Blockbuster, 1 billion in debt, filing for bankruptcy

[PricklyPete]

Strange. Here: Turn around is literally 2 days. I was cycling through them (watching TV shows on DVD) 5-7 disks a week for 3 months (you would think they could get more than 2 45 minutes episodes to a disc). They never missed a beat. I get the disc, watch it, send it in the morning, would get the received / sent email that night, discs would be in the mail the next day. It has been that way for more than 3 years.

I literally never ran our of discs to watch unless I forgot to send them back.

It's 2 days where I currently live as well (as in I get it within 2 days of me dropping my last one in the mail). I'm sure it depends on how close you are to the nearest fulfillment center.

I do think Blockbuster has the ability to better serve its customers than Netflix...but they did it too late and too little. Now with Netflix also offering streaming online and on major consoles. Between that and my DVD in the mail...I don't have enough time to watch all that is available to me.

I've never experienced "throttling"...although I'm sure there are people who watch a lot more than me to whom this happens.

 

[destrekor]

Yeah, this has been a long time coming. I gotta say though, the early form of Total Access (unlimited in-store exchanges) was a pretty awesome combination of services.

Its still exists, just not at the prices of the original model. Those prices did remain but with limited in-store exchanges, and the unlimited exchange model saw the price get jacked up.

I'm still on the one-at-a-time, twice a month, with two exchanges package. Works just great for me, I don't rent like crazy.

I still vastly prefer Blockbuster over Netflix, but if BB wants to survive they seriously need to jump up the streaming game, and allow Blockbuster Online subscribers to join the fun without fees.

Not that I give a shit about streaming, because streaming is still shitty quality so it will probably be a decade before streaming is a feature that I would care to pay for. Until I get multi-megabit surround-sound codecs, 20+megabit video... I won't watch. There's a reason I rent and buy Blu-ray movies, and streaming can barely match DVD quality.

 

[FelixDeCat]

RIP Blockbuster. :'(

 

[bignateyk]

Man I wish I could rack up a billion dollars in debt and then just make it go away.

 

[dainthomas]

Man I wish I could rack up a billion dollars in debt and then just make it go away.

This thread makes me LOL. A couple points:

1. They're not "going out of business". Does every company who declares bankruptcy to reorganize their debt go out of business?
2. Most of that debt wasn't actually theirs, it was dumped on them by Viacom ten years ago or something. They could actually be quite profitable if they could get rid of that.

I have the $5/mo membership. I get two rentals a month (don't watch that often), and that includes blurays. Also for the last few months I've been exchanging my movies in-store for free (not sure if this is a promo thing or not). That's four blurays a month for $5. Who's cheaper than that? I could upgrade to the unlimited for another $4 but like I said, I don't really watch that much.

Their selection is more than adequate, I had Netflix for a while and their seems to be just as much variety. Certainly far better than Redbox.

 

[rudder]

good...maybe this will mean better selections at redbox.

 

[SP33Demon]

Streaming is the way of the future and Netflix beat them to the punch on that. It'll be interesting to see if they can counterpunch Netflix after Netflix just scored a big deal that will improve their streaming to offer 2-4 week old shows/movies.

 

[RedCOMET]

I guess all my old blockbuster stuff will be useless now

<--formber blockbuster employee from they day ago.

 

[BassBomb]

i hope they start selling their ps3 stuff for cheap, i could use some games

 

[Thump553]

Hopefully it gets converted to a Chapter 7 liquidation and they are obliverated.

For years, Blockbusters' business model was based on gouging people for late charges and other addon fees. I haven't used them in at least a decade. They have burnt so many people their tradename is probably only just above AIG's in goodwill value.

Cliff's: looking forward to dancing on their grave.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

where is the bailout!?!?!?! think of all the jobs lost. BB is an american institution!

 

[chorb]

Blockbuster will be used as a business case in business schools for decades. It's a classic example of a business dominating a part of an industry, getting complacent and not being proactive enough or having the vision to understand how the industry would change at some point. Back when they dominated, they had the resources to expand into new up-and-coming areas (like rent by mail, streaming, online sales etc), but decided they want to stick with their core business. It's like the buggy-whip makers deciding to stay in that business even with the advent of the car.

BB had some good aspects in it's day, but ultimately it shows how drastically you can fail if you fail to grasp the fundamental shifts in your industry (RIAA, does that sound familiar?).

Looks like somebody read an essay by Theodore Levitt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Levitt

 

[Rudee]

Looks like the majority of people who commented in this thread have a false understanding of what declaring Bankruptcy is about. Bankruptcy does not necessarily mean a company is going out of business.

 

[Train]

Looks like the majority of people who commented in this thread have a false understanding of what declaring Bankruptcy is about. Bankruptcy does not necessarily mean a company is going out of business.

I dont think everyone is making that assumption by the bankruptcy issue alone. Unless they do some serious realigning of thier core business model, they will die out bankruptcy or not.

 

[zinfamous]

so this is what, their 5th bankruptcy? It's been 10 years since promises of no more Blockbuster started surfacing, yet they're still around?

wtf, when will they just cease to exist? Sick of it, already.

 

[zinfamous]

Hopefully it gets converted to a Chapter 7 liquidation and they are obliverated.

For years, Blockbusters' business model was based on gouging people for late charges and other addon fees. I haven't used them in at least a decade. They have burnt so many people their tradename is probably only just above AIG's in goodwill value.

Cliff's: looking forward to dancing on their grave.

This. But I despise them more for their little social agendas.
They are film industry antagonists. They have always supported censorship as a means to tout their own vision of "shaping the morality of America."

well, fuck them. die already.

 

[Phokus]

Yeah. Karma's a bitch. About 8 years back I was talking to an exec who was visiting our small-town college for a career fair. He said they were looking to open a location in the town, which was 16k people including the 8k college students. We already had 2 local/regional shops, both of which had killer prices. I asked them how they expected to compete against shops with lower prices and and established, loyal customer base.

He told me they'd open a BB, and price everything in the entire store at $0.50 a rental until the other two places went out of business. The chain could absorb the losses that the new location would incur. Then when the other places closed, they'd raise all their rates up to the regular $4 a rental. I never rented from a Blockbuster again.

literally capitalism 101: Find ways to hurt small business, then hurt the consumer after you run them out of town.

 

[zinfamous]

Yeah. Karma's a bitch. About 8 years back I was talking to an exec who was visiting our small-town college for a career fair. He said they were looking to open a location in the town, which was 16k people including the 8k college students. We already had 2 local/regional shops, both of which had killer prices. I asked them how they expected to compete against shops with lower prices and and established, loyal customer base.

He told me they'd open a BB, and price everything in the entire store at $0.50 a rental until the other two places went out of business. The chain could absorb the losses that the new location would incur. Then when the other places closed, they'd raise all their rates up to the regular $4 a rental. I never rented from a Blockbuster again.

Same business model as Starbuck's. Two long-running, small coffee shops on our college street had to put up with the same shit when Starbuck's showed up 20 years later.

 

[her209]

literally capitalism 101: Find ways to hurt small business, then hurt the consumer after you run them out of town.

You forgot the part where you fail and file for bankruptcy.

 

[fustercluck]

Yeah like most say...Good Riddance.

 

[PingSpike]

I'm surprised it took them this long to file for it.

More surprised that last couple of years they were able to get more money to go further into debt since they didn't seem to have a winning plan

They were using the same strategy they used to run local joints out of town. Undercut them on price until they go out of business, then commence the raping.

I guess no one told them a company saddled with ass loads of debt and expenses isn't exactly well positioned to win a price war with a company flush with cash. I'm surprised they carried on for so long, like netflix was going to flinch or something!

 

[FeuerFrei]

1 billion in debt - company worth 24 million - nice!

Blockbuster shut down their 2 stores in my area last year. I suppose there could be one location still active in this town.

 

[Phokus]

You forgot the part where you fail and file for bankruptcy.

I'm still waiting for that to happen with Walmart, but apparently the internet can't fuck them over like it did Netflix

 

[coloumb]

Eh - no surprise - they failed to adapt to a new business model of home delivery/streaming and/or $1 kiosks.

 

[Train]

I'm still waiting for that to happen with Walmart, but apparently the internet can't fuck them over like it did Netflix

Amazon tried, starting with thier home delivered groceries business. I don't see that one taking off for a while though, logistical nightmare to keep it cost effective.