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Fri, 22 Jun 2001 13:32:31 -0600 |
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Hi Matthew
Whether or not you pay an admissions clerk may depend on some outside
circumstances.
The Museum I work for currently has suggested voluntary donations of $2.00
for adult, $5 for families and $1 for everybody else. We are in a fairly
small city and have a high level of return visitors. A study done a couple
of years back suggested that it could well end up costing us more money to
staff an admissions kiosk than we would make back. Keep in mind that we are
a government run institution and therefore our staff are all union members.
If it came to an "either/or" decision, I would personally rather pay staff
to provide programs for our visitors than to take money. I am not sure
whether or not we would see an increase or decrease in dollars if we changed
systems. I CAN tell you how pleased many visitors are to find that they can
decide what to give, and that they can go through free should they choose.
Voluntary admissions have also made the Museum accessible to people who
might not visit otherwise.
Hope this helps. Good luck
Paula Hill
Royal Saskatchewan Museum
-----Original Message-----
From: Matthew White [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 22 June 2001 11:46
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Suggested donations
A quick search of the Museum-l archives (searchable at
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?S1=museum-l)
shows the subject
of suggested donations versus admission fees raises it's
head fairly
regularly. It seems to have been addressed, accept of course
the issue I
need information on. We are currently facing layoffs and
"downsizing" at our
institutions as part of a reorganization and long range
plan. As a result we
are losing a good bit of our museum staff. (myself included,
he said
dropping a hint to all those with a position to fill) While
trying to design
a more self guided experience I thought that perhaps doing
away with our
small admission fee ($1 and $2) and going to a suggested
donation system.
Most people who have responded to this post in the past have
mentioned that
they have seen no change in income or a possible slight
decrease. They have
also reported that it has no or negligible impact on
attendance. In most
cases admissions as a revenue stream "as is" was minimal, as
is ours in its
current state. And, considering that we are now decreasing
service, I would
think raising the admission charge is not an option.
The one issue NOT raised in past discussions of this topic
is how the change
from an admission fee based system to a suggested donation
system has
effected the institution in regards to staff or volunteer
time. If the
switch in systems has little or no effect on attendance or
admissions, then
it seems to me that there is a net gain because a staffed
admission desk
cost more than an unattended locked box. Even volunteers
cost money.
Does anyone have any experience, intuition, ideas,
thoughts, or two bit
opinions on this topic?
--
Matthew White
Director of Museums
Mount Washington Observatory
www.mountwashington.org
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