Is Blockbuster going out of business?

[John Picard]

Hooray for the unemployed!

Eh?

Nobody's advocating that. Nobody wants people to lose their jobs. But if Blockbuster or Hollywood Video can't keep up with the times, they're going to lose business, and they're going to go under. It's a simple fact.

If you read the comment which I was commenting on, when people make blanket statements about being happy a place is going out of business and hoping it dies a painful death, they seem to forget that many people from the execs to those who simply work at a branch will be out of work. People may have issues with the way Blockbuster runs, but that is no reason to rejoice in the fall of the chain and subsequently the loss of work for many, many people.

They'll get other jobs. It isn't like Blockbuster isn't the first company to ever go under.

 

[Trekker4747]

RedBox still loses out in cost/day. And some may want to keep a DVD for a few days in order to go through all of the special features, commentaries, etc.

But, really, to survive Blockbuster has really got to change their game plan.

 

[Kail]

I tried Blockbusters online service, mainly for the "return the movie to the store and get a free rental" option, but it was SO screwed up I quit after about 2 months. They just about always sent the wrong damn movie in the wrong sleeve. It was a nightmare.

 

[paudemge]

For what it is worth (not much) the block buster i go to in Broken Arrow, Ok always seems very busy, and the people checking out are spending quite a bit of money, not me i just spend 21.00 a month for 3 out with exchanges. And I've only had a couple of bad movies, one was visibly broke/cracked the other one just wouldn't play.

But there are 2 other stores, they don't appear as busy, but I don't go to them, so don't really know.

 

[Amaris]

Once I moved to Netflix a couple of years ago, that was it for me. I was sold.
Netflix, for me, has been consistently excellent. I also love their digital on demand streaming. I have over 300 movies in my instant watch queue, and with my Roku box, I watch great looking movies on my HDTV without any issues whatsoever, and can still get unlimited movies (1 at a time) delivered to my house. All for $9 a month.

J.

 

[IndyJones]

RedBox still loses out in cost/day. And some may want to keep a DVD for a few days in order to go through all of the special features, commentaries, etc.

How so? At a dollar a day for Redbox, and 5 dollars for a movie from Blockbuster, you'd have to keep the movie from 5-9 days for Blockbuster to work out cheaper.

I'd guess that most people don't need 5+ days for this...

 

[bigdaddy]

My mom has one movie at a time for Netflix, $9 a month. She get's 4 movies a month that equals $2.25 a week. That's cheaper than BB and RedBox.

I too don't understand why anyone would want a movie for a week. You watch the movie Saturday night and you return it, problem solved.

If BB wants to live I suggest they team up with Walmart, works well for Subway.

 

[LutherSloan]

Blockbuster new releases are $5.29 here. Frickin' ridiculous. I just go to Redbox and get it for $1.00!

/facepalm

No wonder they are in trouble. 5+ bucks... to RENT A DVD!? I thought for sure they would have lowered those to compete with netflix.

At the Blockbusters around here it's $2 for 1 day, and $4 or so for 5 days.

However, I know that there are still a lot of Blockbuster franchises that kept going with the late fees and the higher prices, because they can. In Tallahassee, FL, every Blockbuster in the city is like that, and the only competition is one Movie Gallery (assuming it's still there now). But these Blockbusters are all owned by one guy.

 

[Broccoli]

Eh?

Nobody's advocating that. Nobody wants people to lose their jobs. But if Blockbuster or Hollywood Video can't keep up with the times, they're going to lose business, and they're going to go under. It's a simple fact.

If you read the comment which I was commenting on, when people make blanket statements about being happy a place is going out of business and hoping it dies a painful death, they seem to forget that many people from the execs to those who simply work at a branch will be out of work. People may have issues with the way Blockbuster runs, but that is no reason to rejoice in the fall of the chain and subsequently the loss of work for many, many people.

They'll get other jobs. It isn't like Blockbuster isn't the first company to ever go under.

Just because they could get other jobs doesn't negate the fact that they will be unemployed. Unemployment sucks. Unemployment in this economy sucks even worse. I count my blessings that I haven't had to fully deal with that as of yet in my life. Your attitude, suggested by your response with the eyeroll, is very cold. It is one thing to discuss the company's downfall, but it is another to gleefully take joy in it.

 

[bigdaddy]

I'm glad the company is failing, it's just life.

Sure it sucks millions will be out of work, but that's life. They have plenty of warning to start looking too. It's not like it's sudden.

I know some great people who work at a BB that is closing, sad for them, but move on.

 

[James Bond]

Sure it sucks millions will be out of work, but that's life.

Millions?

You're exaggerating there a little, tiger.

 

[Trekker4747]

Sure it sucks millions will be out of work, but that's life.

Millions?

You're exaggerating there a little, tiger.

There are around 5,000 Blockbusters in the US, each one could staff as many as many as 50 people -I would think- plus you have people in corporate offices, distribution centers and the like and it's concievable the Blockbuster employs at least 1m people.

Something I read earlier said that Blockbuster planned on setting up their own RedBox-like kiosks.

And I've a problem with this -but not a huge one I guess.

It's going to make older movies all but impossible to get a hold of. If at somepoint in the not-to-distant future there's no more videorental stores and just these machines scattered around you're only going to be able to rent whatever handful of movies are in there, which is only going to be the most recent/popular titles. How would anyone get to "discover" older titles or rarer titles?

There was an awesome video store near me that closed about 2 years ago that had virtually every title you could think of. Even some rare foreign ones. If there was a video you wanted and Blockbuster didn't have it, this store was the place to go!

So if all people are left with are these kioskis in McDonalds lobbies then it's really going to homogenize the movies people watch and the only way to rent older, rarer, titles is going to be through Netflix unless the disapperance of Blockbuster gives independant rental places a chance to resurge.

 

[RoJoHen]

There are around 5,000 Blockbusters in the US, each one could staff as many as many as 50 people

I really doubt they have staffs that big. My best friend used to work at one, and they had about 10 people in the entire store.

 

[James Bond]

Sure it sucks millions will be out of work, but that's life.

Millions?

You're exaggerating there a little, tiger.

There are around 5,000 Blockbusters in the US, each one could staff as many as many as 50 people -I would think- plus you have people in corporate offices, distribution centers and the like and it's concievable the Blockbuster employs at least 1m people.

Wrong. 15-20 people max in the biggest stores, 30-40 distribution centers globally, 50-100 employees in 20-30 corporate offices, etc. About 300,000+ at the most.

 

[Holdfast]

From the horse's mouth

As of January 4, 2009, we employ 58,561 persons, including 40,107 within the United States and 18,454 outside of the United States. Of the total number of U.S. employees, 11,700 were full-time, 26,732 were part-time and 1,675 were seasonal employees

 

[IndyJones]

Sure it sucks millions will be out of work, but that's life.

Millions?

You're exaggerating there a little, tiger.

There are around 5,000 Blockbusters in the US, each one could staff as many as many as 50 people -I would think- plus you have people in corporate offices, distribution centers and the like and it's concievable the Blockbuster employs at least 1m people.

I'm sorry, what?

 

[jefferiestubes8]

Blockbuster says it's closing around 900 of its stores by the end of next year.

Nov 07, 2009

Blockbuster said it expects to close at most 115 stores in the fourth quarter. That's in addition to the 216 it has closed through the third quarter.
The company said it will have 2,500 Blockbuster Express vending kiosks by year's end.

Nov.12, 2009


They are completely changing what type of company they will be. It is such a corporate company which is owned by Viacom. They will no longer be a bricks and morter store in every town. In 2009 they changed their corporate branding to "Blockbuster Media" in some stores on the clerk's uniform & store signage.


They are trying every crazy idea they can including a doomed one like this:
Blockbuster to Rent Movies on SD Cards
November 11th, 2009

This post lays it all out what Blockbuster is truly up against.
http://www.trekbbs.com/showpost.php?p=3542824&postcount=8


Eventually they will be reduced to vending kiosks and that's it. RedBox, Netflix, and downloadable video-on-demand (from many content providers) in the next 5 years will seal Blockbuster's coffin.

 

[bigdaddy]

There are around 5,000 Blockbusters in the US, each one could staff as many as many as 50 people

I really doubt they have staffs that big. My best friend used to work at one, and they had about 10 people in the entire store.

We had a Wendy's in my town of 20,000 people, it's now a Taco Bell. There were 86 people working there!

So I'm sure there are more than 10 people working at the BB in my town, there have to be at least 25, or the people quit from them a lot.

 

[Data Holmes]

There are around 5,000 Blockbusters in the US, each one could staff as many as many as 50 people

I really doubt they have staffs that big. My best friend used to work at one, and they had about 10 people in the entire store.

We had a Wendy's in my town of 20,000 people, it's now a Taco Bell. There were 86 people working there!

So I'm sure there are more than 10 people working at the BB in my town, there have to be at least 25, or the people quit from them a lot.

The average staff at a BB is between 5 and 10.

 

[Star Wolf]

I really doubt they have staffs that big. My best friend used to work at one, and they had about 10 people in the entire store.

We had a Wendy's in my town of 20,000 people, it's now a Taco Bell. There were 86 people working there!

So I'm sure there are more than 10 people working at the BB in my town, there have to be at least 25, or the people quit from them a lot.

The average staff at a BB is between 5 and 10.

5 is inpossible almost every state has labor laws and 5 people can not man a store open 7 days a week. A shift might be 5 to 10 but that quickly adds up to the 86 employees previously mentioned about a Taco Bell.