Comments on: Blockbuster Admits “Substantial Doubt” About Their Survival

By: spiralmoon

spiralmoon — Thu, 07 May 2009 04:47:46 +0000

Several people have mentioned problems getting new releases from online services. I’ve never had that problem with netflix in my area. Maybe it’s because there are fewer subscribers in my area or something, but if I put a new release at the top of my que it will ship the day before the official release so I have it on the release date. I love netflix for offbeat and older movies too.

By: Amaranthine

Amaranthine — Mon, 04 May 2009 14:48:12 +0000

Not all Redbox locations that advertize their inventory have those movies in stock when you get to that specified location.

By: Losermountain

Losermountain — Sun, 03 May 2009 02:11:25 +0000

Redbox is for new releases
Blockbuster is for games and older releases

By: moviecrazy

moviecrazy — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:03:01 +0000

You are probably right, but how do you KNOW they never put more than 6 in any given machine? Do you work for them stocking the machines?

By: Sean

Sean — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 03:38:25 +0000

They NEVER put 40 copies of a new movie in. I hope that was an exaggerated example, because it’s more like 2 to 6.

By: Sean

Sean — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 03:35:33 +0000

I’ve never tried netflix, but the blockbuster mail order one sucks bad. Even with one day shipping, you can only rent 4 a week. And if a new movie gets rented out you could be waiting weeks to get it, and if one copy comes in and you don’t have an empty spot in your qeue then it gets sent to someone else. Even if you rip yourself off by keeping an empty spot and having one less movie out at a time than you pay for, there is nothing that gaurantees that incoming movie gets sent to you and not someone else who has an empty spot. It’s ridiculous. Those online mail order ones are a rip off if you care at all about new movies.

By: jamie

jamie — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:57:48 +0000

You think that oh they must be making a killing with this business model. You forgot to add in the cost for the movies, the price of the equipment, they still have to have employees (just not as many). I’m sure they are doing ok and may even continue to exist for some time but trust me, this business model is not the money making machine that you believe it to be. In fact here is a quote from Coinstar one of the owners of RedBox

“But Coinstar also predicted Redbox would lose money this year – $4 million to $5 million for Coinstar’s share of the company. That works out to $8.5 million to $10.5 million. Waring declined to comment on Redbox’s losses, other than to say the machines themselves are profitable.”

By: jamie

jamie — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:47:47 +0000

None,

I am from KY and unlike you I am able to use capital letters, punctuation and correct spacing. Living in your world of ignorance must be bliss.

By: Car

Car — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 05:22:26 +0000

Don’t worry about it. In a short time Redbox will be out of business when you will be able to watch any new release at home using a download for 25 cents or less a movie. Some may use commercials and will be free.

It will happen, it has to. The issues are bandwidth and some sort of DRM.

By: AlexH

AlexH — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:58:25 +0000

Blockbuster will always have higher operating costs: it is a brick and mortar operation that uses human labor. Competing against $1, “automated” rental kiosks is always a difficult task under such conditions. But RedBox itself isn’t perfect. I am not “for” Blockbuster by any means. For many years I have been annoyed at their insane rental prices (for about $5 I can actually BUY many DVDs on the market) as well as their fees (recall a time when a class action lawsuit forced it to change its practices?). However, with Blockbuster you always have someone there to talk to. For example, if there is some technical glitch and, say, a RedBox kiosk takes your DVD but doesn’t somehow read it as “returned” you can potentially be charged for the DVD. Even if there is customer service down the line, it is much easier to talk to a live person and resolve the issue then and there. Secondly, RedBox is great for New releases, but AWFUL for older ones. Frankly, BLockbuster itself is crappy when it comes to selection, but it is better than RedBox. Sure, most people want new releases, but some like to see a unique art house movie once in a while. Blockbuster- as the name implies- isn’t all that much better, but it does have a bigger selection by virtue of sheer store volume.

I used to bemoan how Blockbuster got rid of the old “mom and pop” rental business (just as behemoth WamMart got rid of the local “mom and pop” convenience stores- plus thousands of acres of trees to boot). I totally hate the massive expansion of these environmentally hazardous retail outlets, and RedBox in some way helps that because it is small and has a smaller footprint. But I also am now bemoaning how RedBox is taking the human aspect out of this business. Yeah, I hate Blockbuster’s prices and policies, but I am now limited- or soon will be- to just some crappy new “blockbuster” Hollywood releases. Everything is becoming homogenized towards the satisfaction of the lowest common denominator. If you like this, then RedBox is great. But I’d like to think that there can still be some variety in this business. Keep RedBox as a quick way to rent new movies cheaply and conveniently (and possibly improve ways to get into contact with human beings when things go wrong). But don’t totally wipe out all human activity here, either.