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Q I am a box office manager, and our chief executive has gradually increased the fee we charge for every ticket sold, because this income does not count towards the splits we have with incoming companies. While this looks great on his spreadsheets, it is a nightmare at the box office – we get such a hard time from customers. However, people do still buy the tickets, and without the income from fees we would really struggle. Is he right? 

A What a difficult argument. These fees appear to your chief executive like a licence to print money. You keep all of it (apart from VAT) and are now charging for something which you used to do for free. It is ongoing income without strings. Commercial West End theatres and big ticket agents have been doing this for years, so why shouldn’t you cash in too? On one hand, it is actually very good news that your customers complained and are still complaining – it means they give enough of a damn to tell you and they think you will listen. That is a huge compliment. When I have tried to unpick why some arts organisations seem to ‘get away’ with adding on-top fees without customer complaints and others do not, it seems all to be down to the relationship that the customer thinks they have with you and what they feel about you as an organisation. EasyJet, IKEA and Dixons all charge extra fees, and the whole brand is based around their value for money and giving you exactly what you pay for. John Lewis and First Direct on the other hand offer many free services and are trying to get you to trust them and build a long-term relationship with them.
It appears that your customers do not feel that the extra fees are in line with your brand and the image you are portraying, so there is a discord here. I would ask your chief executive to consider if the fee income is really worth the potential damage to your customer relationships, bearing in mind that for every customer who is complaining, many others who feel the same way remain silent. Perhaps a pragmatic step now is for him to give your customers an explanation about why you charge these fees. In 2007 Arts Council England published ‘Call it a tenner: the role of pricing in the arts’, which explores many elements of pricing and fee setting and could be a good springboard for your debate.