Blockbuster announced a new program called “Blockbuster Total Access”.
It is, in a word, amazing.
If you’re familiar with Netflix, Blockbuster works the same way. In fact Netflix sued Blockbuster, apparently with the idea that no one would have ever figured out mail order DVDs except them. Right. Just like Amazon’s argument that no one would have ever figured out buying stuff with one click.
For those unfamiliar, let me explain how Blockbuster has worked: you give Blockbuster Online $18/month. In return you can get 3 DVDs in the mail at a time. In addition, you get one coupon (via email) that lets you go to your local Blockbuster store and rent another DVD. DVD rentals are about $4+ so if you used your 4 coupons every month, it basically paid for your online rentals.
The coupons were a big hit with us. We rented a bunch of movies that we might not have otherwise. The store is on our way home, so it was great. The only problem was that I had to remember to print the coupon and bring it with me.
Your online rentals are processed via a queue that you manage online. When a movie is shipped, you get an email telling you, and when you should expect it (basically 3 days, not including Sundays). If it takes longer than that, you can go onto their website and report it. When you report it, they will ask if you want them to resend the same movie (no) or send the next movie in your queue (yes!).
I always tell people that mail from here might take longer depending on if the ponies are tired (that’s a Pony Express joke for you youngsters). Generally speaking I can expect my DVDs to arrive in two days, not three. The only bottleneck that we have experienced is returning the movies.
When you return a movie, they check it in and send you an email, and then ship another movie. I have mailed two movies back on the same day and had one of them checked in the next day and the other take two or three days.
How could this be improved?
Well the point of having 3 movies (I believe) is that you can have: 1 on the way to you, 1 to watch, and 1 on the way back. If there is a glitch in the process, it can screw that up. I have, on occasion, found myself with several movies on the way back but nothing new to watch (not even with the 1 in-store free rental).
Blockbuster has solved that problem, and fixed the problem of having to print the coupons, and sweetened the whole deal.
How? Well, you no longer have to mail the DVDs back.
Huh?
No, this isn’t some weird extension of the “No Late Fees” policy, and it doesn’t mean that you can keep the movies forever.
What it means is that instead of mailing the DVDs back, you can simply bring them back to the store. The store will immediately check it in meaning that your next DVD can be mailed. That is very cool, it eliminates the delay of being mailed back. (Of course you can mail them back if you want to, but why? I guess if you don’t live anywhere near a store.)
That would be enough to make it a great change, and make me very happy.
But they made another change that makes it even better.
Instead of having one coupon per week that you print and bring in, you can get a free rental for each Blockbuster Online DVD that you bring to the store. So let’s say that on Monday I get 3 movies mailed to me and they arrive on Wednesday. I watch one of them on Wednesday night and on Thursday I bring it to the store and get another in-store rental for free. All they have to do is scan the envelope (no need to print a coupon). I can keep that in-store rental for a week, so I watch another of the Blockbuster Online movies and bring it back to the store Friday and get another in-store rental. Then I watch another movie Saturday and return it Sunday and get a third in-store rental.
So I now have watched 3 DVDs and have another 3 in my possession that I can keep for a week (unless they are 2 night new releases of course) and watch while I wait for my next Blockbuster Online movies to arrive in the mail. (You get 3 online rentals regardless of how many in-store rentals you have.)
In all likelihood I will have received and watched another Blockbuster Online DVD before I need to return the in-store rentals. Heck, my local store is open until 11pm, I could conceivably get a DVD in the mail, watch it, and return it to the store the same day. My local store even has a computer setup with Internet access so I can check my queue (and delete any movies I am renting at the store).
I can hardly imagine that I will ever, ever be without a movie again. And if that wasn’t enough, you still get 1 in-store coupon via email each month instead of 4, but you are getting a lot more than 3 free rentals in return, so I consider it a very good trade but also a good safety net to make sure that if somehow the timing doesn’t work out for some reason I can still get a free movie.
This will also solve the problem of “Wow I haven’t watched any of these movies and have 3 sitting here” (which can happen) and then watch them and mail 3 DVDs back and have none. That isn’t anyone’s fault but my own.
Netflix is going to need something more than a lawsuit to compete. I have heard that Netflix has a better collection of rare, indie, anime, etc DVDs, but I don’t think that will be a big consideration for the bulk of potential customers.
Both Netflix and Blockbuster Online have been accused of “throttling” which is the term used for slowing down people who rent “too many” movies. If you receive a movie on Monday, watch it Monday night, and mail it back Tuesday, you might find that it seems to take a longer time for that DVD to the recognized as returned. Blockbuster and Netflix both officially deny that they throttle, and both advertise “unlimited” rentals, but many high volume renters have noticed this happening.
It will be very difficult for Blockbuster to throttle now, because they cannot claim not to have received the movie. As soon as it is scanned in at the store, the next movie should be cleared to be sent. If a movie isn’t mailed the next day, people are going to complain, and rightfully so.
This is a great day for Blockbuster customers, and, I suspect for Netflix customers who will probably find that Netflix needs to do something to respond.
Blockbuster is now just offering a free two week trial, which is not really enough time to test out the service, but it is generally possible to find either a $9.99 for your first month (rather than $17.99) or for a 4 week trial (try Google). If you have a Discover Card they used to have something like an 8 week trial for Discover Card members, but you will have to check that out at Discover’s website to see if that is still available.
Find out more about Blockbuster Total Access.