emergency and answer system)
 L: 0 1 234 240680
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