Next business going under: Blockbuster?

[volinbham]

Originally Posted by The Dude

Just think how much easier it would have been to simply buy your college books through the Kindle and only have one "book" to keep up with. Also I read that Amazon permanently saves your already downloaded selections, so if you were to delete one on accident, you can download it again for no charge.

Textbook publishers should be rushing to this format along with online versions of their books. Their biggest nemesis is the secondary market (used books). Going to an electronic format could drastically lower the price of books while still boosting their volume due to cutting the used book market out. It could be a real win for both publishers and students. Nah...makes too much sense.

[UT IE 95]

So I'm thinking of setting up a Kindles kiosk at the mall. Thoughts?

[volinbham]

Originally Posted by UT IE 95

So I'm thinking of setting up a Kindles kiosk at the mall. Thoughts?

Selling the hardware? I would think a kiosk needs pretty decent sales volume (product turns). Not sure the market is developed nearly enough to generate the volume you need.

[doozer]

Originally Posted by volinbham

Selling the hardware? I would think a kiosk needs pretty decent sales volume (product turns). Not sure the market is developed nearly enough to generate the volume you need.

not at their current price at least.

[UT IE 95]

What if I got some cheap knock-offs from China? You know, sell some Kindels. $39.95 plus a free book.

[DC Vol]

Originally Posted by OrangeEmpire

My guys bring in boot legs to work and I watch movies a month before they come out.

I find this incredibly ironic considering your chosen profession.


Nice, when's the last time you arrested someone for piracy? If you had to... would you feel the slightest "hypocrites guilt"?

[volfanbill]

Originally Posted by DC Vol

I find this incredibly ironic considering your chosen profession.


Nice, when's the last time you arrested someone for piracy? If you had to... would you feel the slightest "hypocrites guilt"?

i wondered the same thing. of course, he also talks about speeding all the time.

[DownNDirty]

Back to the original topic.......

I only go into Blockbuster when I really want to rent a game that's out at my local video store. I went there a few weeks ago looking for MLB 09. They had it but it was checked out. I call about 3 days later and the guy says they don't even carry it. I tell him I saw it in the store and he tells me I MUST have saw MLB 08. I just happen to be on that end of town that afternoon and drive over there to make sure I wasn't crazy. I look on the shelf and its still checked out but is there. I take it up to the counter and show the guy that they did indeed have it. He says, "oh, well the computer says we don't have any copies of it." So I reply then how are all 3 copies rented out then? He then tells me that he hopes those people bring it back because none of the copies must have been checked out correctly.

My head nearly exploded. Mainly because, when this Blockbuster first opened here in 1998, I helped open the store as one of their first employees. I worked there all of about 5 months before I had enough. They had some strange policies and I didn't like the way they done business. First off, that was back when VHS was still king. We had to rewind every tape that came back in before we could leave if we were closing at Midnight. Blockbuster bestowed upon the store two rewinders for use. It would literally sometimes take until 3:00 AM to rewind all of the tapes. Plus, you would have to stay with the managers until they balanced the vault for the night. We had some stupid managers that never should have ever been near money. One night when we were done otherwise about 12:30 it took the manager on duty until 4:30 AM to balance the vault. He wouldn't let me help him either. Finally he got it but I had to sit there 4 hours watching him count money wrong. Then I had to open the store the next morning so I had to be there by 8:30 AM.

They used to make customers give credit cards to open an account. We would store their info in the system and then if a tape wasn't brought back we would charge them for it. Back then with some of the VHS tapes they were released to rent but not to buy. Soooo, if the customer didn't bring the tape back they could be charged upwards of $200 to their Credit Cards. They just weren't very customer friendly either and we couldn't give people breaks, ever. I tried to hold a movie for a customer who said they were driving from 30 minutes out just to rent it. So, I put their name on it and held it behind the counter. A district manager walked in and asked me why it had a name on a sticky note on the tape. I told her and she said no no that's not the way WE do things at Blockbuster. She wrote me up for disobediance because I refused to put it back on the counter because we only had a couple of copies left. The customer did show up just like they said and was able to rent it. I quit shortly after - Blockbuster was the biggest dumpster fire corporation I ever worked for and that's saying something.

We have a local video rental that is awesome here. Its called Popcorn Video. They have a huge selection of new and used movies and games. They have almost every TV show on DVD you can think of to rent and you can get 5 of those DVD's for 7 nights for 5 bucks. They also have rent two new movies or games and get one free Monday-Thursday. For 3 new movies you can walk out of there and have them for two nights and pay like $7. I've been a customer there ever since before I could drive. I know all the people that work there because there is very little turnover and they are good people and friendly. If there is a movie or TV show they don't have that you want you just request it and if its available they will get it to rent or you can even buy from them and they give you the price break that they get if. So, I still go to the video rental about once every week or two and at least rent some old TV shows for $5 for a week.

[UT IE 95]

I dumped Blockbuster after they attempted to screw me about 4 years ago. I returned a dvd on the due date. About 3 months after I returned the dvd I received a letter from a debt collection agency saying I owed Blockbuster around $150. I called Blockbuster and they said it was for the dvd. That's right, $150 for a dvd.

I told them I had returned it in the drop box outside and they said no I hadn't. I tried to contact upper management because the kids in the store were no help. I, of course, heard nothing from the upper management at Blockbuster. All the while I'm receiving letters and phone calls from a collection agency employeed by Blockbuster.

I finally went to the store, on a Friday evening while there were plenty of customers, went to the front counter, asked for the manager (the 20 year old running the place) and explained my situation to everyone then proceeded to cut my card.

To the manager's credit, he took the credit agency letter, opened my account, and informed me that they had the movie in question and it had been returned on the due date.

Needless to say I have never stepped foot in a Blockbuster again.

[vader]

Originally Posted by OrangeEmpire

My guys bring in boot legs to work and I watch movies a month before they come out.

Since breaking the law does not seem to be a huge issue for you, get into the drug evidence locker and some of those movies will be even more fun to watch.

[hohenfelsvol]

Originally Posted by allvol123

Blockbuster is still in business?

No worries. The current administration will bail them out and then tell them how to do business.

Up up and away....

[droski]

There was a blockbuster near me that reported i had late fees to pay every time i went there. and they woudl always say they wouldn't know what i rented because it happened so long ago. i later talked to many others that had this problem. they had a nice little scam going.

[The Dude]

Originally Posted by volinbham

Textbook publishers should be rushing to this format along with online versions of their books. Their biggest nemesis is the secondary market (used books). Going to an electronic format could drastically lower the price of books while still boosting their volume due to cutting the used book market out. It could be a real win for both publishers and students. Nah...makes too much sense.

Amazon just announced the newest Kindle will support .pdf, which since has prohibited it showing any graphs or much detail in pictures. Now textbook publishers may actually consider this. They're giving this newest Kindle to some or every student at 5 different universities to test it out as a electronic textbook.

[MG1968]

I once tried to get a Blockbuster membership and they wanted two forms of ID, a copy of a bank statement, paycheck stub and a copy of a utility bill.

I walked out and never went back.

[volinbham]

Originally Posted by The Dude

Amazon just announced the newest Kindle will support .pdf, which since has prohibited it showing any graphs or much detail in pictures. Now textbook publishers may actually consider this. They're giving this newest Kindle to some or every student at 5 different universities to test it out as a electronic textbook.

To me, it's a no brainer. Textbook publishers could DRM content to cut out the secondary market. As long as they lower the price accordingly, I think it could be a good thing for students.