Blockbuster Total Access

[Chris Gohlke]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.blockbuster.com' target='_blank'>http://www.blockbuster.com</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Now you can exchange online DVDs for free in-store movie rentals*. When you’re ready to return an online DVD, drop it in the mail OR bring it, sealed in its return envelope, to your local participating BLOCKBUSTER store and exchange it for a free in-store movie rental. The store will mail back your DVD for you and the next available movie in your Queue will ship out right away, giving you double the movies at no extra charge!"</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/bbtotalaccess.jpg" /><br /><br />I've been using Blockbuster's on-line rental service for a while now and I've been patiently waiting for them to come up with a good way to leverage their bricks and mortar locations to make for a better experience than Netflix. Up until now, all they had done was given you some free in-store rentals every month. This was cool in that you could go pickup a movie locally without having to wait for it by mail. I've had problems with their mail service often taking four or five days to log the return of a movie after I mailed it back. I'd been hoping that they would offer you the option to return your mailers to a store and have them immediately checked in. Well, they've done my hopes one better. Now you can return a movie to the store and get a free in-store rental for each movie you return this way, effectively doubling the number of movies you get. Since the blockbuster is right around the corner from my house, this is ideal for me. I tried it out yesterday and it worked without a hitch, the cashier did check with the manager to make sure they were doing it correctly since this was the first one they had processed. Today the movie was removed from my queue and a new movie mailed out. This is the kind of thing that Netflix really needs to be afraid of as it is the first real advantage Blockbusters service has and there is no real way for Netflix to counter it.

[Damion Chaplin]

As far as I'm concerned, this is not an advantage that Blockbuster has over Netflix. This is a way of Blockbuster scrambling to cover their collective butts because they know that Netflix offers a 2-day turnaround. If I mail back my Netflix on Monday, I have a new on in my mailbox on Wednesday. If I'm really on the ball, I can get two movies a week (Send back on Monday, receive Wednesday, send back Thursday, receive another on Saturday).

[Phoenix]

Returning and picking up from the stores defeats the purpose of receiving and sending discs in the mail. The whole point of doing it by mail is to avoid having to drive to the stores to begin with.

But if what BB is doing really does serve as some sort of advantage over Netflix, Netflix would kill BB by offering an HD and HDD-enabled set-top box with an onscreen menu system (similar to a TiVo Series 3) that their customers could rent and that would allow them to download and store movies (as many as their plan allows at one time) and forego discs altogether.

Forget Comcast On-Demand (which is lame to say the least), and forget discs. Ultimately, I've been wanting to download movies from Netflix's entire database for a long time. Hopefully, this will be a reality soon (along with HD versions), if they can manage to convince "Follywood" it's a good idea. Which it is.

[Chris Gohlke]

I doubt think everyone gets two day turnaround with Netflix. I've read a number of threads on Fatwallet discussing which is the best deal and based on what I've seen there, they are both about the same regarding turnaround time. But there is a difference for different people, so alot try both services to see which gets the best turnaround for their geographic location. I live in Tallahassee, FL, which while not exactly a small town, is not big enough to have its own distro center, and unfortunately were are not really geographically close to any big cities (about 200 miles in any direction). For a certain segment of customers, like me, this opens a lot of possibilities. For going just a touch out of my way, I can now get the one day turnaround, plus, I get a free instore rental for my trouble. Right now, I flip thorugh about 10 movies a month, theoretically, I could double that (not that I have the time to watch that much stuff). I think I get the best of both worlds, basically unlimited in store rentals, plus unlimited rentals by mail of the greatly expanded inventory that the online store offers.

[reveric]

I'm stunned by this news. We just joined BB online for the coupon advantage, and this is much better. Now, we can be both orderly and spontaneous in our movie watching. We dropped two off at the store, got a couple for the kids, and the turnaround is a day or two quicker!. It's all good, ...very, very good.

[Chris Gohlke]

When returning some movies today, I asked about returning movies to the store and not taking a free rental, just to get them logged in quicker. The manager told me know problem and that I could just drop those in the return bin outside. YMMV, so check with your local store.

[ale_ers]

I doubt think everyone gets two day turnaround with Netflix.

As you said, I'm sure it differs for everyone. But I get a two day turn around, although I think I'm pretty close to a distribution center near Atlanta.

[theblacksharpie]

ok you people have got to be kidding me. has the world really become THIS lazy? Lazy to the point where we no longer recognize a good deal when we see one? Have up to six movies out at a time for only 17.99 a month. Ok lets lowball this just for arguments sake. lets say you only get 6 online movies a month. (3 at a time) with the total access deal, you can literally take these movies and exchange them for new ones at the store. BAM!! 12 movies altogether. now lets include the free online coupons (one a week if you have the 3 at a time plan) do the math people::::

16 movies total. Now thats lowballing it. Hustle the movies and you could maybe squeeze 3 to 6 more a month. now double those numbers with the in store exchange deal and you have what? 24 movies. add online coupons=28 movies. again, thats hustling the movies with quick returns, but hey a conventional rental costs between $5-$6 right? oh c'mon, ill stop doin the math for you but you get the idea. geez. all because the sarcasm dude is too freakin lazy to run over to the store and pick new movies up. sad.[/b]

[Phoenix]

ok you people have got to be kidding me. has the world really become THIS lazy?... bla bla bla...

Whoa horsey! Your first post and you're being judgemental? C'mon now!

Why do some people automatically interpret the desire for convenience and a smarter way of doing things, as being lazy? Do you know any of us?

I'm honestly not offended by your comments, but simply trying to make a point.

Because you could take that theory of yours and apply it to everything: We must be lazy for using computers instead of writing by hand. Or we must be lazy for using the internet instead of driving or walking over to the library. We must be lazy for paying bills or buying music online instead of jumping in our cars and doing it "the old-fashioned way". We must be lazy because we shop at supermarkets instead of going out and hunting and butchering our own food.

Is this always about laziness, or is it because the world is a largely complicated and busy place (and increasingly so), and so we're constantly faced with needing to find different ways of doing things?

I'm an extremely busy individual (as so many of us are), so renting DVD's by mail is great, but by taking it a step further and including my desire to have a downloadable rental model, it's all about finding even better, and much smarter ways of doing yet something else. It's about managing my time and preserving other resources. It's not about watching even more movies or being too damn fat to get off my butt and move physically. :roll:

What would be the point in spending fuel and time, adding wear to your car, and dealing with traffic if you didn't have to? There's no advantage to that. And what would be the point in dealing with DVD's in the mail (that get scratched, broken, stolen, or lost, or where they send you the wrong one) if you didn't have to? There's no advantage to that, either. I'd say to anyone, if you need excercise, if that's truly the issue for you here, then get off your fat butt and go to the gym or play a sport. :P Those are better ways of staying fit, anyway.


Or...


Maybe we're not truly doing anything. Maybe this is really just the Matrix and we're all just locked in a dream world, each of us submerged in our own chamber of goo, and so we're all lazy... including you...

:lol: