Why does AMC write “MP” on your MoviePass movie tickets?

Did you ever wonder why AMC employees write “MP” on the movie tickets you bought with MoviePass?

Well, that’s a dumb question — “MP” obviously stands for “MoviePass,” dummy.

If that sarcastic answer came out of your mouth then I have some news for you 1) of course that’s what it stands for 2) you’re not really thinking deeply enough about my question 2) am insulted that you think I don’t know that 4) I question your level of curiosity, level of conversations and 5) you and I would never get along.

MP is for MoviePass, But WHY

In any case, yes, “MP” stands for MoviePass, BUT for what purpose do they write it on tickets? I was curious when i first used my MoviePass and an AMC employee scrawled “MP” on my ticket that was bought from the box office.

I asked her why and she said she didn’t know why. As someone that prides himself on knowing the business rationale of any additional step added to a sales process, I couldn’t pinpoint why corporate AMC made their employees do this. I was puzzled as I went up the escalator. What’s costing AMC money that they have to scarlet letter each MoviePass ticket?

At that point, i didn’t quite understand where and why that would matter. Was it a way to MoviePass-shame customers. Couldn’t be. Only the ticket takers would need to see the ticket and those aren’t transactional. So what was AMC trying to stop?

Those Two Letters Save AMC Millions of Dollars

The VOILA moment came when we wrote this piece on getting awarded AMC Rewards when using MoviePass. That’s when it clicked. AMC disallows AMC Stubs members from getting points when their tickets are bought with MoviePass. Making sense yet? If not, I don’t blame you. There’s a small percentage of Stubs members that forget to use their Stubs cards when they buy their tickets, thus not getting the points applies to their account.

So in order to get the points, they have to go to the customer service desk to retroactively apply the points. And they have to show their ticket stub to the staff to get those points. Get it yet? The reason why AMC writes MP on tickets is so AMC reward members can’t get points applied to their account after the fact.

That might not seem worth the effort, but the couple seconds it takes to write “MP” added to the checkout process is saving the movie chain hundreds of thousands of dollars (if not millions) in discounts and rewards that would have otherwise been used on free tickets, popcorn, candy, and drinks.

That little “MP” saves the company a ton of money. Can you think of any other reasons why they might do this? If so, comment below.