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Taboo or Not - Giving Your Free Beverage to Someone Else!

Taboo or Not - Giving Your Free Beverage to Someone Else!

  • Yes. It is OK in most situations

    Votes: 155 53.8%

  • No. It is not OK in most situations

    Votes: 61 21.2%

  • Only if it is for your spouse or significant other

    Votes: 66 22.9%

  • Cheesecake because I am tired of carrots

    Votes: 17 5.9%
  • Total voters
    288
#101
Knavery said:
Why would it matter who turns in the drink ticket? It's a wash to them either way.
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Technically it matters a little, because the ticket you give away is a drink that won't get sold by the venue. So they lose the profit margin on that one drink.

Considering the depths to which many venues will go to rob musicians of their rightful compensation, it's almost cute to see people worried about that level of loss for the venue.

However, I still think there's far more promotional value in showing someone a good time at their venue than whatever that lost profit entails.
 
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#103
dbsfgyd1 said:
Taboo? No. Poor form? Possibly. A bad look for your business? Undoubtedly! You do realize the business arethat paying you uses the money they make from selling drinks and food to pay you, and future employment is going to be based on how much they make from food and drinks?

Unless it in the contract, I wouldn't give comped food even to my wife.
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So Anyway, we play a out-of-town corporate fundraising gig every year. It's pretty fat and we're well paid. One time we hired a local trumpet player to help us out. He brought his wife and both of them hounded us for our drink tickets all night long. When the gig was over, they asked the caterer about 'leftovers' and scoured the venue for anything that wasn't nailed down.

I asked the BL not to hire him again as it wasn't a good look for our business. Some folks need a day job.
 
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#104
LBS-bass said:
Technically it matters a little, because the ticket you give away is a drink that won't get sold by the venue. So they lose the profit margin on that one drink.
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That's assuming you weren't planning on using it. Then, I could see that argument. However, if you were going to use it, but give it to a friend, it's a wash... Especially if you're the one that buys that next drink instead of the person you gave the drink ticket to. I don't know... But I agree with you. It seems awfully nitpicky to care about the profit margins of any venue that will pay you in drink tickets instead of cash. :)
 
#105
Knavery said:
That's assuming you weren't planning on using it
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No it isn't. If I were planning on using it, there's no profit loss, because I was never going to spend that money for a drink. My friend who came in to drink two beers, on the other hand, was planning to buy two beers, but since I gave him my ticket, he only bought one.

The club lost the profit margin from the sale of that one beer.
 
#106
LBS-bass said:
No it isn't. If I were planning on using it, there's no profit loss, because I was never going to spend that money for a drink. My friend who came in to drink two beers, on the other hand, was planning to buy two beers, but since I gave him my ticket, he only bought one.

The club lost the profit margin from the sale of that one beer.
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But if you gave your drink ticket away to your friend, and then you bought one, and he bought another one to make his two drink limit, it's a wash. Stupid thing to argue about, really. I get your point. You should get my point. It's simple math.
 
#112
For me, the free drinks or food is usually just a perk and i don't really consider it transferrable to people not in the band. I think the better practice is to NOT make an effort to get your free drinks given to someone else and just don't accept them. That seems like to more professional move to me, or at least to my gut.
 
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#113
I give tickets to my sister (who is usually in the band) or my wife (without whom there would be no band) and always with the consent of the venue.

All bets are off if the venue serves carrot juice, however....

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#114
Knavery said:
Yeah if you were planning on throwing your drink ticket away, then the club would lose a few bucks. Probably more like 1 buck since it's all taps and rail drinks.
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Nope, not quite. If I didn't give that drink to that person, he would have bought it from the bar. What I have taken from the bar is 1 potential (and likely) sale. It's a loss to the bar of the profit on one drink, which is probably something on the order of $5+, since beverage markups are huge.

But it's still a small percentage of their overall revenue, and a very good promotional value to them for me to make someone happy by introducing them to the services of the venue.

Now we can quibble, but venues erode band pay routinely by a whole lot more than $5, so I'm not feeling guilty over this at all.
 
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#117
happygilmour said:
Not ok. The fine establishment you're playing at makes their money by selling drinks. Really that's what you're there for too - to sell drinks. If someone offers to buy you a drink, and you have drink tickets, accept and make the bar money.
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I agree, wholeheartedly. It would be something akin to the venue allowing someone to set up a little DJ booth in a corner of the room and have them playing over(with/at the same time as) the band.
 
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