dvdshonna

Amazon
"Inception" (Leonardo DiCaprio)

DVD $4.13
Amazon Instant Video $2.99 (rental)
Amazon Instant Video $9.99 (digital purchase)

This stuff leaves me scratching my head. What are the studios trying to do? It looks like they have some kind of thinking disorder. How many people rent for $2.99 when they can buy for $4.13 ?

slop101

What a lot of us who were brought up on physical media don't understand is that most people these days don't want things - the digital file on their device is worth more to them than any disc containing the same material. To them, the disc is clutter and takes up space. Younger people are more mobile than ever and are constantly moving. They'd rather have all their media on a cloud or a thumb drive than to drag around a bunch of discs every time they move.

dvdshonna

So they're like Budhist Monks? Too Cool. I've seen some with red, pink, or green hair and pierced noses/lips. I didn't know they were like religious people shunning materialistic stuff like DVDs and Blu-rays.

Eddie W

Some people just want to watch a movie on impulse. And not have to wait two days for it to arrive, then have another piece of plastic they'll never watch again to store. Plus in today's world, you can watch a digital rental or purchase on anything. Not just a TV connected to a disc player.

Plus your comparisons are on DVD and SD rentals. Who watches SD in 2015? The Blu Ray is $9 and the HD rental is $4. That's a bit of a bigger difference.

slop101

You joke, but I wouldn't be so flippant. I burnt a CD of some rare songs from a band (songs that aren't anywhere online, not itunes, not even a torrent) for a friend, and he's like, "what am I supposed to do with this? My car only plays MP3 files, CDs are useless to me." (I had to compress and email the songs to him, as his *new* computer doesn't even play CDs). Point being, people care less about physical media every day. I can get more selling the digital codes that come packed with most blu-rays than I can for the blu-ray.

dvdshonna

About 2/3 of the population (planet earth) watch SD in 2015. But that wasn't my point.

I was wondering why they insist on overpricing digital rentals and purchases?

50¢ digital rentals for catalog titles & TV episodes / $1.00 for new releases and they would be raking in about 1/2 to 3/4 billion a week minimum (U.S.).

120 million U.S. households. Average $1/day. $7/wk x 120,000,000 = $840 million/wk

Edit: $3 billion/mo. $36 billion/year U.S. ...What are they making now on digital rentals?

davidlynchfan

So is anyone else following the path of dvdshonna's path of Buy Now - Cash In When These Discs Are OOP? just wondering.

Josh-da-man

Most of the "millennials" I know, the people who are in their 20s, don't like having a lot of "stuff." They move constantly, have roommates, live in tiny apartments, etc. They don't want shit-tons of things like CDs, DVDs, and books that they're constantly lugging around. They also don't own nice silverware, nice dishes, candlesticks, or other crap.

They're more than happy to have their media collections in iTunes, Kindle, "the cloud," or a hard drive.

dvdshonna

This is true. I read the millennials never shower or bathe. If you give them DVDs or Blu-rays, they just throw them around like monkeys and scratch them up. Also if you give them crayons, they just eat them.

Shagrath

I'm reading this thread, but I'm not really seeing any indication that this is really a good idea. One person asked him how much time and effort he was putting in to buying/selling these precious discs that everyone seems to want, and he just blew them off. I was actually really curious of the answer.

JackBurton

The OP's post reminds me of two episodes of Planet Money covering arbitrage:

http://www.npr.org/sections/money/20...581-free-money

http://www.npr.org/sections/money/20...low-sell-prime

Worth a listen if you're interested in the topic.

davidlynchfan

isn't blu-ray.com consists of a bunch of millenials?

JimRochester

Not much of a path to follow. Will he make a little cash by doing what he is doing? Yes he will. Is he going to make a killing because these discs will suddenly become worth 10 times what he paid. Doubt it

dvdshonna

I'm not familiar with blu-ray.com, but I've been buying and selling DVDs for approximately ten years, and deal with "millenials" (young adults - 20s) on a regular basis.

No more, no less, than any other age group (30s, 40s, 50s, 60s).

I know kids in their 20's that live with their parents and stockpile all kinds of crap. So I think it's somewhat of a stereotype to state "millenials move a lot and are not in to owning a lot of stuff".

zyzzle

Scary, isn't it, that these are the same people who'll be running our country in a few years? They'll turn it into a digital oblivion.

Their new mantra: "Convenience Trumps All!"

arbogast777

My group of friends are millennials, and definitely don't like collecting "stuff" as this thread suggests. But They do very well for themselves, own their own homes, and instead use their money to go out and experience things and to travel, instead of collecting walls of CD's and DVD's. However, because of subscription services, they are able to listen to as much music or watch as many movies as you do.

I'm not seeing why that group is being looked down upon by this one.

dvdshonna

Time spent? On a per disc basis, much less than a trip to redbox. I typically spend an hour or less picking up 50 to 200 discs.

Time spent responding to questionaires ? Not much.
-------------------------------------------------
Originally Posted by Lifepawn View Post
How do you physically acquire the DVD's? Do you drive to pick them up?

Do buyers pay for shipping and packaging? Do you pay for the packaging to ship in?

Are you listing the smaller lots or individual titles on eBay or Amazon or another site that takes a fee?

How much storage space do these take up in your home?

Are you reporting the income on your taxes?

How much time do you spend on this? Including sorting replies, transporting the discs, searching for what each one sells for online (to find higher value discs), listing the smaller lots, checking to make sure the right discs are there, trips to the post office, etc.
-----------------------------------

DJariya

You do realize that Inception is 5 years old now When the DVD came out back in 2010 it cost anywhere from $14.99 to $19.99

You can't compare the current cost of a DVD to the price of a digital rental for a movie that's 5 years years old. Digital rentals/purchases usually have a flat price point. Newer movies will cost slightly more. Occasionally you may see Inception be on a $1.99 or 99 cent rental special since it's an older movie.

PhantomStranger

It is the Millennials in the urban areas (NYC, L.A., etc) that don't like to own "stuff" since real estate costs a ton and they can't afford bigger housing. These pressures are far more reduced in the suburban and rural areas known as flyover country. People living in the biggest coastal cities tend to live in their own little bubble worlds, where everyone votes and thinks the same about a wide variety of issues.

arbogast777

As I said a few posts above - as a Millennial living in flyover country (Minneapolis) I can tell you that far and away we don't own stuff because we chose to either spend money on experiences (like travel) or we save it (remember we are the first generation after the Great Recession).

Walls of media just doesn't do it for us. That's not a bad thing.

orangerunner

Demographics are the strongest reason for sales and cultural trends. Baby-Boomers and Millennials are the largest demographic groups, therefore, business caters to their needs more than any other age group.

This is why we live in a "youth-friendly" world with bubbly pop music, super-hero movies & Comic Con because Millennials make up such a large part of the population. In 5-15 years we'll probably see the trends start to change to a "family-friendly" world as Millenials start settling down and having families.

When I was twelve years old in 1985, who were the highest selling recording artists? Lionel Richie, Dire Straits, Tina Turner, Phil Collins, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley, John Cougar etc.

Basically all recording artists who were in their 30s and 40s appealed to the baby boomer population that were in their 30s and 40s.

I can't blame a young person for not wanting to cart around a bunch of stuff as they move from place to place. Ten years ago we didn't have much of a choice; either cart it around with you or don't own it. Now you can own and access anywhere in world.

It's not my personal choice but I can certainly understand the attraction of it.

dvdshonna

You don't own stuff? Have you ever seen millenial women shop for clothes, shoes, and cosmetics? You have to use a forklift to load and unload the car.

No wonder millenial guys don't have room for their DVDs/Blu-rays.

dvdshonna

Time spent? On a per disc basis, much less than a trip to redbox. I typically spend an hour or less picking up 50 to 200 discs.

Time spent responding to questionaires ? Not much.
-------------------------------------------------
Originally Posted by Lifepawn View Post
How do you physically acquire the DVD's? Do you drive to pick them up?

Do buyers pay for shipping and packaging? Do you pay for the packaging to ship in?

Are you listing the smaller lots or individual titles on eBay or Amazon or another site that takes a fee?

How much storage space do these take up in your home?

Are you reporting the income on your taxes?

How much time do you spend on this? Including sorting replies, transporting the discs, searching for what each one sells for online (to find higher value discs), listing the smaller lots, checking to make sure the right discs are there, trips to the post office, etc.
-----------------------------------

dvdshonna

You can make money buying and selling a lot of stuff on facebook groups. If you enjoy movies, making money watching movies beats spending money watching movies.

If you buy and sell washers/dryers, I guess you could make money while you're washing your clothes, but I prefer watching movies. To each his own.

I have no idea what the millenials do. I guess they "travel and experience things" at the laundromats.

Texan26

There are some DVDs that I bought super cheap and I'm surprised at the prices now.

Herman and Katnip: The Complete Series (I bought this for around $5 from Amazon last year and now the lowest price is over $300.)
http://www.amazon.com/Herman-Katnip-The-Complete-Series/dp/B00555ZT7Y/ref=pd_sim_74_46?ie=UTF8&refRID=15HQ489ZAZKC93WMBBP5

Saved By the Bell- Double Feature (Hawaiian Style / Wedding In Las Vegas) (Got this from Big Lots for $2 a few years ago. and now it's over $40.)
http://www.amazon.com/Saved-Double-F...g+in+las+vegas

But I can't see anyone buying them at those prices.

I wish I would have bought extra copies of the Disney Treasures tins also.

I would never invest in big hit catalog movies because there are thousands of copies everywhere but I can see buying stuff like the DVDs posted above at low prices.