The rationale of student discounts has nothing to do with generosity on the part of the theaters.
The reality is probably that students have a more elastic demand for movie tickets than other groups due to their relative low income. It’s better for the theaters to get 10 students paying $7 then then students paying $9.
With the military, you’d probably get the same effect with the 18 year-olds on their first tour of duty. But the fact is that the theaters can’t just price in favor of that group. They would have to give the discount to everyone with a military ID, which is a heck of a lot of people. A lot of the retired military are able to get the military pension and work another job, so they often do pretty well.
I’m in the inactive ready reserve myself, so I have a valid military ID. I have commissary and base privileges, which I consider to be more than enough to compensate me for the chance I might still get called up.
If companies want to give me a discount as a business decision, great. Some do. But I don’t want to be part of some begging interest group trying to shake down companies. The military is there to serve America, not to squeeze honest businesses for every cent.
AMC is a good company, and I’ll be glad to pay full price to see one of their movies.
Edit on second paragraph: “It’s better for the theaters to get 10 students paying $7 then 7 students paying $9.”
I’m tired. Sorry.
I guess maybe I’m not making myself clear. I am not trying to shake down anyone. It’s not the money my son would save by getting the discount. That’s not the issue. I’m sensing an anti-military bias here. Granted there are a lot of military if you include retirees. But do you have any idea how many college students there are out there? And a young 20 year old male is going to go to the movies whether he is in the military or going to school, or neither.