when to blockbusters today :mad:

[jeo393]

Count your luck stars my friend..... I was the happiest person to see my local BB (5min from home) Carry Blu-ray! Was there every tues. to get my paws on the new releases, sometimes I had 2 wait until the friday shipments! Then just a couple of weeks ago.... I walk in to find out that my store is no longer renting BLU! WTF!>?>?!??! That my friend, is truely Dooms day! Apparently, I was one of only a few even renting from this store!

WAY 2 go... Po-dunk City!

[mgonzo2u]

The BB near me (13 min drive) has some Blus but not enough to be in stock of any movie I want when I get there.

I just found out that a Hollywood Video near my office now carries Blus and they had a huge current selection to choose from.

I know where the rest of my rental biz is going after last week.

[SGRSBSKIER]

Originally Posted by jeo393

Count your luck stars my friend..... I was the happiest person to see my local BB (5min from home) Carry Blu-ray! Was there every tues. to get my paws on the new releases, sometimes I had 2 wait until the friday shipments! Then just a couple of weeks ago.... I walk in to find out that my store is no longer renting BLU! WTF!>?>?!??! That my friend, is truely Dooms day! Apparently, I was one of only a few even renting from this store!

WAY 2 go... Po-dunk City!

I think they are still doing research, the closest to me does not rent BD's (and they are closing due to lease being up and its near where they just allowed Table games for gambling and the lease was going to be much more and they don't have a new place yet and the only other rental place is a Hollywood Video but its locally owned and not part of the franchise and they have a limited widescreen DVD rentals) So the next closet Blockbuster is 15 minutes away. My store told me they were adding BD's to another store (also 15 minutes away) but they are taking them from the other store.

[etercion]

I've been a store manager at Blockbuster for over three years, and I thought I should respond to a few of these "complaints," before they spiraled out of control:

1). Almost 90% our movie stocked is determined by the manufacturer, NOT the company. Our CEO has gone on record several times that he would gladly buy 300-400 copies of that week's hot new release for each store if the studios would let him. The fact is, studios don't like rental, and they never have. We have revenue sharing programs and buy our rental copies at an increased price ($24 on average for each movie) and they STILL drag their feet about copy depth. It's a bummer, I know, and because online companies (including our own, strangely enough) have a different agreement with those studios it often means you can find the copy of whatever movie you're looking for online, and not in the store.

Unfortunately, this extends even further to blu ray. Studios don't want to flood the market with rental, especially when it's a new, high-tech item like blu ray. A lot of times they will give us a rental copy the same day as the retail street date, but just as often they'll wait a week or two so that they can get people to buy instead of rent. And that extends to online as well. Just trying ordering a copy of your favorite blu ray movie from Netflix the week it comes out. Good luck.

2). When DVD came out in force within one year Blockbuster had converted over half their inventory from VHS to disc. Half. In one year.

3). Let Blockbuster know that you want more blu ray, but please, please don't go over to joe blow employee who has been working for the company all of six weeks and tell him you're "piping mad because my dragon wars didn't come out on blu ray for rent." He doesn't care. And even if he did, it's not going to do any good because the message is going to go no where. If you want to get more Blu ray go to blockbuster.com and fill out a one minute questionnaire about your rental experience and tell them.

In conclusion, I know you're mad. I know you're upset. I know that--even though hd only accounts for about 1% of video rental--you feel justified in demanding 50% of store space and inventory. Just please remember, next time you're in your local neighborhood Blockbuster that it was our company (not Hollywood or Movie Gallery) that decided to go Blu Ray exclusive. Your patience will be rewarded, trust me, when in a few months we double our inventory.

Remember, you heard it hear first.

[Barnum]

Blockbuster sucks and needs to go away. Prices are a joke there not to mention most of the good stuff is never in stock.

[broganreynik]

Originally Posted by Psiweaver

In addition they censor a large amount of their movies that are R rated for content. I will not rent from blockbuster as a result.

wha wha what? i've never had a movie censored from blockbuster.

as far as doubling the inventory, that's great. too bad i switched to netflix because online price went up to $30 so it still costs me $5 to rent a movie for 2 days. I hope though that that means the Blockbuster in the town I'm moving to gets Blu. It's a town in the middle of Nebraska that I'm sure maybe 10 people in the whole town have an HD television, because none of the local affiliates even broadcast in HD, a huge disppointment when it comes to watching college football.

[dk3dknight]

Make sure you go to a corp store and not a franchise, ask the blockbuster you go to if there a frachise or a corp store.

I have "black listed" all the frachise stores in my local area for there odd ball policies like Cash Deposits.

The local corp store has multiple titles and seperate sections of blu-ray, 1 being the new releases and other being older movies.

Older movies had like 4 shelfs and another 3 or so shelfs for new releases.

I actually bought Die Hard Live Free or Die hard there on release date course I will say this DO NOT BUY BLU-RAY movies at blockbuster unless you are exteremly desperate they are more expensive then Sams or Walmart in most cases ive delt with.

"I was desperate"

[BluBane]

I have 3 Blockbusters all within a few miles of my house. Only 1 carries the BR. Pretty sure it is a corp store. One rack for new releases and like 5 for older movies. They also sale the media ps3. Sad thing is there is only maybe 1-2 copies of each movie. Can't get any new releases always rented out

[Grant Matrix]

Originally Posted by etercion

Just please remember, next time you're in your local neighborhood Blockbuster that it was our company (not Hollywood or Movie Gallery) that decided to go Blu Ray exclusive. Your patience will be rewarded, trust me, when in a few months we double our inventory.

Remember, you heard it hear first.

Wow doubling your inventory in a couple months. That is so insignificant given the pittance of a BD selection Blockbuster carriers right now. Going exclusive doens't mean crap when you have a poor selection of movies and are not getting enough or any copies of new releases. Don’t even get me started about Blockbuster online and their BD selection!

You want to blame the studios for all of Blockbuster's woes, but the bottom line is that Blockbuster causes it own issues. Blockbuster didn't want to embrace DVD until they had no other choice and then it took the forever to get any kind of selection. I didn't see any Blockbuster in my area convert half the store in the first year. I don't know what you're smoking, but pass the pipe.

I have seen several hundred copies of certain titles at my local blockbuster so that argument doesn't fly either.

The bottom line is that Blockbuster corporate doesn't have much of clue and they are going to miss the train again!

[xwingsct]

I just switched from Netflix to Blockbuster two weeks ago and so far I'm not that impressed with their service.
I mailed their movies back the same day and date as my last three Netflix movies. Netflix has already received my last three movies two days ago and Blockbuster hasn't received them yet.

Their site sucks compare to Netflix. Looks like an amateur website.
They have about 300 bluray movies and hasn't grown yet. The list is still the same as last week. Netflix added more Bluray movies every week.

The price is about 3 dollars more than Netflix.
If they want to compete with the Netflix. They gotta have to give people better than what they got at Netflix. No wonder why their subscription rate hasn't grown much.

The only advantage they have over Netflix is that you can exchange the movie at the store but only limit to 5 movies a month.

Doesn't look like I'll be staying with them long.

[cpgator]

Originally Posted by Grant Matrix

Blockbuster didn't want to embrace DVD until they had no other choice and then it took the forever to get any kind of selection.

So true. When I first started renting DVDs, I had to go to other rental places because BB didn't rent them. When they finally decided to jump on the train, it was too little, too late. There is nothing at all good about BB, and they offer no service that you can't get somewhere else for cheaper.

[goochspot]

[/QUOTE]You want to blame the studios for all of Blockbuster's woes, but the bottom line is that Blockbuster causes it own issues. Blockbuster didn't want to embrace DVD until they had no other choice and then it took the forever to get any kind of selection. I didn't see any Blockbuster in my area convert half the store in the first year. I don't know what you're smoking, but pass the pipe.

I have seen several hundred copies of certain titles at my local blockbuster so that argument doesn't fly either.

The bottom line is that Blockbuster corporate doesn't have much of clue and they are going to miss the train again![/QUOTE]

First of all, it depends on when you consider what the first year is. I started working at Blockbuster at the end of 2001 and my store was almost 30% convereted. By 2002, we were at 50%

Yes, we did get many copies of some movies and not others and that is based on the distribution companies. When Blockbuster did away with their late fees, they planned on doubling everything. I was told by the higher ups it was walmarts fault that we didn't get them. Walmart told the distributors that they would stop selling the companies dvd's if they stocked the rental businesses with large amounts. I don't know if this is true, but it make sense to me because if the amount of dvds Walmart sells, they could throw their weight around.

[etercion]

The truth may not be fun, but you can't simply close your eyes and start humming "Blockbuster's missing the boat, Blockbuster's missing the boat." Plain and simple, studios don't like rental. They never have, and they never will. When your local (or corporate) movie store orders 200 copies of 3:10 to Yuma and they all rent out in the first three weeks that's great. But what happens after that? You're stuck with 200 copies of a movie you can't give away for free. So you turn around and sell them used for cheap. That is why studios hate rental. And that is why online companies can get more product.

***** all you want, and have fun shopping at Hollywood and Movie Gallery. Wait? What's that? They've declared bankruptcy and closed over 2/3'rds of their stores? The stores that do exist aren't investing in Blu Ray or HD?

Facts are facts. In 2002 (when you all started *****ing that Blockbuster was "resisting change,") less than 20% of consumers owned DVD players. And yet you expect the stores to immediately start throwing away VHS to make room for disc? I still have people coming into my Blockbuster asking for VHS. Same thing with Blu Ray. It accounts for 1% of rental. How can you ask a company like Blockbuster (a company that is already struggling with debt and trying to find their way in this "bold new world of digital download") to just throw away 99% of their business?

Not to mention the fact that the studios just won't do it. Period. They won't give us higher copy depth no matter how we beg and plead. And if you think that's a bunch of hot air go look up Blockbuster on any financial website. All you'll see is CEO Jim Keyes talking about how he's desperate to convince studios to give us more product.

Over 2000 stores have Blu Ray for rent. There's 5000 Blockbuster's in America alone. Believe me, the company is doing everything in their power to get the rest of those stores Blu Ray. All I hear about on the conference calls I'm forced to listen to every week is trying to get PS3's and blu ray into every store. Blockbuster isn't stupid, it knows that the future of rental relies on some kind of physical medium. If anything, Blockbuster is even more desperate than other retailers to ensure that an HD format succeeds. Blockbuster has come out and said "blu ray is the future." So cut them some slack and realize that they're doing the best they can at the moment. And like I said before, if you want to complain, go to the website and do it. People actually read that stuff.

Fact is, you can either rent your blu ray or buy it. There's a lot of titles I wouldn't mind owning, but I just can't bring myself to shell out $30 for Wild Hogs when I know I'll only watch it once, and even then under duress. So if you want to buy, great. But if you want to rent, just remember that it's called "early adoption" for a reason.

Oh, and next time you're renting that blu ray movie from Netflix remember that you're renting from the company that has said publicly that DUD will win out over Blu Ray, and that DUD is the only thing they are renting on a consistent basis, and "oh, isn't that intersting? There's yet another add for DUD on their website."

[goochspot]

Amen!

[ani4ani]

Originally Posted by etercion

The truth may not be fun, but you can't simply close your eyes and start humming "Blockbuster's missing the boat, Blockbuster's missing the boat." Plain and simple, studios don't like rental. They never have, and they never will. When your local (or corporate) movie store orders 200 copies of 3:10 to Yuma and they all rent out in the first three weeks that's great. But what happens after that? You're stuck with 200 copies of a movie you can't give away for free. So you turn around and sell them used for cheap. That is why studios hate rental. And that is why online companies can get more product.

***** all you want, and have fun shopping at Hollywood and Movie Gallery. Wait? What's that? They've declared bankruptcy and closed over 2/3'rds of their stores? The stores that do exist aren't investing in Blu Ray or HD?

Facts are facts. In 2002 (when you all started *****ing that Blockbuster was "resisting change,") less than 20% of consumers owned DVD players. And yet you expect the stores to immediately start throwing away VHS to make room for disc? I still have people coming into my Blockbuster asking for VHS. Same thing with Blu Ray. It accounts for 1% of rental. How can you ask a company like Blockbuster (a company that is already struggling with debt and trying to find their way in this "bold new world of digital download") to just throw away 99% of their business?

Not to mention the fact that the studios just won't do it. Period. They won't give us higher copy depth no matter how we beg and plead. And if you think that's a bunch of hot air go look up Blockbuster on any financial website. All you'll see is CEO Jim Keyes talking about how he's desperate to convince studios to give us more product.

Over 2000 stores have Blu Ray for rent. There's 5000 Blockbuster's in America alone. Believe me, the company is doing everything in their power to get the rest of those stores Blu Ray. All I hear about on the conference calls I'm forced to listen to every week is trying to get PS3's and blu ray into every store. Blockbuster isn't stupid, it knows that the future of rental relies on some kind of physical medium. If anything, Blockbuster is even more desperate than other retailers to ensure that an HD format succeeds. Blockbuster has come out and said "blu ray is the future." So cut them some slack and realize that they're doing the best they can at the moment. And like I said before, if you want to complain, go to the website and do it. People actually read that stuff.

Fact is, you can either rent your blu ray or buy it. There's a lot of titles I wouldn't mind owning, but I just can't bring myself to shell out $30 for Wild Hogs when I know I'll only watch it once, and even then under duress. So if you want to buy, great. But if you want to rent, just remember that it's called "early adoption" for a reason.

Oh, and next time you're renting that blu ray movie from Netflix remember that you're renting from the company that has said publicly that DUD will win out over Blu Ray, and that DUD is the only thing they are renting on a consistent basis, and "oh, isn't that intersting? There's yet another add for DUD on their website."

Good you mate...nice to see someone who is passionate about their business and taking the time to explain some of the unpalatable elements, albeit close to a lot people's hearts.

[bageleaterkkjji]

dont rent buy buy buy

[ajkj9]

Originally Posted by broganreynik

wha wha what? i've never had a movie censored from blockbuster.

as far as doubling the inventory, that's great. too bad i switched to netflix because online price went up to $30 so it still costs me $5 to rent a movie for 2 days. I hope though that that means the Blockbuster in the town I'm moving to gets Blu. It's a town in the middle of Nebraska that I'm sure maybe 10 people in the whole town have an HD television, because none of the local affiliates even broadcast in HD, a huge disppointment when it comes to watching college football.

where at in nebraska? I live in nebraska and i get a few hd channels, and w/ direct tv or cox cable you can get a lot more too

[dk3dknight]

I actually love blockbusters and actually despise netflix.

The corp store I go to is a little further away then the other blockbusters, but the employees there have earned my business and those extra miles of gas with there politeness, there help in finding titles, and there attitude that there willing to go that extra mile to help.

I just wanted to remove any thoughts of me being anti blockbuster. Im not.

[Blu-Beard]

Personally I am not anti anything or anyone with the exception of HD-DUD. I just don't like to blind buy and usually when I'm renting it's so I can see if a movie that interested me is worth owning. That being said BB might indeed be a large supporter of BR but the fact of the matter is that as it stands RIGHT NOW every time I go to my local BB to rent some BR I end up going home with all DVD. And if BB are gonna double there BR stock in the next two or three months that's great but untill then are you suggesting I just wait? I think not. I will try to find an alternative and if in a few months BB has a decent selection then I'll go back. I'm not trying to say BB sucks but for now I AM saying that my local ones selection does in fact SUCK. And considering that my personal BR selection is beginning to rival my local BB when I only own 28 that says something...

[sacredchao]

I recently restarted my Netflix subscription. It's much cheaper and they have a better selection. I definitely recommend that route to anyone wanting to rent Blu-Rays.