Blockbuster addendum

[Joe Power]

Blockbuster, I believe, is a huge donor to the Republican party.

After moving to Houston and finding the choices somewhat limited in my neighborhood, I rented from Blockbuster exactly once. My fiance and I picked out an armload of movies, including "Fahrenheit 911." The clerk, a guy in his 30's with a flattop haircut, who looked like he lived in his mother's basement, and always would, informed us that we'd be better served by renting "Fahrenhype 911", and implied that we were gullible. I growled that we had the movies we wanted, but got madder at myself for not loudly berating him as time went on. I almost went back, but decided to e-mail Blockbuster corporate instead. My message thanked them because their clerk tried to save a computer programmer and an attorney from being so stupid and gullible that we rented "Fahrenheit 911."

I never received a response, but my fiance did. I guess lawyers get more respect than geeks. Either that, or her lack of sarcasm touched them. A very sympathetic woman sounded shocked and assured her that this was not their policy and that it would be dealt with.

I buy my coffee at a shop in the same strip mall where Blockbuster is located and I always make a point of looking in the window. As of last week, Flattop is still employed.

They will never get another dime of our money.

[KurtNYC]

1. Viacom lost a ton of money on Blockbuster

NEW YORK - Viacom Inc., the media conglomerate that owns MTV and CBS, is getting rid of its controlling stake in the Blockbuster video rental chain and taking a $1.3 billion charge to reflect the declining value of the business. The charge put Viacom well into the red for its latest fiscal quarter.

The rental business has been in decline since about 1992 or so. And now Netflix and WalMart are carving up whats left.

As for the clerk, most idiots don't know just how stupid they are and therefor lack a sense of embarrassment which would stop them from recommending Farenhype 911, etc.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

2. Nor mine

Thanks for the story.

[Deja Q]

3. Unprofessional. Flattop is being paid that cool $5.25/hr to be impartial;

it is never wise to insult a customer in customer service/retail industry.

Whatever his political beliefs, he had no right to interfere.


Now all that is corporate theory. In practice, if you preach what they say, then it's okay.

[nine23]

4. Good to hear your partner got a corporate response...

Do yourself a favour, though...keep casing the joint for Flattop. When you see him working, give the wanker a huge piece of your mind IN PERSON. VENT AWAY.

You have more "ammo" now (with the corporate reply), and he'll be working in a fast-food fry pit within a few weeks...that'll be your last chance.

[meganmonkey]

5. I recommend Netflix

www.netflix.com

If it's on DVD, they have it. And you never have to leave your house.

[CO Liberal]

6. I Prefer Hollywood Video Myself

Unfortunately, last week Blockbuster announced they're starting a hostile takeover attempt to buy Hollywood Video....

[Joe Power]

7. That's where we rent now

If Blockbuster takes over, that will be the end of that. Netflix here we come. I can't believe how few choices I have in my area to patronize.

[bikebloke]

11. Same here

There aren't any independent video shops nearby. Two Blockbusters have gone out of business. Hollywood is our only choice. Recently, they expanded their collection, swelling the ranks of foreign, independent and unrated films. Even a couple tiers devoted to Criterion. A Blockbuster buy-out would probably clear out those with their "family" policy. Then I'll switch to Netflix.

[Midlodemocrat]

8. We don't rent movies anymore.

...if it is something we want to see, we buy it at Costco, otherwise, we just skip the movie thing and watch what we already have.

How pathetic is that?

[fishwax]

9. The blockbuster I go too is pretty decent

I know the bigger business sucks, but I like my neighborhood store. I was surprised at how many anti-Bush documentaries they stocked, as I didn't expect a mega chain to carry Bush's Brain or Uncovered: The truth about the Iraq war. But they did. And most of the workers are hip to that jive, as my wife and I had conversations about F911 with a few employees while it was still in theaters. This last summer I was watching a lot of documentaries -- fog of war, weather underground, etc., and a couple of the employees would rent whichever documentary I just finished and then we'd discuss. Good folks.

[CanuckAmok]

10. Another problem with Blockbuster...

...and another reason to avoid them:

(I don't know if this is still a valid statistic, in light of on-line rentals and Wal*Mart): Blockbuster is larger than their top 6,000 competitors COMBINED.

Not only is that damned near a monopoly in all but metropolitain areas, but Blockbuster has so much clout with the production studios that they can (and have) influenced the content of some movies, in the pre-production stage. Having a movie you produced not carried for rental at Blockbuster is such an economic liability, that Blockbuster reps are included in concept meetings and editing of major films.