Selling Bring a Friend tickets to SDC.

[marolinesdad]

Why is it that people always try to find a way to make money on something that was free.  There are listings on Ebay offering to sell you an envelope for $50 and give you the tickets for free.  This is why they have talked about doing away with the free tickets. 

[tinmann620]

It's sad that so many people exhaust ways to make an extra buck.  I think the free passes say on them that they MUST BE ACCOMPANIED WITH THE PASS HOLDER, however, when I was there at xmas, another pass holder was giving away her extra tickets for FREE, and no questions were asked when happy customers entered!

[saladdays]

It's sad that so many people exhaust ways to make an extra buck.  I think the free passes say on them that they MUST BE ACCOMPANIED WITH THE PASS HOLDER, however, when I was there at xmas, another pass holder was giving away her extra tickets for FREE, and no questions were asked when happy customers entered!

They do say that, but I've never seen them check anyone.

[Swoosh]

Ok, time to play devil's advocate...

Why does it matter if they are selling them or not?
Is it hurting anyone?  Is it hurting the park? No, not really
Chances are these people are going to go to the park and spend money, which is the whole point of these tickets, to get people to the park to spend money.

Sure you could go on and on about the park not getting the chedda for a park admission -- but hey guess what, if they "brought a friend" instead of selling it, the park STILL wouldn't get any gate money.

I know it is morally incorrect to sell your free tickets, but at the same time -- so what.
There are lot more important things to stew and fret about then someone selling their free tickets.  just imho.

[Tom]

Ummm . . . I don't quite see the morality debate here.  SDC surely understands capitalism.  There's a darn good reason why a season passport is cheaper to SDC than WW and WW offers extremely few promotions for buying a season passport. 

[barnswingfan]

I don't think you should sell something that has been given to you as a reward perk.  It does to me seem wrong.  I have heard in the past that the Bring A Friends were going to be phased out.  But I ask, why phase them out when instead the park could just do what it says and require the friend to be there.  I never sold mine and on a few occasions I ended up having them left over at the end of the season.  Even when gas was high, I didn't feel the need to sell the free passes to cover my expenses. 

I have also been able to see the employees giving away their free passes.  About 2 or 3 years ago, I was stopped at the front and asked if I needed passes.  It was late in the Christmas Festival and the passes had to be used so there were 2 employees giving away their complimentary passes.  Anyone know how many the employees get?

[themeparkguy]

The park makes money by having bodies on the property- The more people- more food and merchandise will be bought ( items that have a good profit margin).

[saladdays]

The park makes money by having bodies on the property- The more people- more food and merchandise will be bought ( items that have a good profit margin).

But, the problem becomes that SDC is missing out on revenue from the tickets while the person who got the tickets free are making a profit.

This isn't a straight economic issue...there's a moral one here as well.

And then there's the conundrum of how many of these people who buy the "free" tickets would otherwise buy tickets at the regular price at SDC.

[themeparkguy]

You have identified the issue- Would those using a free ticket actually buy one or just skip the park altogether-we may never know.

[themeparkguy]

SDC has removed the moral question by honoring the person who has the ticket and NOT ENFORCING a policy. It woud appear they side with the more people the better philosophy.

[saladdays]

SDC has removed the moral question by honoring the person who has the ticket and NOT ENFORCING a policy. It woud appear they side with the more people the better philosophy.

I'm sure SDC would like it if those people buying the free tickets would actually buy tickets from them, but as we discussed before, there's no telling how many people would actually buy full face value tickets. That could be why they don't enforce the policy.

However, whether or not SDC cares about it or not doesn't completely eliminate any moral issue with selling those "free" tickets.

[KBCraig]

There is no moral issue.

SDC gets exactly what they promised: one customer per ticket doesn't have to pay admission.

The person buying the ticket gets exactly what they want: a ticket for less than face value.

The person selling the ticket gets exactly what he wants: more for the ticket than it's worth to him.

If I can't go to SDC during the dates the "free" tickets are valid, they are worthless to me. If I toss them in the trash, they're worthless to everyone, including SDC/HFE. If I sell them to someone who can use them during the valid dates, SDC/HFE gets exactly what they would get if that person attended with me: another customer through the gate, and the revenue they add by buying souvenirs and food, plus additional ticket sales if this new customer has a good time.

If I can't go to SDC during the valid dates, but give the tickets to someone who can go, then SDC gets exactly the same thing as if I sold the tickets.

Don't worry about someone "selling" the "free ticket". It doesn't matter if the ticket is sold or given, it's a violation of the terms to use it if the sponsoring season pass holder isn't there. And, I have to add, the tickets are not free: you only get them if you spend extra money for a season pass.

[History Buff]

I suppose I can weigh in here, but I don't want to slap anyone's hand or get my own slapped in return.  No lies here - I have given my tickets away when I couldn't get any loved ones to commit to the date, but I gave them away on the tram or at the gate, and I accompanied the happy families through the ticket gate as per the terms of the season pass.

As for this morality debate, it's been a rich one.  I'm glad there are still people out there who even care about morality in the first place.  First of all, if it's wrong for you, then it's immoral for you.  Period.  That shouldn't be under question at all.  Secondly, if SDC wants to turn its head to allow a freebie to sneak through, then that's their business, but it really doesn't answer the question of whether it is immoral for the pass holder or the free ticket bearer.  A clerk could also turn their head to allow me to rob the store when the manager isn't looking - it's still wrong to rob the store.  And if the manager approves, it's still theft.

I know the argument - that SDC isn't going to profit over a ticket not used - people spend money once in the park - but by not holding myself by a written agreement (terms, conditions), I have broken a written "contract".  I suppose that makes me a little bit dishonest, whether SDC still profits or not.  The ends rarely justify the means.  I doubt if very many people really have SDC's welfare in mind when they use free tickets in this way.

Then there is the issue of scalping the free tickets - myself profiting from the service of someone else - that just doesn't seem right at all.  The service being sold still belongs to SDC until it is delivered.  I can't really see how I could sell something that doesn't belong to me.  The item being sold is not the ticket that I possess, but the future service the ticket affords me.

Finally, I'll bring in the idea that if more people paid SDC and not individuals willing to part with free tickets, maybe (though I'm not naive enough to believe it would happen) season pass and admission prices could be reduced.  I'm paying for those free tickets, a point appropriately raised by KBCraig, and someone else is paying a reduced price to someone else.  Even if that's not immoral, it doesn't seem fair (but life's not fair, right?).

This is a good debate to be having, and it does us all good to weigh the issue.  To each his or her own, but  even if I don't always succeed (with Biblical principles in mind), I will always try to correctly make decisions for myself.

[barnswingfan]

Well said History Buff!
If I were well spoken that's what I would have said! ;-)

[saladdays]

There is no moral issue.

I disagree.

SDC gets exactly what they promised: one customer per ticket doesn't have to pay admission.

From SDC's end, yes. However, what that doesn't take into consideration is that the person buying the "free" ticket may have spent money to buy a full price ticket directly from SDC.  We don't know who would have done this though, and we have no way of telling whether SDC is losing money here or not (my guess is that they don't think they are, as I'm sure they know this goes on). But again, the problem doesn't really lie on the SDC end.

The person buying the ticket gets exactly what they want: a ticket for less than face value.

Yes, but this issue isn't really about what the buyer wants.

The person selling the ticket gets exactly what he wants: more for the ticket than it's worth to him.

This is the predominant issue.

If I can't go to SDC during the dates the "free" tickets are valid, they are worthless to me. If I toss them in the trash, they're worthless to everyone, including SDC/HFE.

But this is not the issue. The issue is between selling them and giving them away, not throwing them away.

If I sell them to someone who can use them during the valid dates, SDC/HFE gets exactly what they would get if that person attended with me: another customer through the gate, and the revenue they add by buying souvenirs and food, plus additional ticket sales if this new customer has a good time.

But SDC benefits all the same from giving that ticket to someone else too.  Again, the issue isn't really on SDC's end, it's on the season ticket holder's end.

If I can't go to SDC during the valid dates, but give the tickets to someone who can go, then SDC gets exactly the same thing as if I sold the tickets.

Exactly.

Don't worry about someone "selling" the "free ticket". It doesn't matter if the ticket is sold or given, it's a violation of the terms to use it if the sponsoring season pass holder isn't there.

I'm not exactly sure what you are trying to say here. Simply because you gave or sold the ticket doesn't mean the person using it will be violating any terms (as they could potentially be going with someone who does have a season pass).

And, I have to add, the tickets are not free: you only get them if you spend extra money for a season pass.

Are you implying that people only "spend extra money" to get the extra ticket? I would wager that a vast majority of the people would consider that ticket "free," as they would buy the season pass no matter if the ticket came with it or not.

The issue I've raised is basically about whether it is OK to sell something that you got for free. The issue exists in some form, no matter the answer.