5 ms·

I'm seeing a bunch of comments along the lines of "it's not that expensive to go to the movies/baseball game if you just don't buy any food or drinks." I feel

I'm seeing a bunch of comments along the lines of "it's not that expensive to go to the movies/baseball game if you just don't buy any food or drinks." I feel like what we're seeing across a wide range of industries is a business model where the 'bare bones' experience can be had for a somewhat reasonable price, but a variety of things that used to be considered a standard part of the experience (popcorn at the movies, a soda or beer and hot dog at the baseball game, an assigned seat and a carry on bag on the airplane) are now 'extras' with highly inflated prices and fantastic profit margins.

BeFlatXIII 4y ago
see also: the entire airline industry
- EricDeb 4y ago
  Were middle class people really flying around that much in the 60s and 70s? I have no idea but I feel like they weren't
  - MandieD 4y ago
    Pretty sure that middle class Americans rarely flew before deregulation in the late 70s. My mom's middle class parents packed the kids up in the car and took a few epic road trips to visit family in other parts of the country in the 60s - flying would have been unimaginable.
    - jeromegv 4y ago
      Flying got 50% cheaper after deregulation. Before that, it was definitely more of a upper middle class thing. Going to Europe for a couple weeks was definitely not common. https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2022/06/economic-regulation-of-the-commercial-aviation-sector-and-the-1978-airline-deregulation-act/ https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2022/06/economic-regulation-of-the... But somehow people think that "things were so much better before"
      - ghaff 4y ago
        >But somehow people think that "things were so much better before" Because they often were for the upper middle class. But not really. A lot of people today would be horrified by the grocery stores of the 60s/70s, the safety standards of cars, etc.
        BeFlatXIII 4y ago
        The upper middle class were the ones well-off enough to have flown in the 60s/70s but still price-sensitive enough to penny-pinch themselves into misery after deregulation.
      - greedo 4y ago
        Flying was definitely better back before de-regulation. Google Pan American and look at how big the seats were and the food served. Much better, but roughly 4x the price (comparing LAX to Heathrow).
        bombcar 4y ago
        If you pay inflation adjusted prices do you get a similar experience today? But even first class is ass compared to some of the pictures you see.
notriddle 4y ago
I know it's a cliché to blame all the world's problems on wealth inequality, and that a lot of accusations of wealth-inequality-problems can be reasonably blamed on other things... But this one is definitely wealth inequality. They're probably making over half their revenue on "whales" that make up only 10% of their audience, but they don't want to ignore the rest of their audience because (1) they need to continuously convert casuals into whales or their audience will eventually just die off (2) word-of-mouth marketing is the most effective form of marketing, and there just aren't enough whales out there to keep something like MLB going all on their own.
- jon_richards 4y ago
  I always get an uneasy feeling when I think about this. It’s like I know we’ll point to this later as the clear-cut sign that something was going wrong. The most profitable business model is no longer “sell to consumers who can afford it.” Sure, freemium is great for the people who can’t afford it, but it reminds me of a feel-good news story about a kid that sold lemonade to raise money for their own cancer treatment. Immediate consequences are good. Actual implications are horrifying.
  - zbyte64 4y ago
    Indeed. We've been told that the current economic system is providing better access for all, but when we point out specific cases when that is not the case we're then told it's providing better quality to fewer people as if that's what we were originally promised.
- marcosdumay 4y ago
  > They're probably making over half their revenue on "whales" that make up only 10% of their audience, but they don't want to ignore the rest of their audience That's probably not true for revenue, but "half" may even underestimate the ratio for profit. The world is full of those business where nearly everybody is a net positive, but the business itself is only viable because a few people make them much more massive. Anyway, they still want to serve all the rest 90% of the people because they make for 20% to 50% of their profits. That is a very relevant amount of profits, that one just don't give up for no reason.
unethical_ban 4y ago
I went to a rock festival this weekend with a lot of bigger rock names from the 00s and 10s. Three day tickets were $200-ish, not /awful/ but a bit pricey. One draft of Bud Light was $12. A little take-out sized noodle box was $15. Tater tots with cheese was $12. Grocery store freezer-grade chicken tenders and fries were $25. It was absolutely nuts.
- cupofpython 4y ago
  >One draft of Bud Light was $12 most are probably aware of this, but a 12pack of budlight costs $12 from walmart and a 24-pack costs $19
  - JasserInicide 4y ago
    You either suck it up and pay inside, or you chug 5 shots of vodka in the parking lot before entering. You'll still probably pay for beer inside, but you won't mind as much.
    - raunak 4y ago
      You could always sneak a fifth inside in your underwear. Or just mix it in a water bottle. People need to be more willing to break the rules. It’s not as if big corporations care about you, why should one care about them?
      - spike021 4y ago
        My usual movie theater recently had a high school age kid staffing the ticket booth when you walk in and a brand new sign saying "no outside food or drinks." I used to just carry by hand a water bottle and some snacks or put it in an old grocery bag. This recent visit, I was told outright "no, that's not allowed, leave it in your car." I was really surprised, been going to this theater for probably 5+ years now and this was the first time they'd complained like this (maybe the kid just felt he had to enforce the rules more than usual, not sure). So I just went back to my car, took everything out of my bag, stuffed it all under my shirt/into my pockets like I used to 10-15 years ago, walked back in. No complaints. Honestly 80% of the time, anything I bring in will beat whatever they sell anyway. And FWIW, the last time I bought a bottle of water there for $7 or whatever, I found out during the movie it had already been opened/had a broken seal, so it was a waste of money. Meanwhile this last time I brought in a bottle of water I bought at the store for maybe a dollar, sealed, etc. No problem. Shrug.

BeFlatXIII 4y ago

see also: the entire airline industry

EricDeb 4y ago
Were middle class people really flying around that much in the 60s and 70s? I have no idea but I feel like they weren't
- MandieD 4y ago
  Pretty sure that middle class Americans rarely flew before deregulation in the late 70s. My mom's middle class parents packed the kids up in the car and took a few epic road trips to visit family in other parts of the country in the 60s - flying would have been unimaginable.
  - jeromegv 4y ago
    Flying got 50% cheaper after deregulation. Before that, it was definitely more of a upper middle class thing. Going to Europe for a couple weeks was definitely not common. https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2022/06/economic-regulation-of-the-commercial-aviation-sector-and-the-1978-airline-deregulation-act/ https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2022/06/economic-regulation-of-the... But somehow people think that "things were so much better before"
    - ghaff 4y ago
      >But somehow people think that "things were so much better before" Because they often were for the upper middle class. But not really. A lot of people today would be horrified by the grocery stores of the 60s/70s, the safety standards of cars, etc.
      - BeFlatXIII 4y ago
        The upper middle class were the ones well-off enough to have flown in the 60s/70s but still price-sensitive enough to penny-pinch themselves into misery after deregulation.
    - greedo 4y ago
      Flying was definitely better back before de-regulation. Google Pan American and look at how big the seats were and the food served. Much better, but roughly 4x the price (comparing LAX to Heathrow).
      - bombcar 4y ago
        If you pay inflation adjusted prices do you get a similar experience today? But even first class is ass compared to some of the pictures you see.

notriddle 4y ago

I know it's a cliché to blame all the world's problems on wealth inequality, and that a lot of accusations of wealth-inequality-problems can be reasonably blamed on other things... But this one is definitely wealth inequality. They're probably making over half their revenue on "whales" that make up only 10% of their audience, but they don't want to ignore the rest of their audience because (1) they need to continuously convert casuals into whales or their audience will eventually just die off (2) word-of-mouth marketing is the most effective form of marketing, and there just aren't enough whales out there to keep something like MLB going all on their own.

jon_richards 4y ago
I always get an uneasy feeling when I think about this. It’s like I know we’ll point to this later as the clear-cut sign that something was going wrong. The most profitable business model is no longer “sell to consumers who can afford it.” Sure, freemium is great for the people who can’t afford it, but it reminds me of a feel-good news story about a kid that sold lemonade to raise money for their own cancer treatment. Immediate consequences are good. Actual implications are horrifying.
- zbyte64 4y ago
  Indeed. We've been told that the current economic system is providing better access for all, but when we point out specific cases when that is not the case we're then told it's providing better quality to fewer people as if that's what we were originally promised.
marcosdumay 4y ago
> They're probably making over half their revenue on "whales" that make up only 10% of their audience, but they don't want to ignore the rest of their audience That's probably not true for revenue, but "half" may even underestimate the ratio for profit. The world is full of those business where nearly everybody is a net positive, but the business itself is only viable because a few people make them much more massive. Anyway, they still want to serve all the rest 90% of the people because they make for 20% to 50% of their profits. That is a very relevant amount of profits, that one just don't give up for no reason.

unethical_ban 4y ago

I went to a rock festival this weekend with a lot of bigger rock names from the 00s and 10s. Three day tickets were $200-ish, not /awful/ but a bit pricey. One draft of Bud Light was $12. A little take-out sized noodle box was $15. Tater tots with cheese was $12. Grocery store freezer-grade chicken tenders and fries were $25. It was absolutely nuts.

cupofpython 4y ago
>One draft of Bud Light was $12 most are probably aware of this, but a 12pack of budlight costs $12 from walmart and a 24-pack costs $19
- JasserInicide 4y ago
  You either suck it up and pay inside, or you chug 5 shots of vodka in the parking lot before entering. You'll still probably pay for beer inside, but you won't mind as much.
  - raunak 4y ago
    You could always sneak a fifth inside in your underwear. Or just mix it in a water bottle. People need to be more willing to break the rules. It’s not as if big corporations care about you, why should one care about them?
    - spike021 4y ago
      My usual movie theater recently had a high school age kid staffing the ticket booth when you walk in and a brand new sign saying "no outside food or drinks." I used to just carry by hand a water bottle and some snacks or put it in an old grocery bag. This recent visit, I was told outright "no, that's not allowed, leave it in your car." I was really surprised, been going to this theater for probably 5+ years now and this was the first time they'd complained like this (maybe the kid just felt he had to enforce the rules more than usual, not sure). So I just went back to my car, took everything out of my bag, stuffed it all under my shirt/into my pockets like I used to 10-15 years ago, walked back in. No complaints. Honestly 80% of the time, anything I bring in will beat whatever they sell anyway. And FWIW, the last time I bought a bottle of water there for $7 or whatever, I found out during the movie it had already been opened/had a broken seal, so it was a waste of money. Meanwhile this last time I brought in a bottle of water I bought at the store for maybe a dollar, sealed, etc. No problem. Shrug.