Colorado Alamo Drafthouse Workers Strike Over 'Disastrous' Shift to Phone Orders During Movies

Oh no, the bad idea that everyone could tell would be bad turned out to be bad

who comes up with these stupid ideas anyway?

Sony buying Alamo is one of the worst things to happen.

I've straight up stopped going to Alamo with the new rules. Killed any desire to go for me. I'll go to my non profit indie theater that shows niche stuff where people respect movies and the AMC for big stuff.

Good for them! Recent changes have ruined the entire experience. I do not want to be on my phone for even one second during a movie. It is meant to be a safe haven. Now that ordering and browsing (no physical menus) is moved to phone it is both a headache AND a distraction! They halved the staff, too. No human service whatsoever. Can't even modify a drink on the app. Alamo was supposed to be a full-service experience. Now you get better service at an AMC. Don't be a part of Sony's trial to see how much shit a movie-going audience will eat. This is where I say no. Phones suck. And they suck most when they are taken out in a movie theater.

Never been to Alamo, but I've been hearing for a while that their policies on theater etiquette and phone usage at the theater was great a while back. What the hell happened? lol

The NYC branches had a strike and just won this exact battle and guaranteed minimum shifts. Customers here will not have to deal with that phone shit thanks to the striking workers. This win-win scenario is achievable!

Sucks all around. Alamo was in dire straits a couple of times, but the move was an obvious misunderstanding of the demographic for Alamo. No phones is kind of *the* thing with them. Without that, they're just another theater.

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Went to our first Alamo showing this weekend since having our kid at the start of the year. Holy shit, the change is *bad*. Not only is the phone use annoying, they try to play it off cute in their usual "No talking, no texting" intro (which fails completely). Oh, and the shift to phone orders means that the staff has been *gutted*, so no one to check your seats, no one to physically confirm your order... staff has been gutted, and that's easily the worst part of all this. Solidarity with the striking workers - hopefully our local Alamo team does the same, and corpos are forced to reckon with this truly asinine decision.

Here's to hoping the message gets through. I've submitted multiple surveys letting them know my dissatisfaction with the new method. Thankfully, a lot of the locations only allow it pre-movie but it's still a huge step in the wrong direction for both employees and the customer experience.

It’s as bad as everyone says it is. You can’t even pay with Apple Pay, I had to pull my card out to enter in the damn info while the movie was going. This shit is going to tank the company completely and it’s well deserved, just feel bad for the employees.

Phone ordering goes against the main tenets of Alamo Drafthouse. 

Overpaid CEO’s and senior leadership make horrible decisions every minute of every day, and publicly. Yet, the masses are brainwashed to believe they deserve six or seven figure salaries, and actual laborers deserve starvation wages.

Used it for the first time the other night. Our server was very clear about how upset they were about it. Well, we used it and didn’t get some of our items. With the changes, you can’t tell if the system messed up or the server messed up. An industry based on keeping your phones away is really taking a wild swing here.

I'm sure there's a lot of people that would not ever set foot in a theater that allows phones out and being used during a movie, especially when you're paying premium prices for food and tickets.

Did they roll out ordering from your phone during the movie elsewhere? In Austin it's still something you can do before the movie starts, and then you do the traditional write it down if you want something else during the movie

I went to Alamo this weekend, the server preemptively apologized to every seat for the change. I felt bad for the guy having to cover for the mistakes of their new bosses

Yeah, I hate it. I want my old Alamo back.

Sloans Lake was my local Alamo when I lived in Denver! It’s a great location with great people working there.

Big miss if no one made a “Remember The Alamo” sign

Interesting. I have been extremely worried about this whole saga. I just went to my local Alamo Drafthouse to see Project Hail Mary though, and phones were only permitted for ordering before the movie started. After the movie started you still had to use pencil and paper. I was fine with that compromise.

Majestic did that here and it’s terrible.

Sounds like they could have easily avoided all of this if they did something like "Order on your phone before the movie starts and then use the original paper for additions".

They really switched to a system that requires you to take out your phone and use an app to order food?

I cannot say this loudly enough. Alamo Drafthouse used to be the *only* theater I went to, specifically because they did not allow phones. All the people bitching about waiters being more disruptive were probably at a bad Alamo or something, I dunno. It was certainly never my experience, and the service is mostly very good. I will never go to an Alamo Drafthouse again as long as the cellphones for orders things exist. I am now going to go to Nitehawk, but the tickets keeps selling out here in NYC because everyone else is also pissed about it and going to Nitehawk.

More proof that theater owners are why the industry is collapsing.

I got there 30 minutes early. Ordered pretty quickly. Some of the food came within 10 minutes. After 40 minutes and after the movie started, the rest of my food had still not arrived. I had to get on the app and navigate to find out how to “report a problem.” It was very annoying because I missed part of my movie. Also the food has gone way down hill.

it takes like 2 seconds to write an order on paper vs 2 minutes of hunting for it on the app, then declining all the add-ons

Unfortunately Alamo seems to have gone to shit. The Indianapolis one is a mess and I cancelled my season pass membership after a particularly awful experience where a group behind me was being super disruptive but the staff didn’t do anything other than give them a warning and only after I called it out on a card.

people leave their house to stop interacting with their phones and interact with human beings. going to a movie theater, when you have endless movie options at home, is about as deliberate a choice as you can make in this regard.

I had no idea how to use the new system recently, and just gave up.

Flix Brewhouse has a similar phone ordering system which they ask you to use for the initial order. They ask you to use the pen and paper once the movie has begun. Works out well. I have rarely seen someone take out their phone to order once the movie has started.

It’s a shame this will probably lead to the end of Alamo if it’s not reverse

I'd rather see a flick in a non-food theater than see a flick in a theater where people are encouraged to be on their phones during the movie. What used to be a luxury is now a disincentive

I used to love Alamo Drafthouse, but they've been going to shit lately. Last time I went, I took my daughter and niece to see the one about a girl who becomes a beaver. While ordering tickets online, I made sure I had the right location since there's three pretty close by but the moment hit purchase, I noticed the street name was wrong. I check and it turns out my seats are around 800 miles away. I don't like downloading apps I'll rarely use, but I had to in order to get a refund, which would have been fine, but then they just had to make it worse by refunding the tickets but pocketing the convince fees, which almost as much as a ticket on its own. I try to order the tickets via the app but they locked my account while the processed the refund (because that's a completely normal business practice), so I had to get my mom to order them for us. We finally get there a little late and the theater smells like an old person's house, the seats are worn to shit, and my arm rest is wobbly as hell. I look around for the little pencil and paper, couldn't find it, and thought I got luck having a huge nerd for a kid who brings a notebook to a movie, but the servers just ignored it. They seriously walked by at least 6 or 7 times , even ignoring me when I tried to get thier attention until about 40 minutes into the movie when a girl comes up to tell me I need to use the QR code. I'm like, "wtf? Since when does a theater want me to pull my phone out during a movie?" I try scanning it but it's dark ass hell, so Im waving my phone around like an a****** until she pulls out her phone to turn on her light, making me feel like an even bigger a****** just for wanting to order some f****** popcorn. Then one more slap in the face; 18% mandatory tip.

When Alamo was sold it lost it’s vibe. Phone ordering meant a person didn’t have to monitor the theater for new orders. Some bean counter probably thought eliminating the time spent by that person saves a lot of money over a year without any thought that the no phones policy was an important reason for choosing to go to an Alamo theater.

We definitely won’t be going to an Alamo until this idea is reversed. If they don’t feel the employee strike I hope they feel the loss in ticket sales

I usually leave a tip even with the surcharge. But now there’s no service it’s just food running. And therefore no tip. The phone ordering experience was not great.

Jesus, I think even a first grade class could've told them it was a bad, terrible, asinine, idea! This is right up there with "New Coke" as far as bad business decisions go.

I think it's stupid that theaters even serve food. There, I said it.

I used it the other day, in Colorado actually, and had a hard time because the internet was so slow. I had to use my friends phone. It’s such a bummer because going to Alamo was one of the things we loved about moving here, I guess we will just have to forgo the food. I cannot take my husband mentioning how long the ads are at AMC.

Unpopular opinion (I guess): the Alamo experience has always been shit. Employees running around in front of you all movie is so distracting. Putting up a paper and then waiting 25 minutes before someone even picks it up. Bright light under the table for no reason. I’ve been to 2 showings at the Woodbury, MN Alamo since the new change and as long as you order your first item before the movie starts, like any sane person, the system works flawlessly. The seats are angled such that if people in front of you have ANY self awareness, you won’t see their phone. You still have employees running around all movie, though. 😔 Did the LOTR extended edition marathon 3 days ago and noticed someone on their phone twice (in 11 hours).

Thing is that they're really not ready for it, my theater was having issues and the tickets (I suppose) were mixed up that the worker had to come and ask us while the movie was starting up.

They lived long enough to see it

I just went to an Alamo last weekend and their bar area was closed due to a union vote. Wonder if it's related to this strike. I'm not on CO though.

Good - it’s a stupid f****** idea.

I’m not catching another movie there until they change it back. Used to be my go-to spot to catch movies I really wanted to see. Saw Kill Bill The Whole Bloody Affair there a few months back and it was great. Little did I know they’d make this asinine change soon and that it would be potentially the last Drafthouse experience I’d have. Good one to end on, I guess.

What was wrong with the paper cards??

Michael Kustermann is to blame.

Went for a 40th anniversary re-release of Stand By Me, tonight. QR system just does not work well at all, having to scan the f****** thing like 10 times to get it to load, having to ask for refills multiple times before getting them, etc. The staff is great as always but yeah this is disastrous

Gf & I were going to Alamo a couple times a month and would often see 2 or 3 movies each time. We aren't going anymore

Another corrupt corporation trying to squeeze out workers. Disgusting.

Good for them. I'm glad its getting attention.

I’m striking too as a customer- it SUCKS