Blockbuster's 99 Cent Rentals; Yawn

[gxsolace]

Blockbuster this week announced that DVD rentals will now cost an ultra low 99 cents per movie.
The announcement came just in time to start the Holiday season early. Unfortunately, Blockbuster is somewhat behind the times as far as movie rentals go. User

Blockbuster's 99 Cent Rentals; Yawn : Read more

 

[SMR]

It can't be unlimited.. The postal costs would add up too quickly. Where I am from, it costs at least 50 cents to mail something, so 19 DVD's later, Netflix is taking a loss (actually, since they give you a return envelope, it costs double). So you will be throttled heavily if you order too many DVD's. They say unlimited, but only mean it if you don't go over a certain limit!

 

[techguy911]

99 cents? doubt we will see that where i live its 5 bucks for dvd, 7.50 for blue ray, i had to laugh asked manager why blue ray is so expensive they said because it was new? new blue ray has been around since 2003 lol and they sell close to same price as dvd's now or use to cost.

 

[zerapio]

With 1 day turnaround you can only get up to 2 movies per week. That works out to 8-10 movies per month for each movie at a time in your plan.

 

[WheelsOfConfusion]

I wouldn't go to Blockbuster just because their selection is awful. The last time I went in (having not been for a good five years prior), part of me died.

 

[malveaux]

Blockbuster tried to copy netflix.

And failed.

They need to understand that they can't be the same old machine they were 10 years ago. Now, people can get cheaper stuff from online services. Thus, they do. Blockbuster is on the chopping block. Soon, you won't see or hear of them. They can't even compete at this point as Netflix took the market. Blockbuster would have to do something even more easy and cheaper to even have a hope. And they just can't even afford to do it since they have so much staff, property, buildings, etc, to maintain and losing that would be bankruptcy.

Then again, BB always sucked and was always more expensive for everyone else. So suck it.

Cheers,

 

[Tindytim]

Owning Physical media is the only way to go for Owning anything really (for me).

But renting physical media it retarded when avoidable.

 

[sojrner]

agree on yawn, I have been using RedBox (all movies, new or old are just a buck) for quite some time now and have not needed to go to a rental place for a loooong time. Prob I have w/ netflix is the wait. I don't want to queue up anything and plan that far ahead. I refuse to plan my life around TV and/or a movie. I have a family that is active, there is no way I can ensure a given night is good.

When I get a jones to watch a flick, I either go to a place close to rent (now that is only a grocery store w/ a redbox) or I go buy it. IMO netflix over snail-mail is not for me. (and streaming is not either as I don't have my comp set up on my theater system.) I can reserve online for redbox immediately and can return anywhere whenever I am out and about.

and 5 bucks?! that is why if I don't rent, I fork out a few bucks more and own the stupid thing. 5 bucks is obsolete.

 

[JonnyDough]

[citation][nom]SMR[/nom]It can't be unlimited.. The postal costs would add up too quickly. Where I am from, it costs at least 50 cents to mail something, so 19 DVD's later, Netflix is taking a loss (actually, since they give you a return envelope, it costs double). So you will be throttled heavily if you order too many DVD's. They say unlimited, but only mean it if you don't go over a certain limit![/citation]

The only limitation is the turn around time, and weekends and holidays figure into that. I have NetFlix. In a given week I can only really watch about two or three DVDs on the two-dvds-at-a-time plan. If I send a movie back Saturday I won't usually see the next movie until Tuesday at the earliest. That's half my week gone by already. There are 52 weeks in a year and if I average about 2.5 movies a week that's 130 movies a year. Shipping costs for that at whatever it is bulk rate for NetFlix, we'll say...20 cents, as if it's a postcard. $0.20 times 130 movies is only $26. Subscription cost is $14 a month for the two-dvd-at-a-time plan. That means I pay $168 a year. Subtract the cost of shipping and NetFlix makes $142 off of me before DVD purchase and replacement. If a DVD costs them an average of $3 (bulk rates! they don't pay Wal-mart prices) and they rent a movie an average of twenty times before they have to discard it then they effectively and their sorters make an average of $7 an hour with an additional $3 per hour to pay for medical and corp tax, then they just made...a huge bundle of cash. The math is getting too complex for my brain at this point, but make no mistake. NetFlix has an very well devised business model and is raking in dough.

 

[JonnyDough]

[citation][nom]Tindytim[/nom]Owning Physical media is the only way to go for Owning anything really (for me).But renting physical media it retarded when avoidable.[/citation]

Some of us aren't so mindless that we watch the same movies over and over and over and over. Why purchase? Anymore it's all just repeats of the classics anyway. Rarely is there anything intriguing and new.

Renting is THE best option if you're seeking new releases and fresh material. At least, it was. Cheap DVD prices thanks to the new HD formats have added a twist for renters, which is one very big reason Blockbuster is finding the market tough. Anymore it's as cheap to buy a DVD as rent it, unless of course you want a new release. There's a reason I shop Amazon for movies instead of Wal-mart, and why I still prefer to stay behind the curve a bit.

It pays to have a bit of patience and purchase series like "House" or "Scrubs" (or whatever your bag is) a few months after it hits the shelves. Shopping for it online is worth the shipping cost. Cheaper older movies are better to buy in the local retail chain though, because shipping costs of $3 isn't worth it for a movie you can get for $3 and watch tonight.

 

[bobbknight]

Having been fiscally ass raped by Blockbuster, I will dance a jig when they die.

Long live Net Flix.

 

[Startingline13]

Netflix and blockbuster don't pay $3 per movie because they get them in bulk rate. They pay an added fee because they rent them out and make money off of them. That's a large part of why when you loose a movie at blockbuster you pay an insane fee to cover the cost.

 

[JonnyDough]

[citation][nom]startingline13[/nom]Netflix and blockbuster don't pay $3 per movie because they get them in bulk rate. They pay an added fee because they rent them out and make money off of them. That's a large part of why when you loose a movie at blockbuster you pay an insane fee to cover the cost.[/citation]

Then why would rentals cost more if the difference is covered when you LOSE a DVD? Your logic is lacking.

 

[Luscious]

Blockbuster used to have a 3-at-a-time plan for $17 and a 4-at-a-time plan for around $23. Then they got rid of the 4-at-a-time plan and bumped up the price of the 3-at-a-time plan to $37, more than double.

I was a customer of theirs for several years, I even paid the increased prices hoping that the service would improve. What BS!!!

Alongside having a poor choice of titles, horrendous wait times for their online orders, and outrageous price increases, they sent me the wrong DVD 6 times in a row, kept sending me 2 discs in the mail when I was paying for three, and made no efforts whatsoever to make my experience with them a pleasant one.

When I complained about all this to their management, they gave me two weeks free... and then kept on messing up my deliveries, sending the wrong discs, broken discs, and I kept getting only 2 discs in the mailbox when I should have been receiving three.

All this from a company that wouldn't even acknowledge their mistakes, much less correct them. They increase the prices more than double, downgrade their service, and expect to be profitable with happy customers? I dumped Blockbuster at the end of my month, called my credit card company and got the $37 returned.

There was a time when I was extremely satisfied with Blockbuster, would cheerfully pay their rates and their local store worked great for me, but I will never be their customer again. Their service has become so poor and so expensive it's worse than a bad joke. I hope they go under.

 

[LightWeightX]

Yes Blockbuster has been going down hill for some time now but the nice thing they have is you don't need a plan and you can pick up a movie when you want. That is it's Friday night and you decide you want to watch something, I can go to my local Blockbuster store (5 minutes away) and pick up a movie. If I don't want to rent any movies for a couple of months, it doesn't cost me anything. For a family that may or may not be up to watching something it works for us.

 

[mdillenbeck]

I'm old enough to have worked at a video store when tapes dominated.

First, startingline13 is right - when a company purchases a copy of a movie for rental use, they pay significantly more than when you buy one for personal viewing. Back when VHS tapes were $20 for personal use, a rental copy was typically around $100-$200. Of course, there did develop companies that rented to the rental companies.

Second, I really doubt that Netflix pays standard postal rates. Considering the volume of business they give the US Postal system, I am sure they have negotiated a very generous bulk discount rate.

Third, I am a bit disappointed with the title of this article and its reporting - it indicates a strong bias. Then again, it seems that Tom's had moved away from publishing unbiased articles and into the realm of advertising laden blog.

Finally, I am in the "buy it" category. I am sure one reason that blockbuster finally changed their pricing is because DVD retail costs are plummeting just like VHS tapes did. You can find discount DVDs for $4 to $8 quite frequently, so it makes no sense to pay $5 to see it once. Yes, people do mindlessly re-watch movies - just as people "mindlessly" reread books, walk on paths they have walked on before, vacation in the same spots every few years, and so on. When I have friends over and they haven't seen my favorite movie, its nice to be able to share it with them without paying again and again for it.

 

[kittle]

I think netflix calls their rental service "unlimited" because they dont give a hard limit on how many dvd's you can rent per month, but as others have pointed out -- theres some very practical limits on how much you can actually rent in a month.

For me having blockbuster around was nice because it was within walking distance. Yes their selection sucked, but the exercise was nice. But then I moved and that store closed down, and I found I didnt really miss it.
Eventually I discovered netflix and their online streaming, which works great for me.

 

[gwellin]

[citation][nom]JonnyDough[/nom]The only limitation is the turn around time, and weekends and holidays figure into that. I have NetFlix. In a given week I can only really watch about two or three DVDs on the two-dvds-at-a-time plan. If I send a movie back Saturday I won't usually see the next movie until Tuesday at the earliest. That's half my week gone by already. There are 52 weeks in a year and if I average about 2.5 movies a week that's 130 movies a year. Shipping costs for that at whatever it is bulk rate for NetFlix, we'll say...20 cents, as if it's a postcard. $0.20 times 130 movies is only $26. Subscription cost is $14 a month for the two-dvd-at-a-time plan. That means I pay $168 a year. Subtract the cost of shipping and NetFlix makes $142 off of me before DVD purchase and replacement. If a DVD costs them an average of $3 (bulk rates! they don't pay Wal-mart prices) and they rent a movie an average of twenty times before they have to discard it then they effectively and their sorters make an average of $7 an hour with an additional $3 per hour to pay for medical and corp tax, then they just made...a huge bundle of cash. The math is getting too complex for my brain at this point, but make no mistake. NetFlix has an very well devised business model and is raking in dough.[/citation]

Your logic is correct except you assume in this example that everyone turns around every rental the second they get the movie. In fact I'm sure a great majority of the renters hold on to there movie for a week or so on average. Some people I know have forgot about there movies and haven't returned them for over a month. This is where netflix really makes there money. They still charge you for doing no work with zero extra overhead. I'm on a 3 at a time plan and I very rarely return a movie the day after I get it. Some of the kids movies I'll keep for 2-3 weeks if my daughter loves it that much.

 

[antilycus]

"new blue ray has been around since 2003 lol and they sell close to same price as dvd's now or use to cost."

I dont know what crack you have been smoking, but you should sell it. Blu-Ray's even online are at least 5-10 more dollars. DVD's are still outselling Blu-Ray 9 to 1, that isn't changing anytime soon. I'll just watch my 1080p $60 upconverting DVD player that looks just as good and I HAVE PUT THEM SIDE BY SIDE (buddy has a PS3)