Posted on 01/02/2005 11:07:50 AM PST by MississippiMasterpiece
Blockbuster is killing itself off. Video on demand may have started the trend of killing off video rental shops, but the fact that Blockbuster decided in it's infinite stupidity to do away with late fees will only drive customers away because alot of people will feel they own the product.
Don't forget the fact that good movies are not- or only rarely- made. I never have the desire to watch a new movie anymore.
I quit going to Blockbuster partially because of the late fees, but largely because Hollywood no longer makes movies that appeal to me.
I am sure my age has something to do with it, but most movies today are either too stupid and moronic in trying to be funny, or too oversexed.
I still like Spiderman, Harry Potter, LOTR, and Star Wars type movies, but most of what is out today is just inane and worthless.
Perhaps if Hollywood gets back in touch with adults or people with morals they will again sell a lot more tickets and more videos will be rented or sold.
Just my 2 cents worth.
"Imagine that. Taking a quarter-billion dollars a year from customers who are too busy, too lazy or too forgetful to return their videos. This is a business model that deserves to die."
Bull.
Too busy, too lazy, too forgetful? Don't rent movies with return periods, then.
Maybe the video industry should do what the airline industry did, instead of adapting and changing to match up with the new competative environment, just run to the government for money.
The nice thing about Netflix is the easy learning curve and no new equipment or software to manage. The "we've rec'd movie" and "movie on its way now" in the email is all I have to keep track of.
What caused me to give up on Blockbuster were the maddening lines and the stupid and deceptive "special offers." The sales help would give this endless pitch to everyone in live--and the offers were always complicated. "Buy this service, and you'll get three free rentals." But they didn't tell you that you couldn't rent three movies at once, and had to wait a week between them to force you to come back every week. Then they got rid of all their old movies to devote floor space to video games.
I don't think a network satellite will replace hard DVD rentals, either, because I don't really want to fool with all that downloading. It's easier to load the disk yourself.
...and Netflix actually has stuff that I want to watch.
Try National Treasure. It was AWESOME!
When I received a bill in the mail for a late movie return (they always collected them at your next rental) I knew their days were numbered.
I haven't been back since.
I agree. I hope this is indicative of Hollywood as a whole. Hollywood is destructive to society and I cannot stand all of the dumb celebrities...
Blockbuster is doing away with late fees because that's one of the big draws to Netflix. People's live are chaotic by nature, sometimes you can't scrape up the time to watch the movie you want, under the late fee model what happens is the person either winds up incurring huge fees that annoy them, or they return the movie unwatched which also annoys them. With no late fees the company takes themselves out of a position where the customer will be annoyed at the company for soemthing that isn't actually the company's fault, annoyed customers cost revenue.
I have serious doubts video rental will be dieing, it will certainly be changing. Some movies just aren't worth buying for more than the rental cost. My Netflix subscription has dramatically reduced my DVD purchases, I hated going to video rental stores so I bought, Netflix presented a way to rent that didn't suck, so now I only buy what I know I'll want to watch over and over.
Well, according to the info I picked up in the store the other day, while there will be no late fee, if you keep a video beyond 7 days, it will be converted to a "purchase."
I like the idea of no late fees. I am sorry, but paying 3.50 for a new release and only being able to keep it until the next day is a rip-off.
Blockbuster in general is expensive as heck, so I go to the local grocery store which still has a good selection.
However, the one thing about Blockbuster....I like you can check out tv dvd sets in there.
That is pretty cool. There are some shows I would like to relive, but not enough to buy an entire set...I just want to relive a couple shows that I remember. This way, I can check out a disc or two from a show instead of buying it all.
I think things like Netflix and Blockbuster online will eventually become really popular. The idea is awesome.
I agree with your view that the current crop of movies is to puke for. But that is the reason I like a good video store (as opposed to Blockbuster), they usually have a lot of older real quality movies. My local Mom and Pop store has a special rack for every academy award winner. If you go back you have movies like Lawrence of Arabia, Ben-Hur, Bridge on the River Kwai, Patton, Braveheart, Cassablanca etc..They also have a great classic section, as well as a Sci-Fi (Godzilla, Rhodan, King Kong) and a Bond, James Bond section.
Yeah, it's just too hard to follow rules, isn't it? /sarcasm
Blockbuster seems to have been forced to change. I just started a $19.99 per month plan where I can have three out at a time and return them as many times for more as I like, or keep the three for a whole month.
I had already tried the $14.99 plan (two at a time) at two different stores, since you are stuck at whatever store you get the plan at. I just cancelled before the first month period ended and started a new one at another Blockbuster down the street and cancelled it (I told them exactly what I was doing).
I gave it a rest for a month until I got $15 in gift certificates to Blockbuster for a Christmas gift. I went to one of the same stores and asked them if I could rejoin after taking a break and they said I could start the $19.99 plan since I hadn't ever tried that one!
Good to hear that Netflix works, though, since I plan on trying it after this month. Netflix has all the great foreign/independent films I'll never be able to rent locally.
I quit going to Blockbuster partially because of the late fees,
Too lazy to return videos when you said you would? What part of rules do you not understand?
We quit Blockbuster and went to Hollywood Video because BB had ridiculous 2-day rentals. HV always has 5-day rentals. With kids, etc. you're never sure when you'll get to watch the dvd. That said, we haven't rented a movie in months.
Much cheaper than PPV. A 24-hour viewing of a PPV movie from DISH Network is $3.99, and $2.99 for "Last Chance" showings.
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