# Why did blockbuster video fail **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 21, 2021, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-blockbuster-video-fail/931051 "2021-01-21T03:23:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2021, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-blockbuster-video-fail/931051/82 "2021-03-30T22:59:26Z")
If I remember correctly , at least part of the problem was more how they enforced the late fees than the fees themselves. I’d go in to return a movie , they’d put it off to the side to scan it later and boom late fee, even though I returned it on time. Or it was due at noon, and I got it back at 12:05. Sure, I was late and they had every right to charge me- but I also had every right to go to the mom-and-pop place that was easonable. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2021, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-blockbuster-video-fail/931051/83 "2021-03-30T23:20:45Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > If I remember correctly, BB said you could keep the movie for 2 nights, but the 2nd night was just until midnight or something. That confused a lot of people. Many people thought it was 48 hours. If they rented the movie at 3pm Monday, then they thought they could return it by 3pm on Wednesday. But really it had to be back by midnight on Tuesday (or maybe by opening on Wed morning). That misunderstanding meant a lot of people ended up with unexpected late fees. And the corporate retail drones were not allowed to make any exceptions or forgive fees for that misunderstanding. I think eventually they made the rentals be 48 hours, but by then many people already hated them for the late fees. > [@doreen](#): > > If I remember correctly , at least part of the problem was more how they enforced the late fees than the fees themselves. I’d go in to return a movie , they’d put it off to the side to scan it later and boom late fee, even though I returned it on time. Or it was due at noon, and I got it back at 12:05. Sure, I was late and they had every right to charge me- but I also had every right to go to the mom-and-pop place that was easonable. Indeed! I had forgotten about that. Bastards! ---
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2021, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-blockbuster-video-fail/931051/84 "2021-03-31T01:26:53Z")
There is now a [documentary on this very topic](https://www.netflix.com/title/81354557) on… wait for it… Netflix 😃 ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2021, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-blockbuster-video-fail/931051/85 "2021-03-31T01:34:47Z")
I almost always used a Mom & Pop or one of the small chains. Blockbuster was pretty crappy and overpriced. When Netflix came along, I loved it. Also did the 3 disc deal, I think it was only $7.98 per month. That was less than 3 Blockbuster rentals and I probably averaged 12-15 per month with Netflix. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2021, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-blockbuster-video-fail/931051/86 "2021-03-31T03:04:49Z")
I think they just didn’t take online movie distribution until it was too late. They knew that Netflix was becoming a thing, but even in the late 2000s, I think the attitude was that Netflix, Amazon, and other digital movie distributors were not really much different than those mail order DVD services. They were probably more worried about bit torrent piracy and didn’t see that the infrastructure for playing net-based movies on a regular TV was becoming much more robust. BB also seemed to have some just piss poor management and customer service experience, which led to competition from rivals (Red Box, Hollywood Video, and even local libraries). ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2021, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-blockbuster-video-fail/931051/87 "2021-03-31T03:28:41Z")
ever wonder why a video store movie was 89.99 when you broke it when you could replace it with the 9.99 copy from wal-mart and they wouldn’t let you? Same reason the public library won’t let you do it with books, they have /had to buy it from certain places that licenses them to lend/rent it out which was a significant part of the price the industry only stores were charged… Also didn’t blockbuster have some sort of deal with movie studios where they were provided with copies at a steep discount that I think some of the other chains had to sue to end in the early 2k;s I think someone told me about it when I asked how they went from maybe 3 or 4 copies of a popular movie to 25 which was mostly sold for 9.99 a month or two later … ---
**Author:** ![scarbrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@scarbrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scarbrow)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2021, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-blockbuster-video-fail/931051/88 "2021-03-31T05:16:22Z")
One of the details pointed out in the documentary “The Last Blockbuster” was that Viacom bought the company, milked them for cash and left them with debt. So of course a company servicing a large debt is going to have a hard time investing in new services. This seems to me to be as big a problem as anything else management did wrong. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2021, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-blockbuster-video-fail/931051/89 "2021-03-31T05:44:48Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > And the corporate retail drones were not allowed to make any exceptions or forgive fees for that misunderstanding. I think eventually they made the rentals be 48 hours, but by then many people already hated them for the late fees. In the documentary _The Last Blockbuster_ (already mentioned in this thread), the former CFO of Blockbuster noted that getting rid of late fees was disastrous for the company; revenues dropped to a _third_ of what they had been. I was pretty careful about my Blockbuster returns and paid late fees only a few times. But it always seemed to me that they _wanted_ you to run up those fees (hence that misleading “second night”). It was interesting to hear the CFO essentially verify that. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2021, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-blockbuster-video-fail/931051/90 "2021-03-31T19:25:06Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I almost always used a Mom & Pop or one of the small chains. Blockbuster was pretty crappy and overpriced. When Netflix came along, I loved it. Also did the 3 disc deal, I think it was only $7.98 per month. That was less than 3 Blockbuster rentals and I probably averaged 12-15 per month with Netflix. I was never a big “blockbuster” movie fan. So the fact that the Blockbuster store had a zillion copies of the latest big movies didn’t interest me. And whenever I found a movie I _did_ want to watch, it was alway out. I started going to the tiny hole-in-the-wall mom and pop near me, and I _always_ found something I wanted to see. Even if I didn’t know it before I went the store. I still miss that place. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2021, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-blockbuster-video-fail/931051/91 "2021-03-31T22:04:15Z")
It wasn’t every Mom & Pop store, but I found one or two at each place I lived that had some movie nerds working there and they made sure to have interesting movies. My favorite store had a large midnight movie selection. My wife liked the art/foreign films. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-blockbuster-video-fail/931051/92 "2021-04-01T00:03:08Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > I was never a big “blockbuster” movie fan. So the fact that the Blockbuster store had a zillion copies of the latest big movies didn’t interest me. And whenever I found a movie I _did_ want to watch, it was alway out. I started going to the tiny hole-in-the-wall mom and pop near me, and I _always_ found something I wanted to see. Even if I didn’t know it before I went the store. I still miss that place. I am trying to remember the name of this phenomenon of human psyche, but cannot put my finger on it. Basically it is the unhappiness of too much choice. That seems backwards, right? If I have a choice of 10,000 movies to watch right now, that should make me happier than 10 choices, right? But it doesn’t. Sitting in front of my streaming movie service and picking a single one out seems to trigger something in the back of your mind that says, “Of all of the movies you could be watching, THIS ONE is really the best? Are you sure?” My wife will actually say that there is nothing on when we have at our fingertips almost every movie and tv show that has ever existed. Whereas when we are at a hotel when trying to drift off asleep, we can find something pretty interesting to watch in the 40 to 50 channels (10 to 20 real shows) that are on. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-blockbuster-video-fail/931051/93 "2021-04-01T00:06:28Z")
> [@Gozu](#): > > There is now a [documentary on this very topic](https://www.netflix.com/title/81354557) on… > > wait for it… > > Netflix 😃 Ha, I watched that recently. I thought it was interesting. FWIW, I can’t find how many redbox kiosks there are now but it was 41,000 back in 2019. I’m guessing its about the same now, so there is still a market to rent physical DVDs. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-blockbuster-video-fail/931051/94 "2021-04-01T00:13:01Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > That seems backwards, right? If I have a choice of 10,000 movies to watch right now, that should make me happier than 10 choices, right? But it doesn’t. Sitting in front of my streaming movie service and picking a single one out seems to trigger something in the back of your mind that says, “Of all of the movies you could be watching, THIS ONE is really the best? Are you sure?” That wasn’t my issue, though. Blockbuster had gajillions of copies of only a few movies. Less actual selection than the hole-in-the-wall place. I _liked_ having choices. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-blockbuster-video-fail/931051/95 "2021-04-01T03:17:52Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > I am trying to remember the name of this phenomenon of human psyche, but cannot put my finger on it. Basically it is the unhappiness of too much choice. Wiki suggests: > **[Overchoice](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overchoice)** > > \[Overchoice takes place when\] the advantages of diversity and individualization are canceled by the complexity of buyer's decision-making process. > — From Alvin Toffler, Future Shock, 1971 > Overchoice or choice overload is the paradoxical phenomenon that choosing between a large variety of options can be detrimental to decision making processes. The term was first introduced by Alvin Toffler in his 1970 book, Future Shock. > The phenomenon of overchoice occurs when many equivalent choices are ava... For sure it’s a real issue for at least some people. It invites more analysis which quickly converts to analysis paralysis due to the volume of analyses to be performed using vague and manual scoring processes. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-blockbuster-video-fail/931051/96 "2021-04-01T03:19:49Z")
> **[The Paradox of Choice](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Paradox_of_Choice)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > The Paradox of Choice – Why More Is Less is a book written by American psychologist Barry Schwartz and first published in 2004 by Harper Perennial. In the book, Schwartz argues that eliminating consumer choices can greatly reduce anxiety for shoppers. The book analyses the behavior of different types of people (in particular, maximizers and satisficers). This book argues that the dramatic explosion in choice—from the mundane to the profound challe... ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-blockbuster-video-fail/931051/97 "2021-04-01T06:16:21Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > FWIW, I can’t find how many redbox kiosks there are now but it was 41,000 back in 2019. I’m guessing its about the same now, so there is still a market to rent physical DVDs. Both the kiosk and the overall physical rental market have been on a steady decline for the past decade. It’s tough to find the actual rental numbers, but based on revenue, kiosk revenue (of which Redbox apparently has better than 50% share) has plummeted from $1.7 billion in 2011 to $884 million in 2019 (and possibly down to around $660 million in 2020). The overall physical rental market is down from $5.7 billion in 2011 to $1 billion in 2020. Redbox apparently has added about 10 thousand or so kiosks since 2011, so taking the revenue numbers in account, the number of kiosks probably isn’t a good way to gauge interest in the physical rental market. Saying “there is still a market” would appear to be damning with faint praise. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-blockbuster-video-fail/931051/98 "2021-04-07T04:43:34Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > FWIW, I can’t find how many redbox kiosks there are now but it was 41,000 back in 2019. I’m guessing its about the same now, so there is still a market to rent physical DVDs. Who cares how many kiosks there are? The problem with Redbox is a lack of choice. The biggest Redbox kiosks only offer you a choice of two hundred videos. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-blockbuster-video-fail/931051/99 "2021-04-07T05:08:59Z")
the thing is Netflix tapped into the tv series binge at the right time… I mean sure it started at the end of the VHS days but it was a hassle to find a whole series like friends or Seinfeld in a video store even after they put them on DVD and it was expensive as hell to buy them too in the beginning (heh look up dragon ball;l z complete season prices ) I mean even though a lot of what was in at first were rating failures enough people watched for the studios to realize there was a future in it … when it was just streaming movies I didn’t find it all that impressive of course they didn’t get anything overly great in the beginning because of the blockbuster/movie studio deal ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-blockbuster-video-fail/931051/100 "2021-04-08T01:07:18Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > > > FWIW, I can’t find how many redbox kiosks there are now but it was 41,000 back in 2019. I’m guessing its about the same now, so there is still a market to rent physical DVDs. > > Who cares how many kiosks there are? The problem with Redbox is a lack of choice. The biggest Redbox kiosks only offer you a choice of two hundred videos. Other people must like them or else they wouldn’t have 40,000 kiosks. I agree there isn’t much choice, but I guess that cuts down on overhead and keeps the business model alive. Either way Blockbuster also had Kiosks and they didn’t last. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-blockbuster-video-fail/931051/101 "2021-04-08T05:03:02Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Other people must like them or else they wouldn’t have 40,000 kiosks. It is pretty apparent that fewer and fewer people like kiosks, since their revenue continues to nosedive even as more kiosks are installed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-blockbuster-video-fail/931051.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-blockbuster-video-fail/931051.md?page=6)