Blockbuster Video

[T2T]

Last evening, I was making a quick trek to Subway for a bit 'o dinner. Walking by Blockbuster Video, there was a sign on the door that the location does not participate in the "no late fees" promotion. Instead, they charge you $.99 for each additional day of rental that the movie is late.

I guess some sites are not participating in this promotion. I guess Blockbuster didn't think through all of the "what ifs" in this promotion. Not that I ever participated in, or needed to keep a video beyond the rental term, but to me, it seemed like kind of a silly promotion. Now, it appears Blockbuster (well, some locations) may have viewed it as silly, too.

Just venting a bit. Your thoughts?

 

[Takeereasy]

I don't bother with Blockbuster any more. The movies I want to see are never in because the smart people go in on Tuesday and just hold on to them for a week. I have to use another local chain that I despise, but at least they have copies of the movies. I actually have a Gold Membership at Blockbuster meaning that I have, I'm ashamed to admit, rented 100 movies in a year. So far since the no more late fees promotion started I've rented 6 movies from them. I just hate knowing that what I am looking for won't be in stock.

 

[trfcrugby]

We gave up on renting movies, and I buy one or two each Tuesday at Wal Mart or Best Buy, since they are onsale for the first week, usually $14.

 

[The Dukester]

If you ask me, charging you .99 or .01 a day after it's due is a late charge, albeit less than usuall. I dispise BlockBuster. I used to rent there a lot untill DVDs started becoming popular. I went time after time to the local BB store as well as calling there toll free number complaining that they did not and were not going to carry them. It seems they claimed that location was a "high risk" store. The only stores that carried them in my town were the two in the well to do section of town. This all happened around 2000 and I suppose I have only rented about 6 movies from them since.

I used to rent from the local folks, even though it was often hard to find the new releases unless you did the Tues first thing deal. At least they were local folks trying to make a living instead of the mega corp. BB and a couple of others in the neigborhood finally started carrying DVD and ran them out of business. That's a shame. Now the other store that was really close to the house (a Mo>ie Gallery) has gone ob. Biscuits. Now I have to go a further distance just to keep from renting from the Crooks.

 

[BMXTRIX]

I joined Blockbuster Online - I'm never looking back.

I think Blockbuster eliminating late fees was a bad decision since it represented so much of the stores profit and encouraged people to rent and return, hence allowing for more people to see the movies in a timely fashion. A pain to return, but I knew I couldn't get away with being lazy.

I've now had Ladder 49 sitting on my DVD player for 4 weeks.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

If anyone has cashback bonus with a Discover card, you can get 50% off rentals. I pick up a 10 pack of rental tickets through Discover for $20 every so often. Our local store does participate in the no late fees, but it's only for 7 days. After that, they charge you the purchase price of the dvd - usually $18. At that point, you can buy it minus your rental fee, or pay a $1.99 per day "convenience charge" until its returned. I usually keep it 4 or 5 days until I get a message on the machine that the movie is due.

I live in a very busy suburb of Columbus, and our store does a ton of business. There's usually 3 or 4 cashiers working at one time. They do a nice job of keeping everything in stock. When a new release comes out, there will literally be hundreds of dvd's available.

If Blockbuster wasn't right around the corner, and movies weren't $2 a piece, I'd probably join Netflix or Blockbuster online. Much, much more convenient than waiting in lines and returning movies.

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

Our's has "no late fees" but they have to explain to you what the policy actually means. On your receipt is the "due date." This is the date you should get it in by. However, there is also a "drop dead due date" and you can keep it until that date, no questions asked, but if you go past they day then you have just purchased that video. The "buy now" price is listed on the receipt. If you decide you don't want the video you can bring it back and get charged a "restocking fee" of about $1.50 or so.

 

[Francious70]

I hate Blockbuster. I can go to another semi-local chain, find the movie I want in stock and rent it for about $5 less than blockbuster.

 

[furrycute]

There is a local video store where I live that lets you rent 25 movies for $50. The downside is that it doesn't stock as many mainstream titles, it has more artsy, foreign films. It actually suits my taste pretty well. I've done that deal a couple of times already.

 

[Audioholics]

Blockbuster has two types of stores, one of which is a franchise, so some can set their own rules apart from the national promotions.

If you ask me, though, it's suicide.

I have BB online and I woudl cancel it were it not for the 2 free movie rentals each month that I can use at the store down the block. They take forever to get me movies via mail and they are always on a "short/long wait" for new movies before they ship them.

 

[Duffinator]

I hate Blockbuster, I hate Blockbuster, I hate Blockbuster. Now that I have that out of the way I've been a Netflix customer since 1998 and their model works well for my lifestyle. Not to mention they have a DC a few miles from my home so turn around is two days.

Blockbuster dropped late fees because they were feeling pressure from Netflix and the online rental model in general. Not to mention their store revenues and sales were declining and they were desperate to do something that would boost their stock price. But their mistake was trying to make their store model like the online model instead of coming up with something more original and appropriate. I'm sure their change was a mistake that they will regret for years to come.

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

I hate Blockbuster. I can go to another semi-local chain, find the movie I want in stock and rent it for about $5 less than blockbuster.

Wow! They pay YOU to rent their movies?

 

[BMXTRIX]

Wow! They pay YOU to rent their movies?

That was funny...

Really, I don't know where you all live, but any video store in my area that isn't Blockbuster is even LESS likely to have the videos I want in stock. Not that Blockbuster does have them, but they usually have 10 times as many copies so they are far more likely to get it in then those mom and pop shops that are trying to compete, but only have a couple of copies of the mega hits.

I've considered NetFlix, but I do like the walk-in possibility with 2 free rentals from BB online and the reality is that I don't watch 3 movies a week, but a movie I send in on Monday results in me getting something new off my list by Friday. Happy new movies for the weekend!

Are the people complaining the same ones who dislike Sony for being Sony and Microsoft for being Microsoft?

 

[Francious70]

Wow! They pay YOU to rent their movies?

Don't know about your Blockbuster, but a rental at mine costs about $6-$7. I can go to Hastings and get the same flick for about $1-$3 depending on what it is.

Plus, the Hastings here has about 5x the amount of movies that our Blockbuster does.

And BTW, I own a Sony TV and love it to death and plan on getting a PS3, and I would never dream of switching from Windows to Linux or *shudder* a Mac.

 

[Duffinator]

Are the people complaining the same ones who dislike Sony for being Sony and Microsoft for being Microsoft?

Not me. I own several Sony products but I think their receivers stink and their TV's do not deserve the reputation they once had.

And that my fellow Audioholics is my 1,000th post!

 

[Takeereasy]

All the chains by my house are between $5.95 and $6.50 to rent a movie. How much is Blockbuster in the States right now (i'm sure it's different from state to state but ballpark it for me). Congrats on #1000 duffinator.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

All the chains by my house are between $5.95 and $6.50 to rent a movie. How much is Blockbuster in the States right now (i'm sure it's different from state to state but ballpark it for me). Congrats on #1000 duffinator.

$4.29 here.

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

Don't know about your Blockbuster, but a rental at mine costs about $6-$7. I can go to Hastings and get the same flick for about $1-$3 depending on what it is.

Plus, the Hastings here has about 5x the amount of movies that our Blockbuster does.

Holy spit! They charge that for GAME rentals here. Movies are about $3 and the price is the same for the only alternative, Hollywood Video.