Sadly, all three have short lifespans
Video giant Blockbuster can’t get any money to save itself from bankruptcy. Thanks to years of heavy fighting with Netflix, the company has essentially spent itself into the ground and, thanks to the credit crunch, is looking at closing its doors.
Netflix, if you’ll remember, has no overhead. They buy disks, ship them, and wait for them to come back. Add in streaming and the company could basically have no costs except for video streaming expenses. Blockbuster, on the other hand, was late to the DVD-rental-by-mail game and its physical stores are shells of their once-mighty selves.
I’ll admit I have a soft spot for the old Blockbuster store in my heart. Making it a Blockbuster night was one of my fondest teenage memories. Unfortunately, things change.
I certainly have no soft spot for blockbusters. When video rental first appeared we had nice independant shops here in the UK that gave a personal touch. Then the massive corporate monster that was blockbuster turned up and bought them all out.
Blockbuster has becowm known for turning ‘customer service’ into ‘consumer exasperation’.
Check out how they fare at ‘www.ripoffreport.com’
I’m none too fond of other services, as I just avoid movies and ‘renting’ altogether since I want to vote with my wallet against the MPAA and its vicious attacks on consumers.
no soft spot for blockbusters? omg, i hate these guys, always cashing in on my late fees … or is it the fact that I can never return a movie in time and they catch me …?
So, you think it’s OK for them to be condemned because of your lack of responsibility?
That’s what’s wrong with our culture here in America. We rejoice in the failings of a business, family member, colleague. We once lived up to our name. UNITED States of America. Now, we are DIVIDED, dog eat dog, States of America.
I never was fond of Blockbuster, but I hate to see them go this route.
As a teen I worked in a UK blockbuster store and the business model is very similar to a cinema, attempting to upsell customers with retail offers on snacks/drinks. This model doesn’t translate to DVD-by-mail. Furthermore it’s their failiure to adapt to their environment that has killed them.
I stopped renting at Blockbuster years ago. Somehow I kept having late fees apear, even though I would always return my movies a day early on my way to church. I fee no pity, they drove a good customer away. Hello Netflix.
I stopped using Blockbuster last year. We had the online option until they decided to cut back on the in-store tradings and slowed down the next to ship DVD’s. To top all that off Netflix’s opened a distro center where I live so Iget a one day turn around. Sorry Blockbuster, you should have kept up with changing times.
“massive corporate monster”
That’s massive, mormon, moralistic corporate monster!
I used to work at Blockbuster, too, although it was in the States. I always felt that its late-fee policy (or what we were supposed to call an “extended viewing fee” during my time there) was unfair, and people rightfully got upset about being charged almost another $5 for keeping a movie one extra day.
We were also encouraged to not only upsell soda and snacks, but also DirecTV systems, for which we received a small commission. I never understood the DirecTV thing, and the late fee policy is why I eventually stopped renting from there after I quit the job. Like Gryphyn, I’m a NetFlix customer now…
blockbuster had their heads up their proverbial ***, i tried their online stuff they opened up to compete with netflix… and they would never send me the first movie on the queue cause they ‘had none in the area’ and refused to ship it from a further destination due to they wanted to get as many movies to me as they could from my queue… and talkin and then much later yellin at them on the phone did absolutely nothing… what ever happened to customer service!? so i went back to netflix and say **** blockbuster… go bankrupt for all i care~ serves yall right for crappy CS!