Have you ever walked up to a bar on a Saturday night and discovered there is a cover fee? This is an all-too-often occurrence in Tuscaloosa, Alabama lately. What happened to free entry?
As your friends walk in one by one to painfully pay the ten dollars, you stand there and think if it is really worth the money. You could spend that 10 dollars so many other ways. It really starts to hurt your college budget.
Why would you want to pay ten dollars to enter the bar when you could be spending that money on drinks and late night food at Quick Grill? Having to pay ten dollars just to enter a bar and stand there with your friends is a complete rip-off.
In many cases college students live off of a monthly or weekly budget. That money is used to help pay for many necessities, as well going out. So if you are planning on going out and you only have 20 dollars for the whole night, half of that will be gone just so you can enter a bar.
Going out to the bars on a Saturday night should be a fun thing to do, but when a cover fee is a deciding factor if you are or aren’t going, it can totally put a damper on the night.
We are already paying for over-priced drinks, why do we have to pay just to enter the bar, too? What if you only end up staying there for 20 minutes, you just wasted ten dollars to stand in a building. It is not worth it.
If the bars in Tuscaloosa were to stop charging cover fees it could increase their overall business. A perfect example of this system is in Athens, Georgia. In Athens, you are likely to visit four or five bars in a night. This is because there is never a cover charge. Also you are likely to buy drinks at these locations.
More people would want to move around from bar to bar to see all of their friends, making it an overall more fun environment. This would also combat the over-crowding problems because every bar would be somewhat equally filled with people leaving and coming in throughout the night. Not to even mention the lines and one-in-one-out problems that are so common in Tuscaloosa.
Trust me when I say this, you are not missing anything at the bar with a cover fee. If anything your night will be even better at the bar without the cover fee because you are saving more money. You could even buy yourself an extra drink. That of course, is never a bad thing.
Cover fees are a buzzkill for everyone.
The bars in Tuscaloosa need to stop charging ten dollars just to get inside. Everyone entering is 21 years old, and will most likely buy a drink or two. This equals over ten dollars, more like 18 dollars.
Let's re-think the cover charges, T-Town.
