Blockbuster to begin accepting online rental returns in-store

[Queasy]

Link - Oh, this just reminds me of Red Lobster's "All You Can Eat Crab" mistake. The number of free in-store coupons are going to be more than they are estimating I'm betting.

CHICAGO, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Blockbuster Inc. (BBI.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday it was changing its online movie rental policy to allow customers to return DVDs either through the mail or at its stores.

Under the new Total Access plan, which begins on Wednesday, customers can receive a free in-store movie rental if they return to stores those DVDs that are rented online.

Rival online DVD rental company Netflix Inc. (NFLX.O: Quote, Profile, Research) only operates through the mail.

Blockbuster said it added about 150,000 net subscribers to its online program during the third quarter. At the end of September, it had about 1.5 million online subscribers.

Its new policy should help Blockbuster meet its goal of 2 million subscribers by the end of the year, Chairman and Chief Executive John Antioco said in a statement.

Blockbuster said that by returning movies to a store, online renters will speed up delivery of their next movie.

Once they return the DVD, the next DVD in their online list will be sent to them in the mail.

Customers will typically get the next movie a day faster than if they had returned the movie through the mail.

Total Access customers will also get a free in-store rental coupon each month, Blockbuster said.

PaulNEPats link

* Once you have watched your DVDs from BLOCKBUSTER Online, bring them to you local participating BLOCKBUSTER store. Keep your DVDs from BLOCKBUSTER Online until you're ready to check out. The drop-box outside is for in-store rentals only. Your DVDs from BLOCKBUSTER Online should be sealed in their return mailers.
* DVD exchange is good for movie rentals only. Redeem your free in-store movie rentals on the same visit in which you return your DVDs from BLOCKBUSTER Online.
* Movies rented in-store will not be removed from your online Queue. To get more of the movies you love, be sure to remove titles rented in-store from your Queue. Enjoy your in-store movie.
* These free in-store movie rentals are in addition to the number of DVDs out at-a-time allowed by your BLOCKBUSTER Online plan.
* Free in-store rentals must be returned to the store where they were originally rented. See your receipt for store location and due dates.
* This offer is exclusively for BLOCKBUSTER Online members.

 

[Hammerhead]

It's about time!

 

[wyvrn]

The full press release is below.


BLOCKBUSTER LAUNCHES TOTALLY NEW WAY TO RENT MOVIES: INTRODUCING BLOCKBUSTER TOTAL ACCESS?

Blockbuster exclusive: Online subscribers can exchange DVDs through mail or for free in-store movie rentals
Subscribers can get more movies, faster

DALLAS, Nov. 1, 2006 ? Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE: BBI, BBI.B) today announced that it is giving online renters unprecedented access to movies through the introduction of BLOCKBUSTER Total Access?, a movie rental program that gives online customers the option of returning their DVDs through the mail or exchanging them at more than 5,000 participating BLOCKBUSTER® stores for free in-store movie rentals. The new program, available only from Blockbuster, means Total Access subscribers don?t need to wait to get DVDs through the mail, essentially allowing them to double the number of movies they can access each month.

To view the Multimedia News Release, go to:

http://prnewswire.com/mnr/blockbuster/25964/

?Until today, no online rental service offered customers the option of returning their movies to the store and exchanging them for free movie rentals, and there is no other store-based retailer that offers customers the convenience and the selection of the more than 60,000 titles available through our online service,? said Blockbuster Chairman and CEO John Antioco. ?Customers shouldn?t have to choose between renting online versus in-store, and they should never have to be without a movie. Now, thanks to Blockbuster Total Access, they don?t have to.?
Beginning today, Wednesday, Nov. 1, Blockbuster will automatically upgrade all current and new online rental subscribers to the Blockbuster Total Access program at no extra cost, immediately giving them the option of mailing back their online movies, exchanging them at any participating Blockbuster store, or a combination of the two. For each online rental exchanged in the store, customers can receive a free in-store movie rental. Subscribers to Blockbuster?s lower-priced $5.99 and $7.99 plans will also be included in the Total Access program and will be able to exchange their online DVDs for free in-store movie rentals.
Another feature Blockbuster Total Access offers subscribers is a faster shipping cycle. When subscribers return their online rentals to a participating Blockbuster store, the store check-in process automatically initiates the shipment of the next available movie(s) in the subscriber?s rental queue, whether they take advantage of the in-store exchange option or not. That means Total Access customers generally will get their online movie(s) a day faster than if they had dropped the return movies in the mail.
In addition to being able to exchange online rentals at participating Blockbuster stores for free movie rentals, Blockbuster Total Access customers will also receive a free in-store rental coupon each month. Subscribers can use the monthly rental coupon in the same visit with their in-store exchanges for another free movie, or by itself if they have already returned their DVDs through the mail or just aren?t ready to return their online rentals yet. More good news is that movies received through the in-store exchange option or with the rental coupon do not count against the total number of DVDs an online customer can have out at any one time per their subscription plan.
In-store movies are still subject to store rental terms, including due dates, and must be returned to the store from which they were rented.
Another added convenience is that customers can now sign up for Blockbuster?s online rental service right in the stores. With the launch of the Blockbuster Total Access program, almost all participating Blockbuster stores will have online wireless access, so store personnel can sign up new subscribers on the spot.
?Our research has shown that Blockbuster Total Access appeals strongly to online customers as well as to store-based customers who want to be able to rent movies both ways,? said Antioco. ?As a result, we believe Total Access will help us achieve our goal of two million subscribers by year-end, position us to grow our subscriber base in the future and assist us in increasing our share of the overall rental market.?
As of the end of September, Blockbuster had approximately 1.5 million online subscribers, a year-over-year increase in its subscriber base of 50 percent, which included
some 100,000 trial subscribers at quarter-end who subsequently converted to paying members. During the third quarter, the company added approximately 150,000 net subscribers.
With more than 60,000 titles to choose from online, Blockbuster delivers DVDs right to subscribers? mailboxes in return-pre-paid postage envelopes. There are no due dates or late fees with movies rented from Blockbuster?s online rental service, and
subscription plans start as low as $5.99 a month, with the $17.99 three-out unlimited movie plan being the most popular. A two-week free trial membership to Blockbuster Total Access is available for a limited time, including to those customers who have previously tried Blockbuster?s online rental service but are not currently subscribing to the service. Visit www.blockbuster.com for details.
About Blockbuster
Blockbuster Inc. (BBI, BBI.B) is a leading global provider of in-home movie and game entertainment with approximately 8,500 stores throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia. The company may be accessed worldwide at www.blockbuster.com.
###

 

[KarmaPolice]

i worked for bb for a summer....what a horribly ran company.

 

[jimmyjam]

It would have been nice if they had done this before closing every store in my area.

 

[sswingle]

So you return it to the store, get a free in store rental, AND get another mailed? BB is getting desperate.

 

[wyvrn]

Originally posted by: ScottSwingleComputers
So you return it to the store, get a free in store rental, AND get another mailed? BB is getting desperate.

It's not likely to last forever. They are trying to leverage their store presence to give a better overall deal to the consumer in the form of choice. No other company can do this and BB has a small competitive advantage there because most people still rent from stores, not online.

 

[dullard]

It isn't worth my time to argue here.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: ScottSwingleComputers
So you return it to the store, get a free in store rental, AND get another mailed? BB is getting desperate.

ohh might have to start up my blockbuster online account agian.

 

[vi edit]

Is this in addition to the 2 free instore rentals(including games) that I already get through my online subscription?

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: ScottSwingleComputers
So you return it to the store, get a free in store rental, AND get another mailed? BB is getting desperate.

No, that is not what is happening.

You get one mailed to you, you return it to the store, and another is mailed to you. As a bonus ONCE a MONTH, you get ONE free in-store rental. The only real difference is that you don't have to mail the movie back, instead you can spend lots of time driving to/from the rental location.

The way you typed it, you implied you get TWO rentals for each movie.

It's not entirely clear, especially this part:

Another feature Blockbuster Total Access offers subscribers is a faster shipping cycle. When subscribers return their online rentals to a participating Blockbuster store, the store check-in process automatically initiates the shipment of the next available movie(s) in the subscriber?s rental queue, whether they take advantage of the in-store exchange option or not. That means Total Access customers generally will get their online movie(s) a day faster than if they had dropped the return movies in the mail.

You definitely can drop the movie off at the store and get an in-store rental in return, but that section implies that they also ship your next online rental at the same time - you don't have to return the in-store rental first.

 

[dullard]

It isn't worth my time to argue here.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
Is this in addition to the 2 free instore rentals(including games) that I already get through my online subscription?

Seems that way. We just sent back a batch of movies so I'm going to have to wait until the next batch comes in before I try the in-store rental.

If indeed you do get a free in-store rental every time you return an online rental in-store, I'm going to be making the most of it as I drive near one on my way to and from work. Hopefully, videogames will qualify for the coupon as well.

 

[kami333]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: ScottSwingleComputers
So you return it to the store, get a free in store rental, AND get another mailed? BB is getting desperate.

No, that is not what is happening.

You get one mailed to you, you return it to the store, and another is mailed to you. As a bonus ONCE a MONTH, you get ONE free in-store rental. The only real difference is that you don't have to mail the movie back, instead you can spend lots of time driving to/from the rental location.

The way you typed it, you implied you get TWO rentals for each movie.

It's not entirely clear, especially this part:

Another feature Blockbuster Total Access offers subscribers is a faster shipping cycle. When subscribers return their online rentals to a participating Blockbuster store, the store check-in process automatically initiates the shipment of the next available movie(s) in the subscriber?s rental queue, whether they take advantage of the in-store exchange option or not. That means Total Access customers generally will get their online movie(s) a day faster than if they had dropped the return movies in the mail.

You definitely can drop the movie off at the store and get an in-store rental in return, but that section implies that they also ship your next online rental at the same time - you don't have to return the in-store rental first.

Either way this is excellent for me. There's a Blockbuster on my way to work and right now I have the unlimited rentals pass with them, I'll probably change it to online rentals now

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: mugs
You definitely can drop the movie off at the store and get an in-store rental in return, but that section implies that they also ship your next online rental at the same time - you don't have to return the in-store rental first.

That is correct, you could potentially have an in-store rental, AND a DVD in the mail coming to you at the same time. But that only happens once a month, thus it really isn't a big bonus.

Originally posted by: Queasy
Total Access customers will also get a free in-store rental coupon each month, Blockbuster said.

One coupon a month isn't much. At least not enough to get excited about.

From wyvrn's press release post:

For each online rental exchanged in the store, customers can receive a free in-store movie rental.

Sounds like there is some definite confusion on the subject.

 

[Reckoner]

How it works is if you are on the 3 at a time program, when you finish watching your 3 movies from BBO, you can bring them to a participating store. For each one you bring into the store, you get a free rental on any movie in the store. So if you bring in 3 movies, you can get 3 rentals for free. The employee scans the barcode on the envelope to free up the next movie in your queue, as well as allowing the system to give the in-store rental for free. The in-store rentals are in addition to your online rentals.

 

[dullard]

It isn't worth my time to argue here.

 

[Reckoner]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: Queasy
Sounds like there is some definite confusion on the subject.

The way I read it is like this:
(1) You have a DVD mailed to you.

(2) You can: (a) mail it back for another DVD mailed to you, (b) bring it to the store and get a DVD mailed to you, or (c) bring it to the store and get an in-store DVD.

You CANNOT usually to both (2b) and (2c).

(3) Once a month you'll get a coupon so that once a month you can do both (2b) and (2c).

Wrong. You CAN do both 2b and 2c

 

[dullard]

It isn't worth my time to argue here.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: Queasy
Sounds like there is some definite confusion on the subject.

The way I read it is like this:
(1) You have a DVD mailed to you.

(2) You can: (a) mail it back for another DVD mailed to you, (b) bring it to the store and get a DVD mailed to you, or (c) bring it to the store and get an in-store DVD.

You CANNOT usually to both (2b) and (2c).

(3) Once a month you'll get a coupon so that once a month you can do both (2b) and (2c).

Remember, Blockbuster always words their press-releases and advertisements in a way that people think the deal is far better than it really is. The "no late fee" deal really means, "late fees have been replaced by restocking fees".

it used to be you got one free in store rental (wich had nothing to do with how many dvd's you had out fron the online thing) a week. then they swiched it to 2 a month.
now its 1 a month?

pfft.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: Queasy
Sounds like there is some definite confusion on the subject.

The way I read it is like this:
(1) You have a DVD mailed to you.

(2) You can: (a) mail it back for another DVD mailed to you, (b) bring it to the store and get a DVD mailed to you, or (c) bring it to the store and get an in-store DVD.

You CANNOT usually to both (2b) and (2c).

(3) Once a month you'll get a coupon so that once a month you can do both (2b) and (2c).

Remember, Blockbuster always words their press-releases and advertisements in a way that people think the deal is far better than it really is. The "no late fee" deal really means, "late fees have been replaced by restocking fees".

The way I read it, especially in light of the Blockbuster Press Release that wyvrn quoted above:

1) You get a DVD in the mail.

2) You return the DVD to the store and get one free in-store coupon.

This happens for each DVD you get in the mail - "For each online rental exchanged in the store, customers can receive a free in-store movie rental."

This is on top of the normal Blockbuster plans of X number DVDs out at one time plus Y number of free in-store coupons.

 

[Reckoner]

Link

 

[wyvrn]

It really is a new name for their existing online deal, with a small twist. Their existing online programs gave out free in-store rental coupons which you could print and redeem in the stores for free movies. If you had the 2out at a time plan, you got 4 free in store rentals.

Now with Total Access, you get the same deal but they are encouraging you to go to the store (so they can take advantage of store advertisements and keep their in-store business healthy). So for every online movie you bring back, you get a free rental in the stores.

It works out to almost the same deal as what they currently have with their online programs, but you instead bring your movies back to a store instead of shipping them back to BB online DCs.

The advantage to the consumer is also in fast shipping. In addition to 31 Online Distribution centers. BB is now using stores to ship product to online customers. So times are reduced when people take their movies back to stores which automatically check the movie in, thereby making it available to ship from the store to the next person in the online queue. This saves a day in the overall online chain, supposedly giving BB an edge over Netflix because they do not have a store presence.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: PaulNEPats
https://beta.blockbuster.com/totalaccess">Link</a>

Crap

5. Q. Can I redeem a DVD from BLOCKBUSTER Online for an in-store game rental?

A. BLOCKBUSTER Online DVDs can be redeemed for movie rentals only.

Fortunately, I'm still on an older plan where I get two free in-store coupons to use on games or movies.

 

[Queasy]

Woohoo

10. Q. How many free in-store rentals can I get?

A. Each return envelope containing a BLOCKBUSTER Online DVD is good for ONE free in-store movie rental. There is no limit to the number of DVDs from BLOCKBUSTER Online that you may redeem for free in-store rentals but you may only have a maximum of 20 in-store rentals checked out on your in-store membership at any one time.(top)