As reported in today’s Washington Post (via Reuters), Blockbuster is set to close up to 960 stores by end of 2010.
Anybody distressed by this? Anybody?
Maybe it’s because Blockbuster and I have never had a good relationship, despite my best efforts to be the most stellar customer in the history of movie rental. Back in my WVU days, it was the best place to get movies.
… Until the day I handed a video to my friend Eric as I was on my way out of town and said, “Return this for me?”
He did return it. A good 96 hours after it was due. And after I was back for the weekend and I said, “You take the movie back?” and he assured me with boisterous enthusiasm that he did.
I didn’t learn that he’d taken it back late until I moved to Wheeling and I went to their Blockbuster to try to rent a movie.
“You seem to owe $37.96 in late fees for a movie rented in Morgantown, W.Va., in February 1999.”
“… What?”
By then, Eric was just lucky he lived too far away to learn the value of taking things back on time as taught by a sock full of quarters.
The following year, I moved to Charleston, W.Va. I didn’t open up a Blockbuster account right away because I was worried that this stuff magically followed you and if I tried, I’d get denied at the register and all of the people waiting in line behind me would give me a hairy eyeball and whisper about the delinquent holding everybody up. Finally, on a move of courage, I went for it, and to my surprise, I was cleared!
I maybe rented movies there four times, because around then, the birth of OnDemand came and we all realized we never needed to leave the house again. In fact, I’d forgotten all about my account at Blockbuster until I got a letter from a collection agency telling me if I didn’t give them their copy of “27 Dresses” back, they were going to turn me in.
What?
Yeah, it turns out my former husband’s then girlfriend (wow … work that one out for a minute, if you need) had rented them with his card, which was still technically my card and never took it back. I got it cleared up pretty quickly when I assured the manager of the store that I’d sooner gouge out my own eyes than watch a movie starring Katherine Heigl.
Sigh. The article says Blockbuster has some serious competition from Redbox, which is totally foreign to me. I’d never lived anywhere with a Redbox until I moved to suburban D.C. Admittedly, the Redbox is pretty cool.
Sign of the times or sign of a poorly run business? Discuss.
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The only good thing I have to say about Blockbuster is that when their Route 60 store closed here in Huntington, they sold off their inventory at 4/$20. The boyfriend stocked up, and now we will never have to watch network TV again. Otherwise, they were a bunch of late fee Nazis who did themselves in by not being customer friendly.
I had not been to a Blockbuster in probably 5 years before the Route 60 store closed. What’s the point? Why would I ever spend $5 to drive down there to rent a movie when I can get the same movie OnDemand at the same price AND NEVER LIFT MY EVER-LOVING ASS OFF THE COUCH? Hell, I barely have to lift my finger! And the last time the boyfriend and I did rent a movie, we got from a Redbox-esque machine at Kroger for 99 cents.
I think that’s just it, Lara. Why leave the house if you don’t have to, especially to rent movies from people who treat you like crap?
After I wrote this, I thought of another case where I had to call Blockbuster because they said I had their movie and I didn’t. I can’t remember the movie, but the called me every day (or, rather, their automated system called me every day) wanting this movie back that I’d taken weeks before.
Finally, I went down to the store and asked if they could pull up my account and see if the movie had been returned, and they did, sure enough, not there. So I told the assistant manager (who actually was a decent human being) that I put it in their night return on this specific date. She pulls out the bin where the movies drop, and stuck against the wall was the DVD in question.
Had someone just added “check bin for rogue DVDs” to their nightly list of tasks, there’s no telling how many people would have been spared the robo-calls.
The real disaster here is the lack of $7-an-hour employment for our youths whose skills include looking at movies on monitors throughout the store.
I never worked at a Blockbuster, but I worked at an independent rental place in Williamsburg. I once had a guy return his pornos (pornoes?) with one not rewound. So I added the fifty cents and didn’t say anything, and dude flipped the eff out. I just didn’t want to say aloud in the store with children about, “Ass Blasters Vol. 5 wasn’t rewound, so there’s a fifty-cent rewind fee.”
Come to think of it, did Fifty Cent name himself that because he never rewound his VHS rentals?
Oh, good call, Michael. You don’t have the jobs. I didn’t think about that part.
You win, though, for best comment of the week with, “Ass Blasters Vol. 5 wasn’t rewound, so there’s a fifty-cent rewind fee.”
Redbox is the best thing to happen to this household in ages! The fact that we can reserve a movie on line and then it takes seconds at the machine gets me off the sofa and to the closest Harris Teeter. We were surfing the on demand channels one night and decided we wanted to watch a movie,we found it on line, I jumped up and went to red box and saved 2.99.
Blockbuster sucks, period.
Most Martin’s (the Shenandoah Valley’s version of Giant) all have Redboxes in the store and outside. They are stocked daily and at $1 a movie that ain’t bad. I can say I haven’t been in a Blockbuster since the turn of the century….1999 was the last time for me. I wouldn’t be surprised if the one in Winchester doesn’t close, no one is ever in there when I drive by.
Netflix is worth every penny. In fact, a government accountant would say you make money off of Netflix once you take out all of the late fees from your budget.
You know, I’ve never pulled the trigger on Netflix, and I have no real, valid reason why. I get post cards in the mail from them all the time and even started the process of signing up online, but never went through it. I’ve never known anybody who’s had it to not love it.
This may be my inspiration to just get it done today.
I have friends who have the Blockbuster equivalent to Netflix (total access, I think they call it?), and they love it. They’re big on swapping out the movies at the store, though, so if theirs closes they’ll probably be pissed. Though it would then make their deal exactly like Netflix.
We’re a NetFlix household and it’s marvelous. Not only is it convenient but their customer service is excellent. We recently encountered a problem with one of their DVDs and they bent over backwards to resolve the situation and we weren’t even upset about it. They were great. As for Blockbuster, I was never a fan. They sell microwave popcorn in individual packets for like $3 and their computer systems were always screwy. We celebrate Christmas by watching as many Christmas movies as we can in the month of December and once we rented Gremlins (it’s set during Christmas, so yes, it counts.) We returned it on time only to get a notice about a month later that it had never been returned. They allowed late fees to accrue for an entire month before contacting us. But it was a moot point because the movie had been returned on time. We argued with the kid on the phone and he typed our information into his little hand dandy computer and discovered it had been returned … on time! I never got a clear explanation as to why we got the notice in the first place but it didn’t matter. After multiple issues with Blockbuster, that was enough for us. NetFlix is a great way to go.
A sign of the times or poorly managed business? In the case of Redbox, Netflix and On Demand, it’s just a sign of the times. In the case of Blockbuster, it’s both.
Yes, Blockbuster is set to close down 960 stores and the reason is quite simple. 10-15 years ago they made a mistake by going way too big by signing 10-15 year leases on stores that were warehouse sized. They also decided that they would be New Release and top 50 stores only in many places. This limited options to change with the times. Sadly, it also put out of business many small time video stores (like the one I own) so now there are no more options. Plus, at nearly $6 bucks for a new release rental in some area’s, you can goto the matinée at the big screen theaters for cheaper or as much.
Blockbuster, however is adjusting (2 years too late) and they will now be going head to head with Redbox. They announced Blockbuster Express not long ago and it works the same way as Redbox. Of course, those Blockbuster stores that don’t close (by the way, the 960 stores that are closing are just stores where leases have come to full term and they are not needed anymore…the goal of smashing competition was accomplished) will still be offering over the counter rentals as well as the Online rent and exchange program.
Oh, can you guess who supplies a good percentage of their online rental product to customers? If you guessed Netflix, you are correct. Well, that was up until recently. Long story short, when Netflix first started they were losing 6 to 9 million a year because they had warehouse sized distribution centers all over the US, 24/7 operations and remember, they pay for postage on your returns. That’s a lot of overhead. Blockbuster worked a deal to soak up that debt for the supply of Online ordered product and Netflix was able to reorganize. Netflix makes another mistake like that and they are out of business and you lose that option.
Now, a sign of the times. Netflix, Redbox, Blockbuster Express, On Demand. The wave of the future and in many places, the future is here. Where I am from, most folk are two years behind the technical curve so I’m just barely feeling the pressure of these options. Here, these options are used as tools in addition to making a trip to the store. Based on feedback, here is why many people have not fully committed.
Netflix: If you were to budget what you would normally spend at the video store on weekly visits compared to what you pay monthly, every month, on your credit card (don’t forget to add in annual interest rates!) you’d find you’ll end up spending more money and watching less. If you are a heavy user? You eventually get “stacked”. Stacking is a trick used by Netflix to be sure they get new customers the newest stuff first. The more you put New realses in your que and the more you send them back and forth, the more you get pushed down the list to get those newest releases right away. You see, they want to grab as many new customers as they can because they know that a fair percentage of them will get the service, pay for it monthly and hardly ever use it. But they want to make sure they are hooked first. So they get the newest stuff right away. And there you are, paying for 8 movies at a time at $52.99 a month and not getting what you want. The good thing about Netflix is if you are wise about your habits, you can get stuff that a local video store may have stopped carrying or could not afford to get in the first place. The inventory for Netflix is massive.
Redbox: They are putting in another 8000 units in 2010 (I am guessing on the overall number) and at a buck a day, that seems like a pretty good deal. Well, lets compare. I charge a paltry $4.00 for 3 days on New releases and $4.00 for 5 days on older category films. I have more titles in my inventory than any of the three local Blockbusters (2 of which will be closing soon) and surely a hell of a lot more to offer than any Redbox or future Blockbuster Express.
Already you are getting a movie for less than a buck a day with category films at my store and when you calculate how Redbox charges (a buck a day) they charge the same price I do…per day. Example: You pick up a new release on Monday, it’s due on Thursday. Any additional days are a buck a day. You pick up a video at a Redbox on a Monday and you pay a buck a day. Lets say you return it on Thursday (when any of my new releases rented on Monday would be due) and your charge? $4.00.
Factor in the fact that Redbox’s can only carry so many pieces and so many titles and suddenly you have a severe limitation. There is also the fact that after 15 days, you are automatically charged for a film you don’t return, full price. Oh, and let us not forget the faceless employee you never see that does the return stocking and DVD checking. See, lets say you wanted to rent a new movie. You see someone return said movie to the Redbox you are at. You are excited because when you checked 10 minutes ago there were none left. But, you still can’t rent that movie. Why? It’s not been restocked. How frustrated are you knowing that the movie is there and you can’t rent it? How much more are you pissed off knowing you actually reserved it online and the only return hasn’t been restocked? Yeah, I thought so. So what do you do? You call your local video store…if there are any left. The next morning the machine is restocked. That faceless employee also wields a lot of power. He or she decides what has been damaged. A big scratch on the DVD? You pay for it. No questions asked, no arguing the fact that it was already there, but it still played for you. Chaching. Right to the card and guess what? You don’t even get the product you just bought!
One more note about Redbox and the soon to be Blockbuster Express. Hollywood production studios are losing money with these $1 rentals. Warner Brothers, Universal and Fox have already or soon will stop supplying content for Redbox. Viacom Paramount is in it’s final year of a test run and has the option for a 5 year extension. Right now they are seriously looking at pulling out. That leaves a scant few that are dedicated to continuing the supply of content for $1 buck a day. Won’t be much to choose from from, from Redbox. Also, since Redbox would rather not have this stuff on the open market, they don’t sell off old product. Taking a page from Rent Trak (a video consignment distributor), they destroy the old stuff by damaging the overstock product.
What!?
My jaw dropped when I came across that nugget when I did research about Rent Trak. Redbox, I guess, didn’t surprise me as much because the shock factor was gone.
On Demand: What can I say. You are already paying for some sort of TV service through cable or Dish networks. Add in your Tivo, or DVR or what have you and the newest movie on demand prices and well, you are paying a lot more than you really should be for film enjoyment. Of sure, you get a lot of free stuff you can order but…you’ve already paid for it a few times over in your monthly bills. Not to mention the lack of over all quality of a streamed or piped in signal. Still, it’s hard to compete with being able to stay at home and order up what ya want.
In the end, I find that the small, local video store is still a good option. The staff at a mom and pop (my store is 1200 sq ft) knows your names, your kids, can save you movies, calls you when you have a movie out longer than you usually do and will sit and talk to you, face to face, if you want to talk movies. It gets you out of the house and hell, the local video store can be sort of a meeting place. I’ve seen it hundreds of times where families run into each other and spend time talking, laughing, making plans and hanging out.
Yeah.
It’s a fun place to be and all in all, a better option. But what do I know, I’m just a run of the mill video slinger surrounded by 3 huge Blockbusters and 4 Redboxes…and still in business.
By the way, if you read all that, I commend you.
Interesting read, Tyler. I’m a Netflix user, and haven’t encountered “stacking” – then again, I don’t generally tend to order new releases, there being very little coming out of Hollywood these days that interests me (and it’s getting worse – they’re making a movie based on the game “Battleship“, for crying out loud).
Once upon a time, I patronized a fantastic locally owned video store. Great service, incredibly extensive selection of movies – and if you wanted to rent something they didn’t have, they were often willing to order it, even if it was completely bizarre (like Incubus, with dialogue entirely in Esperanto, starring William Shatner).
Blockbuster opened up a second store in town, two blocks away from them. Within six months they had to close their doors. Most of their customers wanted the hottest new movies, apparently, and those of us with more eclectic tastes weren’t enough to keep them afloat.
There were no other local video stores with a similarly wide-ranging stock, so I joined up with Netflix. It’s not quite the same, but it’s better than giving my money to Blockbuster.
I grew up in a town of 5,000 people, so all we had was the local store. I still have very fond memories of Video View.
We even rented VCRs there because we didn’t have one yet. They always gave kids lollipops. It was a small store, but they knew you and like you said, JSB, could order you things you wanted. They went out shortly after River City Video expanded, and RCV is open still today … along with two (maybe three) other stores. I really don’t know how three video stores are successful in a town that small, but it seems to be working.
Thoughts, Tyler? How three are surviving in a town of 5,000? With a Redbox?
I love that when I clicked on this post a Netflix ad popped up on the side
I am a faithful Redbox user. The once a month I actually rent a movie, that is.
And I’m pretty sure Redbox does sell off old product. I could’ve sworn I saw an option to buy a used movie from my local box for like $7 or something. Or at least they did before all the lawsuits starting rolling around.
I’ve never had a problem with NetFlix, and we pay less than $12 per month. When it’s not baseball season, we watch about three rentals a week, which ends up being about $1 per movie. Plus, we have the total convenience of having the movies come to us. We always pay off our credit card in full each month so no interest there. I patronized locally owned video stores back home, but they’re tough to find in my neighborhood here in Miami because there are two blockbusters within a mile of each other. Of course, sounds like that may change in the near future. I always prefer the “mom and pop” shops for anything, but it’s getting harder to find them for anything. I wish we had a good farmers’ market here, but can’t even get that year-round in Miami.
You know, I just thought about that, Jo. I can’t think of any locally-owned video store I’ve seen where I live in Maryland. I’m sure they exist, but not without some looking. I have a Blockbuster about three minutes away in each direction.
I can’t believe you guys don’t have a good farmers’ market. It’s never cold! There’s produce all year.
Michelle: I’m really bad about the “impuluse buy” so I’m sure if I’d rent something, it would be because I was passing the Redbox on my way out of the store and thought, “Oh, cool. And it’s a dollar.”
Jacque: We only rent on those odd nights that we’re both actually home and looking for something to occupy our time. It helps that although the Redbox is conveniently located inside Giant it isn’t near the doors. I rarely walk past it and don’t think about it.
Hahahaha. I know if I walked by a Redbox more, I’d probably rent more movies.
The video store I used to work at was a mom-and-pop, well, a pop operation. I haven’t been by where one of the two locations was, but the one I worked at most often is closed now. Its one big selling point above the Blockbusters of the world was that it had a back room. Also, they tended to hold on to VHS titles longer, so for a while they had the boost of people who either didn’t have a player or didn’t want kids’ movies in a format where grubby hands could ruin the movie.
Jacque, our Walmart has a Redbox inside the Walmart on the grocery side. I’ve never used it but have seen people in front of it most times I’m there. I’m like you. On Demand is the best way for me.
RedBox is brought to you by the friends at CoinStar. No shit.
I remember someone telling me that … It probably was you. I didn’t know that until then because I’d only seen Redbox outside McDonald’s (in Louisville, no less). I thought it was a McDonald’s thing for a while.