Will call refers to a method of delivery for purchased items where the customer picks up the items at the seller's place of business, primarily in North American commerce. It may also refer to the department within a business where goods are staged for customer pick up. An equivalent service for goods which are paid for in installments then retrieved once fully paid, which was common before

credit card A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the o ...

s became available, is called '' layaway'', and is still used among those without access to credit cards. The word "call" is a shortened form of "call for", which means "to come and get", so "will call" literally means "(the customer) will call for (come and get) the goods."New World Dictionary of the American Language, Simon and Schuster, 1980. In a linguistic process similar to initial-stress derived nominalization, the first syllable of the noun phrase is usually stressed ("''will'' call") rather than the second syllable in the verb phrase ("will ''call''"). The term is most commonly used in relation to admission tickets for events.

North America

Will Call windows - Washington Nationals Park - 2013-09-17

, Will Call is still in wide use for ticket sales at a

box office A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicke ...

where patrons of entertainment venues go to pick up pre-purchased

ticket Ticket or tickets may refer to: Slips of paper * Lottery ticket * Parking ticket, a ticket confirming that the parking fee was paid (and the time of the parking start) * Toll ticket, a slip of paper used to indicate where vehicles entered a tol ...

s for an event, such as a play,

sporting event Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, t ...

, museums, or

concerts A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or musical band, band. Concerts are held in a w ...

, either just before the event or in advance. At large venues such as stadiums or theme parks, "Will Call" pickup windows may be designated specifically for this purpose. In the wholesale and retail trade industry, a will call memo is given to wholesale delivery drivers as an instruction to pick up items at the address stated on the memo.

Great Britain

Normally in the UK the term used is 'at the door' or 'on the door'; such as 'tickets can be collected at the door'. The acronym COBO, for "Care of Box Office", is used internally by ticket offices and not common with the public. A similar term 'buyer collects' is used on online auction sites, to imply that the customer must collect the goods from the vendor after sale, usually implying that they will not post. For goods purchased remotely and collected by the buyer, the usual term used is click and collect.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Will Call Film box office Tickets Supply chain management

North America

Great Britain

See also

References