Been a long time lurker and love reading the AMA forums so thought I'd start one of my own. Fire away and I will try to answer to the best of my knowledge!
[AMA] I am a former Blockbuster employee
LImhereforcomments on 13/08/2018 - 22:17
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I worked there when VHS was completely gone. We had mainly DVDs and were introducing Blu-Rays with new releases. Generally old stocks we aim to get rid of would go into a box full of mark down items for sale for 50-90% off. They would just sit there until someone buys it. At my particular store we had regulars come in and would bulk buy with a higher discount.
Another two for you!
What runs through your mind when a customer returns their rental late? Say.. 1/3/5 days?
What are some of their common excuses?
Nothing really, they just seem very forgetful or lazy.
We had a system with you can go in arrears with about $10 with fees from what I remember. Anything about that you would need to clear or at least pay something or we wont let you hire anymore. Most people would be happy to pay but common excuses are:
- 'oh I thought it was a weekly' (new releases)
- 'oh i thought it was a monthly' (don't have such a thing only weekly)
- 'I put it in the after hour box before 10pm'
- 'Well you should of called me and reminded me'
We actually do try contact them when especially new release are over a week late.
What was the most outrageous thing Bob Holness ever said to you?
Had no clue who he was until I googled him.
Give me a pee please Bob?
I used to love the hand jive….
1) Were the DVD's for rent special versions? The normal ones sold in stores like JBHIFI say that they are for private use only and can't be used for renting out or public broadcast.
2) Where did you guys source those special DVDs from?
3) When selling the DVD's that were allowed for renting out did the right to rent out pass on to the new owner?
4) What was the premium on these special versions?
5) Did the studio get a commission every time the movie was rented?
1) The DVDs came from head office (our store was a franchise) and I believe the owner purchased them at a higher rate then it would sell at JBHIFI or other retailers. I'm assuming in doing so we had the right to rent out, thought i'm not exactly sure.
2) As mentioned above I'm guessing head office would of had deals with the distributors/studio.
3) Good question! I would would assume the rights remained with Blockbuster or their would be some sort of clause in the contract. Again not entirely sure sorry!
4) From memory depending on titles we were paying from 30%-50% more than other retailers.
5) Looking from the monthly P/L reports, I dare say they did not receive any commission at all.
From time to time we received dvd movies with no cases or pictures on the disk that werent available to rent yet (another 2 months or so). The staff were allow to watch these movies at home and in the movie it actually had the words displayed "this movie is only for private use" the whole movie!
Was there an “adult” section I didn’t know about?
I think it was disguised as "foreign movies"
There was always an adult section (normally in the corner of most stores) no secret section if that is what your asking :)
Damn, I missed out.
Thanks for answering, op
Did you meet any cuties?
Always! either chicks having a quiet one or going through a break up and needed recommendation for movies…
rip blockbuster?
Yep, all my owner's stores he owned he eventually sold to a competitor Video Ezy which soon was closed down too.
My experience working in a blockbuster in mid-west usa in 1998/99:
My memory is that we'd do about $7k USD on a friday.. but one friday there was a blizzard forecast and so ppl went cray cray… I think we made about $9500 (something like 18k AUD at the time). We had people lined up to the back of the store.. every register going.
We had 420 copies of Titanic because it was guaranteed to be available.
(only two copies of Fear and Loathing)We didn't have dvd.. a few local stores had started to stock them.
Streaming/online was not yet on the radar.
I think I made $7USD/hr.. they asked what I wanted at the job interview.. very strange.. some people made less, because they asked for less.. i think.
I recall ringing up $100 USD fines for people.. especially if they lost a precious VHS copy.
crazy times indeed.
The Onion explains further: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TrPwOrf4sM
Wow! 420 VHS of Titanic?? I think the best we ever had on a Friday was about $13,000 in sales.
What did you do when people taped over the VHS by accident with their own shows/data?
Yeah it was two entire bays dedicated just to Titanic.. completely crazy.
Imagine all that landfill, just from that one movie.I don't recall any accidental taping over.
VHS tapes had a write-protect feature.. little tabs on the top that if punched out would disallow recording.(you could put sticky tape on the tabs to reallow recording.. but no one messed with the bb vhs tapes while I was there)
The onion is your source?
Hi, thanks for doing the AMA.
What happened to all the old stocks (DVD, VHS, games)?