Wolf359

They can all close, hopefully tomorrow. I'm STILL getting calls a year later from their collections for a Dark Knight Returns I supposedly didn't return. Fuck 'em.

Cheato

(Seriously, people, read the f-in posts before responding.)

I never said anything about sympathy for a corporation.

My "I don't actually care" was specifically in a simple sentence that said I didn't actually care about where you shopped or didn't shop. My "I don't give a damn" comment was directed at the idea of using a bad experience in a store as justification to take joy in the fact that a bunch of people have lost their jobs.

I'm not sure how you could confuse those things or why you would take those words and apply them to a different idea. It's like you saw random words in my posts and reassembled them in a way that gave you an opportunity to use a phrase like "by your own logic." However, you weren't using "my" logic.

My disgust is based on the fact that among all the responses, all I was seeing was things like "how can we profit from this?"--even to the extent of "how can we steal from them?"--and yet not a single person said anything about the people actually losing their jobs.

Finally, thank you to Vipper II for one of the most reasonable comments (including my own) in this thread.

cpgator

Relax dude - BB has screwed a lot of people, so people are happy to see them go. No big deal.

UAIOE

This is why I am puzzled they didn't start going the Redbox route.

You buy/maintain a machine, stock it, place it somewhere where someone will see it and impulsively rent it. You don't have to maintain nearly as many stores and you increase your coverage/access to customers.

I know squat about marketing, I'm just a dummy, and even *I* got the concept. Why didn't BB?

Kmical

While that may have been the case in the past, it appears that their recent shipments for myself (and others I have talked to) amount to throttling:

I have 28 movies in my Blockbuster queue. 19 of them are listed as available. For some reason (throttling to save them money on shipping?), the most they will have out to me at a time is 2 - even though I'm on a three-at-a-time plan with unlimited in-store exchanges.

Let's say I get one in the mail, watch it, then bring it back to my local store for an in-store exchange. The store movie shows up in my queue (as it should), while the exchanged title disappears (again, as it should). When I bring this movie back and drop it off at the store in the morning, it clears from my queue that same morning. Now - they should ship me another movie. Fat chance - it may be two or three days before they ship another one.

If this happened occasionally, I would think this was just normal supply/demand. But it's taking place every week! Returns are clearing immediately (due to the in-store exchanges), but they appear to be in no hurry to send titles out.

Netflix, on the other hand, had been doing a superb job lately. With many of their warehouses now processing movies on Saturday, I get lots of titles in those red envelopes showing up in my mailbox I'm usually shocked to see a blue envelope these days ...

Draven

The only reason I've gone into a Blockbuster lately is for decent prices on used Blu-rays. They don't sticker the discs up and I bought replacement cases online, so a quick swap and they look almost new.

That said, ever since I joined Netflix (and was with Blockbuster Online before that) I didn't need to ever rent a movie in person again. I'm surprised I still see customers in there most of the time. But there are three Blockbusters in about a 10 mile radius near my house (and there were two Hollywood Videos before they closed) that it makes sense they aren't able to keep stores open.

Bye Blockbuster...sorry you sucked so bad.

clckworang

Oh, I read all your comments, and I think what I said was still on point. You say we should talk with our wallets. We did. Guess what the consequence of that ultimately will be? People lose their jobs. And if you don't care where we shop, why should you care if we take advantage of these types of sales? Where in this thread did anyone say, "Hooray, lots of people are losing their jobs!" I don't recall anyone saying that. I guess any time a place is having a going out of business sale we're supposed to not go because that's disrespectful to the business that's closing. Would it make it better if we wore black?

I feel like you have put us in the Seinfeld episode where the reporter thinks Jerry is gay (not that there's anything wrong with that). If we talk about a liquidation or going out of business sale, we need to add at the end of that "but I feel really bad for the people losing their jobs." Or if the Seinfeld thing doesn't do it for you, how about The Simpsons? "The children! Won't somebody think of the children?!"

If you have sufficiently fulfilled your need for moral superiority and political correctness, you can move on.

Arthur Dent

That's a good one, Jim!

I had six months free of Blockbuster and hated it-- and it was free! After my six months ended, I went back to Netflix (I had used Netflix for a month in 2007). I loved it. Netflix didn't throttle me and I always received the next rental the day after shipment from their facility.

There are those three times where Netflix skipped over my first queue slot and shipped the title in slot #2. Each time, this was rectified the next day when the skipped-over title was shipped as a bonus rental from another part of the country.

Cheato

(a) If you did, you didn't understand them.
(b) You're wrong. You weren't "on point." You made two assertions, both of which were 100% wrong. No soup for you.

You can (incorrectly) try to chalk it up to some attempt at "political correctness" or my trying to be "morally superior," if that helps *you* feel superior by labeling and denigrating my opinion, but that doesn't change the facts. You'd be better served trying to make a valid point of your own, instead of trying to use politically charged buzzwords to try to make it easier to dismiss someone else's.

Thank you for your permission to "move on." It's really just a thinly-veiled STFU and go away, right? The best way to win an argument? What's next? Simple name-calling? Maybe a "get a life?" Maybe a "you're not worth my time?" Or a "this is my last post on the subject, so don't bother replying?" Or how about a "just get over it?" And don't forget to pepper your post with laughing smilies. I'll check a "How to Argue a Point on the Internet" FAQ from 1994 for more options for you.

JimRochester

Until recently I had 3 at a time. Numerous times I had 4 out because they would just send another one. Sorry but I had none of the problems you guys are reporting. On the other hand with Netflix, they never sent the top of the queue, they sent old catalog titles instead of new releases. After I cancelled I still had problems with them charging my credit card. I still ended up paying for month I never received.

Brent L

I know of one Blockbuster that will be closing. They are currently doing the liquidation thing - 30% off movies and 10% off games right now. It will last for a month, and each week the % off will go up.

Chrisedge

I fucking hate blockbuster, and your post helps cement it.

You don't give a damm if I had a bad experience, yet you ask ME for some compassion.

I created my site (see sig) almost 10 years ago, because of a shitty experience. This company fostered getting a shitty experience and not bothering to train anyone or hire folks that "care" (see your post)

I feel bad for anyone looking for a job, but if BB goes out of business, I WILL BE HAPPY.

cpgator

The customer satisfaction ratings for Netflix are always very high, while with Blockbuster... not very high at all.

Living Dead

Personally, I prefer this when arguing a point on the internet:


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.................../..../
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I've found it works much better than that old FAQ from 1994!

clckworang

And what exactly is your opinion then? All I've gotten from you is a wet blanket trying to make people guilty because they might actually get a decent buy at Blockbuster for a change. Use a mirror. You are more guilty of all the things you accuse me of. I'm not using any buzzwords, just simple English. I made my point. You are the one that is going into attack mode. I think you got far more personal than I did.

I guess I'm wrong with my assertion that all these stores are closing because people quit shopping at them. Hmm, I wonder why they are closing then.

And yes, I think coming into a thread about store closings and jumping on people because they aren't crying out over the injustice of people losing their jobs is trying to put yourself in a position of moral superiority. Couple that with the fact that I don't think you really read my comments, either ...

jjcool

I'm gonna go by one of the local Blockbusters tonight. We'll see if those thieves have anythign decent left for a good price. Maybe i can recoup some of the money that they have stolen from me in the past. I can safely say, that that is one chain of stores that I wont be sad to see them shuttered. Every blockbuster I ever went into was terrible.

smashthesymbols

I checked the Blockbuster nearest me (40 and 7 intersection, Blue Springs, MO) and it appears to be open for the time being. I didn't go in, but there was no signage or anything to indicate it was closing.

Also, as I mentioned earlier, completely dead as usual. There was exactly one vehicle in the parking lot, which had to be an employee.

JimRochester

Not disputing that. In fact I know Netflix has a good reputation on the board. My experiences with both have just been very different than what other people have been experiencing

statcat

used to always think of them as ballbuster

mraw

I went to your site and read your story. It infuriated me! Blockbuster attempted to charge me late fees for a movie that I never rented in 2005 (I remember it was Constantine). I got in a shouting match with the assistant manager and ended up calling corporate. They informed the store manager of the incident and she gave me two rentals and let me pick a new DVD from the rack for free. She said that she wanted me to continue patronizing the store, but I didn't go back until this year when I read about the 2 for $25 blu-rays. I still haven't rented from there.

MoviePhanatic00

I'm not really a huge fan of NF or BB, but will say BB has been the better choice lately. NF cs is just a joke. At least BB will give you real credit when they mess up. BB doesn't charge premium for Blu. The problem with NF is that they will basically have a monopoly on Blu rentals after BB goes under. NF competes against themselves, they want to be the number one for streming video, but streaming is in direct competition to physical media. NF is just Playing both sides and one of them is going to get screwed over in the end and NF won't have anay aoplogies. BB lost sight of it's goal long ago, if they had stuck to movies only and jumed on the Blu bandwagon sooner, I think they would be in a much better position now.

clckworang

I think there will be a place for discs for a long time to come. People still like to hold something physical if they like it enough (or if it's cheap enough). I think Netflix's streaming service helps fulfill those impulse viewing needs. Then you have to take into account that there are still people who live in areas where broadband my not be available, and even with broadband, there can still be problems with streaming at this point. I think the two will coexist for some time.

I do agree that Netflix's premium Blu-ray pricing is the pits, but I don't think Blockbuster would have benefitted much by getting into the Blu game sooner. There's just not enough Blu-ray players in homes yet.

Draven

What do I pay more for Blu-ray for Netflix...$2 a month? I can find that in between my couch cusions.

cpgator

I pay an extra $5 and it sucks - but certainly not enough of a reason to go to BB.

whotony

Oh that really clever, come up with that on your own.

anyway I work at a BB, I wouldn't be surprised if my store closed.
It/s the only one in the area and it doesn't matter.

very low traffic.

I spent about a month at a differnent bb and for the first 2 weeks back
customers asked me were I was and that they are glad I'm back.
Not all locations are as bad as some of you make it out.

I guess I'll lose my job if this one closes, making many here happy.