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Percival Blanco
Before talking about some weird nostalgia that I\u2019ve noticed online, I want to remind you that each month we do a mailbag edition of this newsletter where I answer reader questions. Last month\u2019s just came out a few days ago, and it was a ton of fun. I looked into musical death and pop song budgets, among many other things. We are now open for this month\u2019s mailbag.
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Going to Blockbuster usually occurred in one of two situations in my childhood home. First, we were staying in on the weekend and needed something to do in the evening. Second, either me or one of my sisters was sick and my mom needed something to occupy us while we laid on the couch all day. In either case, I loved going to rent movies. I loved walking the aisles and getting to pick out something of my own. I loved the chance of maybe getting a treat at the checkout counter. I\u2019d go so far as to say that I loved Blockbuster. Or at least I thought I did.
Things started to change as the 2000s marched on. First, our Comcast cable package began to include scores of movies to rent. That was great. You didn\u2019t have to leave the house to get a movie. There was still a large selection. And it only cost a few bucks to rent for something like 48 hours.
Eventually, my family got Netflix and that was even better. For a monthly fee, Netflix would mail you any DVD you could imagine. You\u2019d keep it for as long as you wanted, mail it back, and then they\u2019d send you the next DVD in your queue. Though it was debatable if your cable provider\u2019s on demand movie service was better than Blockbuster\u2019s, Netflix\u2019s superiority was certain. Their selection was endless. And there were no late fees. It\u2019s easy to forget that Blockbuster late fees were no joke. In 2000, those fees accounted for $800 million \u2014 or 16% \u2014 of their revenue. Furthermore, in 2001 they settled a lawsuit for $5.4 million related to their late fee practices.
By the time Blockbuster went bankrupt, I didn\u2019t really know anyone lamenting their demise. That\u2019s why I\u2019ve been surprised to see an intense wave of Blockbuster nostalgia on social media over the last year. It\u2019s not only like people have forgotten that part of Blockbuster\u2019s decline was driven by the better options that emerged but that Blockbuster was also constantly maligned as the corporate behemoth that bowdlerized mom-and-pop video shops.
The Austin Chronicle (2013): \u201CIt's a bittersweet day for film fans: Blockbuster, for decades the bane of the independent video store, is going out of business \u2026 Seen by many as the Walmart of home entertainment, it pushed independent stores across the nation out of business.\u201D
Yahoo! News (2013): \u201CI always hated Blockbuster. In fact if I\u2019m nostalgic for anything, it\u2019s for what Blockbuster destroyed: The idiosyncratic, independent video-rental shops of the 1980s and 1990s. I associate Blockbuster almost completely with the general rise of chain culture that\u2019s slain interesting little businesses across a huge variety of retail categories \u2014 but even in that context, Blockbuster was special.\u201D
Of course, there were people who loved Blockbuster. Given its scale, Blockbuster was often the only place consumers could rent movies, especially in small towns. And I don\u2019t doubt that some people who are nostalgic for Blockbuster do actually miss it. But I think the majority of this nostalgia is not for Blockbuster itself. It\u2019s for things that Blockbuster represented. And I think parsing those things out is important.
If you want to listen to some new music, where do you go? Probably the internet. If you want to watch a movie, where do you go? Probably the internet. If you want to order something for your sister\u2019s birthday, where do you go? Again, probably the internet. Forget the fact that you might be accessing the internet on your computer, your phone, or television. Forget the fact that you likely need to head to a different app or website to accomplish each of those things. The important point is that you don\u2019t need to leave your house to do many things these days.
This wasn\u2019t always the case. Not that long ago, if I wanted to hear some new music, I would probably head to a record shop. If I wanted to watch a film, I would probably head to Blockbuster or a movie theater. If I wanted to get my sister some new clothes, I would probably head to a local boutique. There is tremendous convenience in being able to do all of these things without leaving your home. And it\u2019s clear that we like the convenience. Spotify, Netflix, and Amazon are all worth billions of dollars. But with mobile computing giving us the ability to be everywhere, it often feels like we are nowhere.
There is something special about going to a physical place dedicated to a specific purpose. Sure, I can access more movies than any Blockbuster could hold sitting on my couch today, but I can\u2019t access the feeling conjured by a place dedicated to all things movies and television.
It's hard to know what to do when you have millions of users and have such a huge market share. However, it seems like Netflix could have grandfathered in people, even for a period of time. I suspect their subscriber base is so large that it would not have been advantageous. I watch mostly streaming now anyway so I'll probably drop the 2 disk to 1 disk to keep my price point.
I don't really understand why people are so up in arms about this. Everyone that I know who has Netflix with the DVD plan simply did it because it was next to nothing over the price of streaming alone. The discs just sit on a bookcase or in a drawer somewhere and collect dust. It has been obvious through the way Netflix have been marketing themselves that they are trying to move away from the discs because of the hassle and cost of everything that goes along with having to mail the discs. They were probably hoping that this bump in price was the nudge that got people off their seats to find those discs, send them back, and switch to streaming only.
My thoughts exactly! The people who were with Netflix from the beginning should take a second and remember the prices and plans from back then. When the streaming was introduced, it wasn't unlimited, it was expensive, and the selection was pretty laughable.
Bottom line is, if you want Netflix to continue offering up a great selection of video AND continue (like they have) to aggressively add new content to the fold, then the pricing will have to periodically need to be adjusted. Especially since their contracts with the studios are about to end.
And I would rather have one big increase than several smaller ones. But that's my opinion. In a few days, it'll settle down (it already is), and I'm sure Netflix will be just fine. After all, they have more customers than Comcast (and if that company can hold onto customers, Netflix certainly can).
And I would much rather pay $15 or $20 to Netflix and have an almost endless supply of great things to watch than spend $80 to Comcast and be constantly flipping channels trying to find something decent to watch.
Where it gets complicated is Comcast is my ISP and I have been completely without cable television for almost 2 years. Comcast has recently set bandwidth caps for internet use. They also own several cable channels. What's to stop them from doing everything in their power from making Netflix's services run slower, lower the caps even more, or even block services like Netflix when they see that I am not dishing out the big bucks for their premium cable services?
These are interesting times we live in. As these companies that offer conflicting services along with services that rely on other companies to be fair and honest they will resort to shady actions. Not necessarily illegal, but the Comcasts and Time Warners are going to do everything in their power to make Netflix as inconvenient as possible.
I am considering the switch to Blockbuster for my Blueray rentals, the priciing is the same except you get moves a month earlier , they have a larger Blueray selection and with also having a larget inventory that means less waiting once a film is available.
Blockbuster does not have a streaming service that i would use but this means that I can reduce my Netflix bill from shy of $30- and now only pay them $8- per month or $96- per year and that is if Amazon Prime which has the same content as Netflix does not become my streaming provider.
so now that netflix has crush every mom and pop store and look's and feel above everyone knowing it was from the help of millions of people who have an account with them who thank's when someone say's i have something cheap then what you have would last forever this company did what they needed the do by putting people out of work and this company has now showed other company's if you wanna pocket millions of dollar's offer something cheap over the internet and by mail and you will shut down every local store and mall and in this store's are people who like you and i have the pay bills keep a roof over you and you kids head and food in they're mouth this company does not care cause if they did why don't you hear all hiring they're doing all you hear is how big this company is getting and all the money thats being made cause people love staying home and being lazy streaming all day so keep raving about have great is the stream and how cheap the price still is and that is the first of more the come
This is really about a price hike, with zero improvement to the plan. Netflix streaming has never been great. Typically old or foreign movies dominate the selection. Add to that the deals made with studio's to release new DVDs late, and you could argue that they are decreasing their services , and increasing prices. Not a good combination.
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