Keeping Track of Borrowed DVDs
 

If you lend out DVDs do you make an extra effort to keep track of them?

I try to put an empty DVD case in its spot so I don't have to reorganize when I get them back. Sometimes I'll forget what is missing, though, and I have to sit and think of what was between "Head of the Family" and "Heat." I keep telling myself to make a list but I never get around to it.



I kind of wish I could stop lending movies altogether, but I A) Enjoy turning someone on to a new movie and B) I feel like a douche if I say "no, you can't borrow that.
But then I think about how long my Arrested Development seasons have been missing. WHY DO YOU NEED TO BORROW TWO SEASONS AT ONCE?!
I don't even want to talk about how long my Neon Genesis Evangelion box has been gone after lending it to a friend I see maybe once a month if I'm lucky.
I especially hate when people borrow movies, only to return them in two months (after I feel like an asshole begging them to bring it back over and over) after not even watching the movie!
I've let people borrow too many DVD's when I'm drunk, too. I get all drunk and loving when people are over and all the sudden they're leaving with two box sets and three of my favorite movies (like the aforementioned Arrested Development).
I realize the rant above kind of belongs in the old borrowing thread, but I am really curious about how people keep track, and I had to rant.

For loaning discs to friends or family, I limit it to just one disc at a time and also give a date I want it back by. And then anyone who is lousy at returning on-time (or at all) get cutoff from borrowing anything else.

If you put your collection on DVD Spot, you can list what titles you've loaned out and to who and when.

^ Same with Delicious Library.

I can't remember which DVD profile site I used to use, but I had an online list at one point. I just never kept up with it and I really don't feel like taking the time to make a new one. Although I should.

Don't lend them out. That will solve all problems :)

I didn't feel like doing it either, but once I put everything in spot (or something else), I (and my friends and family) were much happier. It is invaluable knowing exactly what I have from anywhere with an internet connection.

I've loaned musical movies (Evita and Phantom of the Opera) on separate occassions to two different couples; good neighbours in my condo building, on the condition they watch and return within a week. They disregarded the agreement, so I had to call them up a week later. Then they got all offended that I was going after them to get my discs back, and they've never asked to borrow again, let alone visit. This happened exactly the same way with both couples, so must speak to a certain type of people in my area.

dvd profiler is good software to keep track of your collection. I loan dvds just to family and friends witch I trust. In dvd profiler simply put start date and how long. you never forget. You can also do that on online profiles.

Not to steal your thread, but I have a neighbor that loaned me Rush Hour 2 believing it was the most brilliant comedy in existence. I told him I was into movies and RH2 was his respnse. I really didn't care for the movie. Anyway, first opprtunity I had to give it back I thanked him and lied to him by telling him the movie was pretty good. He refused it and told me to keep it. "I have seen many times," he says. So now I have his crappy movie and don't know what to do with it. If I catch the window of his car rolled down I'll dump it in. That said I rarely if ever let anyone borrow films. They are not displayed in the open either.

I only let me very close friends borrow DVDs and I have one simple rule: bring it back EXACTLY as you got it. If it comes back any different you're buying me a new one. They always agree and I never have issues. I also don't lend out season sets, LE's, rare DVDS or anything difficult to replace. And I never give them the slipcover or any kind of sleeve when loaning it out either.

I never lend any movies out. I've had a couple of bad experiences so now I just hold onto my stuff.

Trust me, after you say "no, you can't borrow that" a few times, you'll stop feeling like a douche and more like a person who doesn't want to have his DVDs broken, that have been bought with your hard earned money.

My favorite comeback when someone says "why not?" is "because you didn't pay for it", followed by a ;) .

I don't have a problem lending out dvds. Most of the time, I force people to borrow a dvd if I feel it's a movie/tv show they need to see.

What I do to keep track of it all is to put the disc of whatever I'm lending out in a spare CD jewel-case, and I turn that dvd's empty case sideways on it's shelf.

When the second one came out, I heard someone at Wal-Mart asking a clerk what the difference was between the first and second one.

As for keeping track of movies, you could just write something down.

i use dvd profiler as well.

I always try to stick to that, too. i hate getting DVDs back with the slip covers all screwed up.

If anyone shows an interest in a DVD I own, I suggest to 'em setting up a time when they can come over to watch it.

:lol: A pen and paper? What year do you think this is?

Yeah, I get sick of being treated as the bad guy when I don't loan DVDs out. I actually had one "co-worker" try to make me feel guilty because I didn't GIVE them all of my Disney DVDs for their needy kid like one of their "real friends" did. He tells me that his buddy said, "Here, take them, we don't need them anymore. They're yours." Then he gives me this long shameful look. What the hell. Try going to the store and actually buying them with your own money if you want to build a video library for your child. What a jerk.

I lend out dvds all the time. Currently one guy has seasons 1-3 of The Wire, another has Rome and some entourage and a pedro almodovar boxset. Heck sometimes I'll give one friend movies for her mom to watch since she had an operation and immobile. Some people I won't let borrow however if I don't think they are close friends or they have abused borrowing in the pass. Also once a movie makes it to my 400 disc changer it is off limits. I think having 1500+ dvds also helps because rarely will one of the discs lent out be the one I want to watch,

I don't lend any of my movies, period. Too many things can go wrong. From the disc getting scratched to flimsy packaging being destroyed.

I once lent my cousin the Star Wars trilogy on VHS, never saw them again. I lent my sister a DVD once and it came back with bite marks on the case!?

If I can't even trust my family, there is no way I'm lending anyone else my DVDs.

yeah I agree don't lend them out, it's not worth the hassle

The worst part is when someone borrows a DVD without your knowledge, and then you spend hours looking for it. ARGH.

Did he think you paid for them for the opportunity to be a good samaritan?

I used to lend out DVD's and I just made a list of the ones I lent out. But it’s like pulling teeth to get them back so I rarely let anyone borrow them anymore.

I can't imagine not lending them out if asked. I think my movies have been watched more by others than by myself. Lending them out if a big part of how I justify owning so many.

If we get so into our possessions that we can't share, then the things own us, not the other way around.

I didn't used to lend out, but I've relaxed my policy a little. The people I lend to know how I treat my stuff and treat it the same.

Currently I have out:
24: S2
Friday Night Lights: S1
Smallville: S1
Smallville: S4
the Unit: S1
Entourage: S1
Arrested Development: S1
Nightmares & Dreamscapes

and a couple movies.

Just thought I'd share since I have so may TV sets out, maybe give a few of you a heart attack thinking about it. :lol:

He's a mooch. Granted, he's an extreme case, but I still find most people expect you to be their local Blockbuster when they find out you have a decent DVD collection. Like others here, I used to loan stuff out (DVDs and CDs) and got burned way too many times, so I stopped. The masses only have themselves to blame for me closing the video shop. :p

I don't think we'll be the ones having the heart attack when some of those titles don't come back home the way they should. -wink-

Exactly! That's why whenever someone wants to borrow your DVDs, you should send them HERE.

I pretty much stopped lending out DVDs. And if I do, if the movie has special packaging, I will give them the disc in a blank case. I've had too many unique cases damaged because people don't know how to respect another person's property.

:clap:
(Although, I think I'd put the FN rating on the top of the page.)

I used a sign-out sheet when I started lending. The borrower writes their name, the title of the DVD and the date when they borrowed it. There is another column for them to write the date when they return it.

That works well if you are low volume - but if you are a high volume lender it suffers by being date ordered, so it gets hard to find the entry when the disc is returned.

After a couple of thousand of 'rentals' I went to a sort of library-card system like in grade-school - the first time a disc is borrowed, I write up a little 3x5 index card with the disc's name and the rest of the card is used for the borrowers' names and checkout dates. The cards of borrowed DVDs go in a little box sorted alphabetically by title, so when the DVD is returned, it is easy to find the card and then stick it in the DVDs case, ready for the next person to borrow.

I agree about the special packaging being too easily damaged, I always repackage any fancy editions into plain amaray cases.

I tend to lend out the disc in a plain case, keeping the original case in it's spot on the shelf. I'll then put it in dvdspot as borrowed.

How about a quill and a sheet of parchment?

I hate lending out movies also. Most of my friends are good at returning them; only bc i see them 4 times a week and pretty much get them myself when I go to their houses. I do have one friend though, who will borrow 3-4 movies whenever he is at my house and I won't get them back for at least a month (and thats only bc I'll take them back when I go to his house, he'll never drop them off).
I have a text document which I keep notes in on whoever borrows movies then just erase it when I get them back. I also keep the original case bc they always seem to get messed up when loaning them, and just put the discs in empty cases to loan out.

It's not even about that really. I used to lend out my DVD's a bunch. The problem was (as I'm guessing with most people here on the forums) they were coming back in terrible condition or not coming back at all. I have had many discs come back scratched up or packaging damaged (tears, rips, around heavy smoking environments)

In the case of DVD's not coming back at all, I had to constantly check if the person I lent out a DVD to was going to return it. If you don't have the time to watch 1-2 films in a month or two time span, you shouldn't be borrowing films at all.

Simply said, (most) people just don't treat others property as they would their own. Then again there are people that treat their things like crap, so the above doesn't really apply.

After so many bad experiences, I have only let my family, a couple of my best friends and my girlfriend borrow from my collection. They all have treated my discs with respect and got them back in a timely fashion.

Seeing that my collection is a big (and ongoing) investment, I shouldn't have to replace discs (which cost me money) because other people are careless with them.

Has anyone found a 'nice' way to say no, without sounding like a bitch?

Every time I have ever loaned anything, I either never got it back, or it came back heavily damaged.

I eventually decided that if my choice was to be a bitch with a perfect dvd collection, or be 'nice' and watch borrowers damage my stuff, I would rather be a bitch.

I just wish there was a middle ground, where we didn't get shamed for wanting to draw a clear boundary.

Exactly. I don't like having to rebuy stuff other people damaged. To, me, if someone is working on a big collection, you should respect that, but other people think if you have a big room full of books it is a 'free' library for them, and if you have a lot of dvds it is a 'free' blockbuster.

If I cared that much about packaging or whether a disc got scratches on it, I wouldn't lend them out. Or, if I did, I would inform the lendee that I cared about condition, and if the item was damaged at all, I would need them to give me the replacement $. Carefully spelling out before lending that this item will cost me exactly $xx to replace if you damage it in even a slight way.

I think after hearing your crazy talk like that, most would decline to borrow from you. But if they did, you'd be covered for replacement cost.

Personally, I've had discs look like they've been used to scour dishes but they still play fine, scratches have never bothered me.