There are a number of things going on in the industry could make me a poor man, but “convenience fees” will get me before any of those will.
I was planning on going to the Chicago SketchFest with the girlfriend, so I went to the site and clicked through to Ticketmaster to pick up the tickets. Three shows at $10/show -- not bad. Convenience fee: $4.25 per ticket. Yes, that's right. $60 for tickets and $25.50 in “convenience” fees. Who's convenience is this? Certainly not mine! One of the great things about living in Chicago is the number of theatres, most of which use cheaper online ticketing services. Why they chose to use Ticketmaster is beyond me. There's no question in my mind that this will keep a good number of people away; the fact that tickets are still available the night before the show is proof of this. I feel for the seventy sketch comedy groups that made the trip here for the gig.