Tips from the girl who used to work at Blockbuster

[trinityvixen]

I posted a little while back about my incredulity that people could be kept waiting on movies from Netflix. Today, scanning Hacking Netflix, I see that someone did a side-by-side comparison of their Netflix/Blockbuster Online queues to compare wait times for new releases between the two. And Blockbuster promised shorter wait times overall for all the same titles.

The agitation about new releases in that post left me rather self-satisfied, I must say. It must be very hard to be so goddamned picky about movies. You may mock me for my unquestionably terrible taste in film (and television--have I mentioned I am still watching Heroes?). Heck, I mock me. But I must be doing something right because aside from having to pace back and forth and wiggle about like I'm a three-year-old who has to pee over the delay between sending back a disc and getting the next one of a highly anticipated series...I have it easy when it comes to being satisfied by DVD delivery via Netflix. Hell, Netflix keeps improving without me asking for anything! Can't get a movie on the spot? Have Watch It Now! Watch It Now too limited? We'll add 20,000 titles inside of a year and a half! Don't want to watch on your computer? Have box or an XBOX or a PS3! (Or, as rumor has it, possibly even the Wii.)

How hard it must be to be those people who have to have the movie now now now now. For whom Blu-Ray is such a BURDEN to have to pay extra for. I never have a problem with new releases because by the time they climb their way up the 400+ title list of my queue, they're no longer remotely new. It's easy being me with the way I watch movies. (Speaking of, I have three that need taking care of that I've had for weeks...)

Anyway, the title of my post refers to a trick I learned when I worked at Blockbuster. For those who might NEED movies on the Tuesdays they are released, you can get same-day delivery. Put the new release at the top of your queue, return a disc on Friday/Saturday before, and you should get it Tuesday. At Blockbuster, we got all new releases the Friday before. Employees could take 'em out, and it gave time for them to be wired up for security/scanning purposes. (I think that's why there was a delay. I have no idea, really.) Netflix will send it to you Monday because you won't get it before Tuesday. It works, I've done it. (This is also how Amazon does it with same-day releases.) Just FYI for those who might have the same-day new release fixation as the people at that post.

Comments

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

I got Chuck season 2 dvds from Netflix yesterday, the release date. I didn't run into any problem with wait time, I suspect because I wanted disc 4 on, since I'd watched the first half of the season online. So yes, you can get things day of.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

The problem here is demand. You wanted something not readily in demand--a later disc of a new release. Most people who want Chuck want the first disc because they haven't seen it at all. What these people are upset with is things in high demand not coming to them because of limited supply. My suggestion works only with adequate supply, I confess. But it's the way to get what you want on release day if you don't want to wait. That's the only way to do it, to have a DVD request in that weekend and a DVD in the mail to them, too.

[oblvndrgn.livejournal.com]

From what I understand of their respective business models, Netflix does not want all people who want something on day 1 to get it. For that to happen, they would have to buy a lot more of that DVD, and then they would have a whole ton lying around six months from now when it's not popular. You can remedy this slightly by selling used discs through some service, but it only gets you so far. Netflix instead is much better about getting you exactly what you want eventually, including the weird obscure titles that Blockbuster has never heard of. That and most people who use Netflix won't swap to another service because they'd have to enter all their preferences and ratings again to get good recommendations.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

It's fair point, and you're probably completely correct about the business models differing in a way that dictates availability. Netflix, however, has improved their estimates of disc desirability by offering the "save" function. Almost every new movie released in theaters has an entry on Netflix at least by opening day. That way, if you want to see it when it hits DVD, it's saved and ready to go. And Netflix can use that pre-order to estimate how many copies to order to satisfy customers without having a tremendous surplus of discs. I don't know, but I would guess Blockbuster is not too dissimilar.

[cagexxx.livejournal.com]

BOOM.

http://news.google.com/news/search?q=netflix+delay+new+releases

28 days...damn. Fuck you, consumers.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they had been making noise about this a while ago, and I'm not surprised. Netflix's reduced fees on WB movies must be pretty substantial for them to risk their client base thusly. On the other hand, if even half the customers are like me and rely more on chance to find out when movies are coming to DVD (or, even more lazy, wait for Netflix to advertise them), there's a good chance few will even notice.