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One of my co worker got an email, saying that they're beta testing a feature, where they need to upload the receipts or else their account will be cancelled. Th

One of my co worker got an email, saying that they're beta testing a feature, where they need to upload the receipts or else their account will be cancelled. This is such a bad business model. Can anyone else confirm this.

Jtsummers 8y ago
Yes. They just rolled it out to me as well. And they’ve been doing it to other people for at least 2 months now.
- rdl 8y ago
  It would have been cool if they'd lowered the cool-down to 20h if you upload, or something else like that.
  - Jtsummers 8y ago
    The cool down is based on calendar day. I can see a movie at 10pm and 10am the next day. Not sure about 10pm and 12:30am or something like that.
calbear81 8y ago
This is interesting, I guess they're closing the current loophole where they can't actually determine which movie you're seeing from the debit charge. Currently, if you get blocked from seeing a movie that you've already seen, just pick another one and "check in" and the money gets loaded and just buy the ticket for whatever movie you actually want to see. Adding the receipt verification makes this much harder to pull off.
- gnicholas 8y ago
  Couldn't someone just buy a ticket for another movie at the same time? It's not like the cineplex is going to suspect you're doing anything wrong if you walk up, get your ticket torn, and then walk into the wrong theater. They got paid either way, and if you leave after just watching the one movie, they're no worse off. Not that I'm suggesting doing this, but it seems like a trivial workaround.
  - paxy 8y ago
    More and more theaters are doing assigned seating now, so not that easy anymore.
    - gnicholas 8y ago
      I considered that also. But if you’re not going at busy times (which I understand is the case for many movie pass customers, since you can’t reserve in advance conveniently), then seating and capacity wouldn’t be as much of an issue.
      - megaremote 8y ago
        I mean, sure. And you can just sneak in for free. What is your point?
        ethbro 8y ago
        Sneaking in and going to see a different movie than your ticket are two very different things.
        megaremote 8y ago
        Are they? The film you went to see doesn't make any money in both cases. That is a very similar thing to me.
  - nojvek 8y ago
    Uhmmmm. Photoshop receipts? If it’s digital, it will be tampered with.
- rac7950 8y ago
  Can this still be done? I can check-in to whatever random movie, but walk up to the counter and ask to pay for a ticket to something else? I haven't received any emails asking for my receipt to be photographed. Unless they have some way of tracking the movie title on a debit charge (which my own Visa debit card doesn't even do) then you can just load a ticket for whatever movie and then request tickets from the actual employee to the movie you want to re-watch.
macandcheese 8y ago
I mean the whole thing is such a bad business model.
- baddox 8y ago
  I think that depends on which specifics of their business model you are considering. I don’t think the broad business model of an unlimited cinema subscription service is inherently a bad business model.
  - EpicEng 8y ago
    >I think that depends on which specifics of their business model you are considering That part of the model which has them bleeding money with no way to turn it around.
- slg 8y ago
  This should be make for a good case study for business schools some day. MoviePass was billed as using the gym membership model because it relied on paying customers who don't use the service. However they totally ignored what makes the gym membership model work. It isn't that people are just too lazy to cancel a product they don't use. People feel an obligation to have a gym membership and many of those people don't use it because they simply don't enjoy working out. Canceling a gym membership is admitting failure in achieving a goal to work out. There is therefore a huge emotional investment in maintaining a gym membership. That pressure doesn't exist for MoviePass. Almost no one feels pressure to go to the movies so you don't get people signing up for the service out of obligation. And everyone who signs up enjoys going to the theater at some level so low usage members are hard to come by. Meanwhile the marginal cost of an extra customer in the gym membership model decreases at scale. Adding a single heavy user that works out 10+ hours a week isn't really going to alter a gym's bottom line. This isn't the case for MoviePass. Each ticket costs the company the same amount. If you get one heavy user that buys a ticket everyday, MoviePass might need as many as 25 paying customers who barely use the service. It just doesn't scale.
  - panarky 8y ago
dawnerd 8y ago
Ive had to do this for about the last month now. Its not really that big of a pain and worth the trade off.
fanzhang 8y ago
Wait, making sure they're not getting defrauded is a bad business model?
- Sohcahtoa82 8y ago
  Requiring customers to go out of their way to ensure they're not abusing their service is terrible customer service and will drive people away. It is absolutely a bad business model.
  - tedivm 8y ago
    Customers have cell phones, and the receipts are the size of the tickets themselves at most theaters (since they use the same printers). You literally just have to bust your phone out and take a picture.
  - fanzhang 8y ago
    You see it all the time in the insurance business -- when you make a claim many times insurance companies verify it. Yet insurance is still a good business. Sure, it's a nuisance, but ipso facto a bad business?

Jtsummers 8y ago

Yes. They just rolled it out to me as well. And they’ve been doing it to other people for at least 2 months now.

rdl 8y ago
It would have been cool if they'd lowered the cool-down to 20h if you upload, or something else like that.
- Jtsummers 8y ago
  The cool down is based on calendar day. I can see a movie at 10pm and 10am the next day. Not sure about 10pm and 12:30am or something like that.

calbear81 8y ago

This is interesting, I guess they're closing the current loophole where they can't actually determine which movie you're seeing from the debit charge. Currently, if you get blocked from seeing a movie that you've already seen, just pick another one and "check in" and the money gets loaded and just buy the ticket for whatever movie you actually want to see. Adding the receipt verification makes this much harder to pull off.

gnicholas 8y ago
Couldn't someone just buy a ticket for another movie at the same time? It's not like the cineplex is going to suspect you're doing anything wrong if you walk up, get your ticket torn, and then walk into the wrong theater. They got paid either way, and if you leave after just watching the one movie, they're no worse off. Not that I'm suggesting doing this, but it seems like a trivial workaround.
- paxy 8y ago
  More and more theaters are doing assigned seating now, so not that easy anymore.
  - gnicholas 8y ago
    I considered that also. But if you’re not going at busy times (which I understand is the case for many movie pass customers, since you can’t reserve in advance conveniently), then seating and capacity wouldn’t be as much of an issue.
    - megaremote 8y ago
      I mean, sure. And you can just sneak in for free. What is your point?
      - ethbro 8y ago
        Sneaking in and going to see a different movie than your ticket are two very different things.
        megaremote 8y ago
        Are they? The film you went to see doesn't make any money in both cases. That is a very similar thing to me.
- nojvek 8y ago
  Uhmmmm. Photoshop receipts? If it’s digital, it will be tampered with.
rac7950 8y ago
Can this still be done? I can check-in to whatever random movie, but walk up to the counter and ask to pay for a ticket to something else? I haven't received any emails asking for my receipt to be photographed. Unless they have some way of tracking the movie title on a debit charge (which my own Visa debit card doesn't even do) then you can just load a ticket for whatever movie and then request tickets from the actual employee to the movie you want to re-watch.

macandcheese 8y ago

I mean the whole thing is such a bad business model.

baddox 8y ago
I think that depends on which specifics of their business model you are considering. I don’t think the broad business model of an unlimited cinema subscription service is inherently a bad business model.
- EpicEng 8y ago
  >I think that depends on which specifics of their business model you are considering That part of the model which has them bleeding money with no way to turn it around.
slg 8y ago
This should be make for a good case study for business schools some day. MoviePass was billed as using the gym membership model because it relied on paying customers who don't use the service. However they totally ignored what makes the gym membership model work. It isn't that people are just too lazy to cancel a product they don't use. People feel an obligation to have a gym membership and many of those people don't use it because they simply don't enjoy working out. Canceling a gym membership is admitting failure in achieving a goal to work out. There is therefore a huge emotional investment in maintaining a gym membership. That pressure doesn't exist for MoviePass. Almost no one feels pressure to go to the movies so you don't get people signing up for the service out of obligation. And everyone who signs up enjoys going to the theater at some level so low usage members are hard to come by. Meanwhile the marginal cost of an extra customer in the gym membership model decreases at scale. Adding a single heavy user that works out 10+ hours a week isn't really going to alter a gym's bottom line. This isn't the case for MoviePass. Each ticket costs the company the same amount. If you get one heavy user that buys a ticket everyday, MoviePass might need as many as 25 paying customers who barely use the service. It just doesn't scale.
- panarky 8y ago

dawnerd 8y ago

Ive had to do this for about the last month now. Its not really that big of a pain and worth the trade off.

fanzhang 8y ago

Wait, making sure they're not getting defrauded is a bad business model?

Sohcahtoa82 8y ago
Requiring customers to go out of their way to ensure they're not abusing their service is terrible customer service and will drive people away. It is absolutely a bad business model.
- tedivm 8y ago
  Customers have cell phones, and the receipts are the size of the tickets themselves at most theaters (since they use the same printers). You literally just have to bust your phone out and take a picture.
- fanzhang 8y ago
  You see it all the time in the insurance business -- when you make a claim many times insurance companies verify it. Yet insurance is still a good business. Sure, it's a nuisance, but ipso facto a bad business?