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Discount At the Movies with PERQS

Melissa Dean uses the PERQs discount to make movies more affordable for her family

Rasheedah Clay, left, sells discount movie tickets to Melissa Dean.
Rasheedah Clay, left, sells discount movie tickets to Melissa Dean.

When Melissa Dean's son saw the wolves in the trailers for the Twilight Saga series, he was hooked.

"He has a thing about wolves," said Dean, a staff assistant at the Duke Lemur Center.

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Within days, the Dean family was in the theater, bracing themselves for vampires and werewolves. "We like going to the movies as a family," Dean said. "We have different tastes, but we take turns deciding what to see."

Whenever possible, Dean, her husband and two sons, Benjamin and Nicholas, see movies at the Beaver Creek Stadium 12 Theater near their home near Cary. It"s one of the theaters where they can use discount tickets purchased through PERQS, Duke"s employee discount program.

"I save about $10 each time we use the tickets," Dean said. "That helps pay for the fact that we usually complete the evening by going out to eat."

The PERQS program offers Duke employees the chance to see movies in the evening at prices similar to matinee discounts. Employees save up to $3 off the cost of a regular adult ticket for two different theater groups.

  • Regal Entertainment Group, which has theater complexes in Raleigh, Apex, Garner and Chapel Hill, offers tickets for $6.50 or $7.50. The $6.50 tickets are not accepted during the first 12 days of new releases.
  • Stadium 10 at Northgate Mall in Durham offers tickets for $6 and $7. The $6 ticket is not valid during the first 14 days of new releases.

Faculty and staff can purchase up to 10 tickets at a time on Thursdays at the Staff and Family Programs office on the second floor of 705 Broad St. from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or on Fridays from the Medical Center Human Resources office in room 1527 of the Blue Zone of Duke South, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Only cash is accepted.

PERQS has been offering discount movie tickets since 2003, and they remain a best seller. "We sold over 1,000 tickets here last year," said Rasheedah Clay, staff assistant at the Medical Center Human Resources Office.

Dean expects to stop by the Medical Center office soon to pick up 10 more tickets. "The tickets don"t have expiration dates, so I know we will use them," she said.