$2 to hold your on ride photo???

The park now thinks it's a great idea to charge people $2 to hold your on ride photo for you so you don't have to carry it around with you all day.

Ok, am I the only one that finds this funny?

Now most parks that I have been to this year have a package pick up service for no extra charge. Six flags, dollywood,Disney, and a few other small parks I have been to.

It's simple. You buy anything in the park, they send it up to a location near the front gate, and you pick it up at the end of your day....all for free. It's a win,win for the park. Guest's buy more crap, the park makes more money, it's one more less thing people have to worrie about.

Why would they charge you to do this, and not just offer it for free? It would maybe cause a few more people to buy the photos. It does not cost them anything to hold it under the counter for you. And if they really wanted to be in touch with most other parks out there, they would do a package pick up at no extra fee.

When at six flags a few weeks ago, I bought more crap then what I needed to because I did not have to worrie about carring stuff around with me all day or have to pay for a locker.

Because Kinzel is living up to his name? :)

This was something I noticed on my last trip that I think the park could implement and make even more off on-ride photos.

Since all the photo booth needs is the number of the photo, even if it is hours later, put in a booth at the front of the park that will print off on-rides from any of the rides that have it. All you need is your number and what ride.

I'm sure more people would pick up a photo on the way out rather than having to carry one around all day.

Not sure I see a problem here. Sure, its "overpriced", but as with anything else in the park, if you don't like the value proposition, don't buy it. Seems simple enough.

That said, I'm willing to bet that they would sell more if they made it very clear you could pick your on-ride photo up at the end of the day.

But you're wrong about CP's costs, crazy. It would cost them money to hold the photos for guests. There are costs associated with anything the park does, really. That's not to say they're not already making enough profit on the photos, but providing this service would most definitely cut into those profits to some degree.

Instead of charging $2 to hold a photo why don't they charge the $2 to have your digital photo emailed to you? I'd rather have a digital photo anyway.

Seems to me that the reason they are charging $2 to hold ride photos is that they are money grubbing pigs looking to gouge their customers at every chance, who have absolutely zero clue about business and how to make money and who probably don't even know the other parks listed even exist much less how they operate their respective businesses. What else could it be?

I suspect that as time moves on, there will be more of a move towards electronic media. Whether thats emailing photos, photocards to which you can add on-ride photos during the day/go online later to order/print them or some other type of electronic media that allows folks to buy on-ride photos without having to leave the park with actual printed photos (whether carrying them around all day or picking them up on the way out of the park).

I'm assuming that first paragraph was tongue-in-cheek, GoBucks?

Chief Wahoo said:
Instead of charging $2 to hold a photo why don't they charge the $2 to have your digital photo emailed to you? I'd rather have a digital photo anyway.

I totally agree! They do this on Diamondback at Kings Island (also with the photos they take of you at the gate if you spend over 25 bucks on pictures) When I bought my 100th ride photo I just bought a keychain (easy to carry) and spent the extra 1.00 to have the pic emailed to me.

Also with the (gate) pictures you can view and order them online so you dont have to buy them at the park.

It never ceases to amaze me sometimes how some of these other parks out there really seem to "have it together" when it comes to many things. I dont understand why CP (the best amusement park in the world) seems so behind the times with alot of their policies and procedures.

Jo
Lifetime Raptor flights: 2116 :)

Brandon -- Yes it was tongue in cheek. Seems to me that it was so over the top that it would be clear.

Well, given your other comments regarding water...

;)

djDaemon said:
It would cost them money to hold the photos for guests. There are costs associated with anything the park does, really. That's not to say they're not already making enough profit on the photos, but providing this service would most definitely cut into those profits to some degree.

I'm failing to see how it costs extra to store a photo in a cubby hole underneath a counter or a bin of some sort. Meijer does not charge extra to hold onto your photos, neither does CVS and as stated above, Disney does this for free.

This is purely for profit and not for cutting out the imaginary associated cost.

Is the "don't buy it if you don't like it" suggestion really what the park wants to hear or say? Thats a rhetorical question, don't answer it.

Well, if Meijer does it for free, then it must not cost anything. ;)

There are costs associated with everything. Let's say you want to buy an on-ride photo and pick it up later. You have to purchase the photo after your ride - that "system" exists already, so there is no "extra" cost there. But, you then have to come back and retrieve your photo later on, which requires the attention of an employee. They cost money. Hell, even the bins you speak of aren't free.

Now, I'm not saying the park is justified in charging an extra $2 for this service. I was merely refuting crazy's assertion that there is no extra cost. There is, simple as that.

Exactly coastern3rd.....

How can it cost them to keep the picture under the counter? Do they have guard dogs they have to feed? They still have employies posted at the on ride photo booth, so there is no extra labor to pay for.

But my main beef is that they should have the package pick up like most other parks have now. How could the park not win by doing that?

If this new system wouldn't cost them extra labor, that would suggest they're currently overstaffed.

I suspect that the accounting folks at the park can show you how they would not win with package pickup which is the reason they do not have it. Though maybe you know more about their business and its associated costs than they do. :)

Whether or not there is an associated cost isn't really the point worth arguing. Merely that there is a cost associated with something does not mean that cost should be directly (or separately) passed to the consumer. There's a cost to the park for ketchup, but they don't charge you extra when you put some on your fries.

It seems to me that offering free package pickup is one of those obvious moves you make to increase guest satisfaction and ultimately increase the amount of money that guest will spend.

But every business must analyze all of its costs and determine which of its costs will be directly passed on to consumers and which will be included in overhead with no separate charge to consumers. Sometimes costs cannot be charged separately (most often because of competition). Sometimes the decision is made to absorb the cost based on a belief that such a policy will result in the most profit to the business (increased revenues from the charge will not be significant, costs to track it too high, etc.). Different businesses will make different decisions.

Yeah... umm no. If you own a Subway and you tell your employees at the end of the shift to take out the garbage, and they do, it doesn't cost anything extra. I don't see the logic there, Dj. Not at all. If you have 4 employees running a photo booth and put one of them on photo pick-up, I don't thinkt hat person is making any extra money then those who sell, process and give the photo to the customer.

Now, if they put in bins and give out tickets with a number associated with your purchase, then yes, extra cost. Which would be recouped within a day resulting in pure profit after that cost is recouped.

This is just another way Cedar Point is nickel and diming their customers.

OK, let's go with that 4 employee scenario...

If you have 4 employees running the get your photo now booth, and one can be removed from that task to assist customers at the picking up my photo from earlier booth, why was the 4th employee ever at the first booth? Clearly, said employee was not needed, as they're presumably able to carry on without him or her.

Or the Subway example...

If your employees are doing that at the end of their shift, they would've otherwise left earlier had they not been required to take the garbage out. That labor, however minimal, costs money.

And again, I'm not saying CP is doing right by their guests by passing on these costs, I'm simply pointing out that they do exist. Its not a complicated concept, really.

All that said, Walt's right - this is absolutely not the type of cost that should be passed on in any direct form. This service, combined with a service that allows you to buy now, pick up later would quite likely spur increased sales, making up any added cost associated with the services.

But why do folks think that CP doesn't offer package pickup? Do you think they have never thought of it? Do you think they don't understand that some people would buy more stuff if they had package pickup? Do you think they ran the numbers and determined that the profits made from additional merchandise sales would more than cover the additional costs of providing package pickup but decided not to offer it anyway? Do you think they just don't like their customers? Don't care about their customers' satisfaction? Could there be another reason they don't offer it?