Posted by Dale Houstman on 12/22/34 11:25

Black Locust wrote:
> In article <qpmRe.1250$la.235@newssvr22.news.prodigy.net>,
> "Cat_in_awe" <rl3166pls@excite.com> wrote:
>
>
>>So you can have 2 titles out at any time and unlimited rentals, for
>>$24.99/month, now $27.99? I get the same thing for $14.99 at Netflix and I
>>never have to drive to a store. No wonder they can't compete.
>
>
> This is precisely why Blockbuster is increasing the price of their movie
> pass thing. It's all about the snail-mail aspect of Netflix. Think about
> it.. If you live right down the street from a Blockbuster, imagine how
> many DVDs you can rent from in a single 24 hour period. You can go there
> when they open their doors at 10, rent a couple of DVDs, go back home
> and spend 3 to 4 hours watching them. Then you can go right back there
> immediately and rent 2 more DVDs; rinse, lather, repeat. Now you've
> rented 6 to 8 DVDs in just one day. And I'm sure thousands of their
> customers do just that.

Quite doubtful: you forget most people don't live that close to an
outlet, and most simply will NOT drive back and forth like this, even if
the schedule you imagine (renting, watching, and returning all within a
few hours) were practical or even conducive to a pleasant viewing
experience.

But you keep bringing up NetFlix as if it were the major reason for
Blockbuster's troubles - it isn't. There are manifold reasons - one
being that - increasingly - more and more places are renting movies: you
can even get them with your McCheese Burger nowadays, and at Wal-Mart.
Blockbuster is simply too large and not particularly focussed on
providing quality as opposed to gross quantity. NetFlix may have
problems (I've never experienced any, but probably will), but it has a
nice spectrum of films you never see in Blockbuster; it serves a
different product in many ways. People don't really like to leave the
house all the much: convenience has always been worth a bit more money
to people. you can keep the product as long as you want, and return it
on your way to work in the morning. I live fairly near a distribution
point, so there is a two-day turnover. more than adequate. The idea of
watching a LOT of films in a VERY short period of time simply to make
your buck fly further is pure assembly-line bullshit: people who
actually LIKE film aren't out to break the land speed record, they're
looking for a relatively easy way to see a wide selection of films.
NetFlix does that pretty well. Blockbuster doesn't.

dmh

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