Final Nail in the Coffin for Blockbuster?

[fustercluck]

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-wor...bringing-back-late-fees?mod=career-leadership

Late fees are back along with a shorter rental period. I never liked Blockbuster too much, so kinda hope they fail - Though I do have fond memories of renting SNES games (back then I think they were 2 day rentals). Always felt they were kind of a dick company.

 

[Tristicus]

Hopefully. I hate 'em.

 

[HannibalX]

Fuck em'

They claimed I stole two movies from them back in 2003 and wanted to charge me $50 for them! They claimed the DVD cases I returned were empty. Of course some snotty little cum stain of kid working there probably lifted the movies.

That's why I like RedBox - the bar code is on the disc and it gets scanned coming in and going out of the machine - no chance for shenanigans. I haven't set foot inside a Block Buster since '03 and don't plan to any time soon.

 

[RiDE]

Fuck em'

They claimed I stole two movies from them back in 2003 and wanted to charge me $50 for them! They claimed the DVD cases I returned were empty. Of course some snotty little cum stain of kid working there probably lifted the movies.

That's why I like RedBox - the bar code is on the disc and it gets scanned coming in and going out of the machine - no chance for shenanigans. I haven't set foot inside a Block Buster since '03 and don't plan to any time soon.

Same here. It could've been the idiots working there but I don't really give a sh*t anymore. That's what I get for returning them early. I haven't been to blockbuster since either.

 

[Leros]

Fuck em'

They claimed I stole two movies from them back in 2003 and wanted to charge me $50 for them! They claimed the DVD cases I returned were empty. Of course some snotty little cum stain of kid working there probably lifted the movies.

That's why I like RedBox - the bar code is on the disc and it gets scanned coming in and going out of the machine - no chance for shenanigans. I haven't set foot inside a Block Buster since '03 and don't plan to any time soon.

I had a similar experience. They called us about making us pay $50 for a movie we returned a few months later. We asked them for the number on the box. We went to the store and found the box sitting on the shelf. They just forgot to scan it back into their system.

 

[santz]

you guys are heartless, good or bad, its a loss for the country as a whole, a very old company & a way of life coming to an end

 

[Mike Gayner]

I read the thread title as "Finger Nail in the Coffin for Blockbuster?". I was like, WTF?!

 

[zerocool84]

you guys are heartless, good or bad, its a loss for the country as a whole, a very old company & a way of life coming to an end

and the world goes round and round

You don't think they put thousands and thousands of small mom & pop stores out of business??? They should just switch to solely internet based ala netflix and get rid of the stores.

 

[0roo0roo]

yea they were awful.
they hated film as well.
they didnt carry unrated films until netflix clubbed them in the face..and they took forever to embrace wide screen dvd, they held onto the lowest common denominator cr@p 4:3 pan scan while netflix pushed wide screen adoption ahead.
and of course their selection sucked, their fees sucked, and their bogus penalties sucked(they got sued for it).

 

[DivideBYZero]

you guys are heartless, good or bad, its a loss for the country as a whole, a very old company & a way of life coming to an end

wtf? Lmaonade!

 

[geno]

you guys are heartless, good or bad, its a loss for the country as a whole, a very old company & a way of life coming to an end

Any hate they receive is their own fault. What is a single movie rental from them nowadays, $5? Screw that. Business changes and certain kinds of businesses will be phased out. Blockbuster will be one of them, unless we bail them out too

 

[ixelion]

Blockbuster has become irrelevant since gamefly and netflix . Now in Canada we www.gameaccess.ca, now we have no reason to go to blockbuster either.

 

[Genx87]

Hated Blockbuster since the mid 90s. Awful company and glad they are about to be buried.

 

[lxskllr]

you guys are heartless, good or bad, its a loss for the country as a whole, a very old company & a way of life coming to an end

Very old company? Any company that came into existence during my lifetime hardly qualifies as very old :^D

 

[DesiPower]

Their days are over, the world has moved on. in 1990s you had only 2 options, buy or rent, their business made a lot of sense. Now you have too many other options, from VOD to Netflix to Internet...

Now, its just a matter of when and not if, anymore. If you are employed with them well... its time to get away... you are on a failboat.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

As DesiPower said, their business model is outdated and they were too slow to move to an online model like Netflix has employed. Why rent a single movie for $5 when you can pay $9 for a month of Netflix and have unlimited streaming an can probably get 4 or 5 DVDs in that month? Even cable on-demand rentals are cheaper.

 

[Triumph]

you guys are heartless, good or bad, its a loss for the country as a whole, a very old company & a way of life coming to an end

Dude, Ford is an old company. Anheiser Busch is an older company. Dupont is even older still. Video tapes have been around since the 70's!

I stopped going to Cockbuster 10 years ago when DVD's were new, and they were still charging $3.99 for a 1 day VHS catalog rental. 4 bucks to rent a stupid Bruce Lee movie for 1 day? No thanks.

 

[Juddog]

Last time I was there and they mentioned the late fee about a month ago I said to myself I'm not coming back there ever again. Plus I have Netflixx.

 

[Miramonti]

Its sad to see horses get shot for having a broken leg, yet Blockbuster lives on.

 

[MrChad]

I must be one of the few people who managed to rent from Blockbuster dozens of times without incurring late fees. Their business model is no different from other B&M video rental places (chain or smaller local shops): pay x dollars to rent a movie for a certain number of days, return the movie within the allotted time or pay a penalty. When they first came around, their selection blew away most local stores, and that helped them succeed and dominate the industry.

Their business model is simply unsustainable now. OnDemand, Netflix and RedBox have made Blockbuster obsolete, and they haven't been able to adapt. I won't shed a tear for their demise, but I don't really understand the passionate hatred people feel towards them.

 

[Aharami]

I, for one, will miss blockbuster. I like the fact that I can return my online movies in the store and get a movie from there in exchange w/o paying anything extra. So instead of a day or two day turnaround, I have 15 min turnaround

 

[FelixDeCat]

I, for one, will miss blockbuster. I like the fact that I can return my online movies in the store and get a movie from there in exchange w/o paying anything extra. So instead of a day or two day turnaround, I have 15 min turnaround

Yes, long live Blockbuster. They are a great American company.

Netflix is the screwed up idea. I dont want no damn contract just to watch a damn movie. D:

 

[vi edit]

I must be one of the few people who managed to rent from Blockbuster dozens of times without incurring late fees. Their business model is no different from other B&M video rental places (chain or smaller local shops): pay x dollars to rent a movie for a certain number of days, return the movie within the allotted time or pay a penalty.

Same. I just don't get some people. Try renting a car and keeping it past the return date and see how that goes. Same with tools. Same with library books. The rules and rates are pretty explicity laid out. Some people just feel like they have this god given right to rent, hold, and return whenever they want without recourse.

 

[Queasy]

This is part of the reason why I left BB and went to Netflix/Gamefly. Blockbuster changes the conditions of their rentals about as often as you would change a baby's diaper.

There's something to be said for giving consumers certainty.

I could care less about the late fees because I always returned my stuff before I would get charged with a couple of exceptions. And these prices and fees are really no different than what Redbox charges. However, I think they need a running scroll at their front door to tell you what today's conditions are to membership.

 

[PottedMeat]

Die Blockbuster Die.

When my parents rented from blockbuster ( maybe 3-4 times a year ) they'd always return the videos on time. Months afterward we'd get a notice that something was late or missing. No matter the location ( different ones in NY & TX ) blockbuster would always screw up.