A DVD Dilemma
I have been renting movies like most Generation X’ers since the mid 80’s. In twenty five years of the video store the sales concept has essentially remained constant as technology has changed. The creation of the video player and its legitimacy by Walt Disney with their movie collection first offered on VHS in 1980 created a multi-billion dollar industry with home videos. Video stores became plentiful with rows and rows of bulky VHS boxes.
Then the internet came into existence followed by cheaply priced DVD’s and the game changed forever for home movie viewers and stores. Mom & Pop shops, the corner video store and major companies have slowly fading out of existence. Major chains have been bought, sold off or are now simply gone. I noticed recently another Hollywood Video store with papered up windows a few miles from my home. Blockbuster and a few grocery stores is about the only option for renting movies locally anymore!
I personally have never much cared for Blockbuster Video. I think their fees are too high and if you keep your movie past a week then you bought it; charged to your credit card on file. I also get hit with the sales pitch about their online movie club and how wonderful and super fantastic it is from the sales clerk every time I go to rent something. After being asked for the 50th time it gets so annoying that you want to join the club just so you don’t have to hear the pitch again. So I guess their corporate plan sort of works they just annoy you till you cave in and sign up.
Last week I joined Netflix and found the selection to be good with claims of over 75,000 titles and 42 million DVDs total in stock. I noticed however that I must do a search for the newest releases as they are not usually advertised on my Netflix home page. I find it bothersome that I am going over to Blockbuster Video’s web site to find the newest releases and then having to tab over to Netflix and do a search due to lack of a listing.
When I find a very recent movie and add it to my queue I get a flag of “Short Wait”. Hence the video store dilemma when the movie you really want is checked out and you wait. Except with online stores you wait both for availability and then shipping. My DVD ships out of Dallas and I am clocking the turn around time. We will see what a “Short Wait” actually means. I rented “Fly Boys” first after some good recommendations and I really enjoyed the movie. The Zeppelin blimp scene was amazing!
I reviewed the fine print on shipping and orders fulfillment on Netflix site and won’t bore you with the details. The terms boil down to if you rent a low volume of movies every month you are flagged as a good customer and get your orders filled first and from the nearest distribution hub. However if you abuse the system or rent a high volume you are flagged as less desirable to the company shipping hub. The high volume renter is moved to the bottom of the list for order fulfillment.
I think my $9.99 plan and only wanting four movies a month delivered on time is reasonable to ask from Netflix. Their response time will dictate if I stay with their company or try some other vendor. I mailed my package off on Thursday to their Dallas, Texas hub from my home in Tulsa. As of Monday night they still don’t show it as received on my online order queue.
Still rebelling against the Blockbuster sales clerks, I haven’t tried their service yet. If Netflix does'nt work out then Blockbuster's online service will be my next option. I just won't give them the satisfaction of signing me up in their store, I will do it online. What experiences have you had with online movie rental sites? If you know of a good service or have had good or bad experience I would love to hear from you!
During the next few weeks I will be doing a follow up to this post, please stay tuned...
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