It's Almost Like Blockbuster Wanted to Die

[@stareagle5000]

You forgot to mention the biggest one. That the founder of Netflix didn’t think he would be able to compete with blockbuster if blockbuster took him seriously so in an effort to protect Netflix from being run out of business by its much larger competitor he approached blockbuster executives and offered a deal where he would rebrand Netflix blockbuster streaming or something and act as their streaming and mail order branch, and essentially become part of blockbusters. And they laughed at him and said no.....and Netflix wasn’t a nothing company at this point they had quite a substantial number of users already.

[@GhostEmblem]

Is this referring to the chance blockbuster had to buy out netflix cause thats what it sounds like and he mentioned that at the beginning.

[@explosivemodesonicmauricet1597]

@@GhostEmblem Yes,you are right. if I am BB CEO,I would accept the offer because they are using emerging technologies,which will be a long-term investment for the future.

[@GhostEmblem]

@@explosivemodesonicmauricet1597 I'm glad they didn't. Most big companies have that do that never end up using the new tech and just stick to the old stuff because its cheaper and less effort. So all the new innovative tech nowadays get bought up then put on the shelf but are under licence so they are never to be used to challenge the existing players and we are stuck with 20-30 year technologies.

[@dafyddthomas7299]

Nerflix had the last laugh - and typical management ridiculing the little man / company out of its door.

[@krystiankowalski7335]

@@GhostEmblemBut surely that’s a good thing. Who the hell wants innovation? I get used to one thing, and then they go and change it all around

[@heruhcanedean]

The 3 reasons that last Blockbuster is still open: It's a guy who paid to use the name so it isn't a corporate owned store, it's directly next door from a Papa Murphy's and one of the best pot shops in town is across the street. I live near it.

[@DoomBringerDANTE]

I thought the blockbuster in Bend OR was a legit Buster? I remember going to it before BBs were closing in mass.

[@Mikewee777]

Heruhcane Dean , there is a BB in Los angeles which only existed to fool customers into paying for a DirectTv subscription.

[@AwkwardConverse-ation]

There's also one by Corpus Cristi in Texas

[@SteppingStonevlogs]

I love this piece of trivial information

[@LiarraSniffles_X3]

No, pot shops as in cast iron pots and pans. Man people will come from the next town over to get themselves some Papa Murhpy's, rent a movie and pick up some high quality, locally forged pots. It's the cultural hotspot of the area in large part due to the fresh, non-stick pans made without synthetic materials, and it's always good to buy local because you know where the good stuff comes from that way. (It comes from an open pit mine a few miles away, insider tip for you). Anyway, I'm off to buy me the biggest pots I can find so I can cook some spaghetti and meth, bye bye.

[@TodayIFoundOut]

I used to work at Hollywood Video (Blockbuster's main competitor in the U.S. for a couple decades there) in college. During the rise of Netflix, rather than go ahead and buy Netflix, Blockbuster instead attempted to spend a boatload of money to purchase Hollywood Video. :-) Instead another company outbid them at close to a billion dollars. Five years later, Hollywood video was gone. -Daven

[@Adowcraigizbae]

I LOVE UR CHANNEL!

[@rydemk4168]

Wouldn’t expect to see you here simon

[@Ralph1492]

Today I Found Out So your a Cali boi

[@Ralph1492]

Today I Found Out That your a cali boy

[@Rangernewb5550]

Oh cool you're here

[@stumbling]

I worked for Blockbuster. Our store kept in profit by basically ignoring everything upper management said. Oh, and the computer systems we used were designed in 1985! That's the year Blockbuster came to the UK. They literally NEVER updated the computers once... We even had a modern PC emulating the old 1985 operating system. The operating system was so slow it had a frame rate of about 1/2 FPS. xD PRODUCTIVITY

[@turtleflipper9935]

Ours crashed alot, and our counter had a till display for a till that was removed 10 years before that was just there and didnt do anything.

[@hanniffydinn6019]

[sic] oh my god, more proof they really were dinosaurs !!

[@yallevereatenbeans2723]

What are the type of things management would say that were being ignored

[@hanniffydinn6019]

Big Dick search for factfiend video about blockbusters

[@stumbling]

Big Dick, for example, at one point we were supposed to refuse rental to anyone that didn't have their blockbuster card with them; even if they had their driver's license on them. And not letting people rent until they paid their late fees.

[@ryanoat]

didnt blockbuster let people rent games? *why didnt they use that*

[@Gmr-so3nn]

Mgooy Shame you can't rent a Sausage Roll from Gregg's.

[@Martianorbit]

Karl bought his copy of Vanquish from a Blockbuster for £3.

[@brandonwithnell612]

i used to rent games from blockbuster once in a while, but i was young and couldnt get the good m rated games, so eventualy i just bugged my parents to buy them permanently, now i dont even get physical copys of games just dowload them through PSN

[@Zero118]

In their final years they even sold new and used games, the used games were pretty damn cheap, got quite a few good 360 games at the time for about $10-$15, was very sad when they closed down especially since at the time I lived literally right next door to a blockbuster, game shopping was great haha.

[@IDoABitOfTrollin]

G4m3r11 yes you can. They just might not want it back when your done.

[@MrMario2011]

So Blockbuster bragged that their online streaming service had lower quality encodes of films? What?

[@joemann7971]

It used to be a good thing back when internet wasn't very fast. Lower encodes means less bandwidth.

[@x420nationx]

I think it’s still a good thing considering how much everything cost and considering game download sizes and data usage on consoles in households it just makes sense

[@mr_brass_monkey]

yeah but local video stores be the best

[@jantaine1722]

5 years later and The Spot makes it to the big screen.

[@cricketcalin]

"Do you mind if people share their account?" "Nah." How the tables have turned.

[@magnesjberg24]

Greed always prevails

[@Seriously_Unserious]

and it gets better, as Netflix released a kiddie port flick, then has another kiddie porn animation, and has several cast members of another of their originals being arrested and/or convicted of pedo acts. I guess when BlockBuster finally died, Netflix rushed to hire all the failed executives of BlockBuster to mismanage their company and operate on the adage, if it works, break it, and if it's broke, don't fix it.

[@Canadish]

@@Seriously_Unserious wait, what? What show was that? I assume the movie you mention is Cuties, didn't hear about a pedo cartoon?

[@Seriously_Unserious]

@@Canadish TheQuartering talked about it in a video today (or yesterday by the time you're reading this). I only heard about it just then.

[@adrianrocha49]

Exactly what I was thinking when he said that.

[@Revz8bit]

I always imagined the Blockbuster CEOs saying "those silly kids and their internets". I heard another story about Netflix approaching Blockbuster about a merger and were denied

[@supergeeky7529]

Yeah, that was pretty much them to a T. Them AND corporate. It was so fucking obnoxious!

[@MrTea101]

"Do you mind people sharing their Netflix account." "No. It's fine" 2023 "We will now charge you extra for sharing accounts."

[@shs5631]

I remember when there was a blockbuster was in my neighborhood. It got replaced with an ER. Good call that was.

[@DSan-kl2yc]

A Mad Lad think mine is currently a Japanese restaurant

[@brandongreenhough9379]

Ours is a poundland

[@ramonaray4307]

Do we live in the same neighborhood? that's what happened to my neighborhood blockbuster exactly xD

[@jjs7650]

Mine is a walk in clinic, I went in after injuring my foot and they told me it was a avulsion fracture. I then went to an actual orthopedic office and they told my that it was just really badly strained and the part that the clinic thought was a chip off of my foot bones was actually a growth plate. Basically the clinic is run by a hack. Still more useful than a blockbuster

[@gasmaskgaming9343]

Bruh so did mine

[@thecheck968]

Netflix: *shoots as arrow 100 meters away and lands a perfect bullseye* Bet you can’t do that. Blockbuster: Oh yeah? *throws bow on the ground, sprints 100 meters, impales the bullseye and breaks the arrow*

[@EvilFookaire]

The impaling involved a naked Blockbuster executive, and a Bulgarian dude had to clean the cumstains off of the bullseye afterwards. The poor arrow broke because it saw what happened to the bullseye and didn't want to live in this world anymore...

[@gabriellemorvan1423]

we had a blockbuster in my town, but when the building was sold they still kept up the sign, so now we have a liquor store with a movie ticket as its sign

[@Comuniity_]

Same I don't know what the business is but there is a business in my town with the blockbuster ticket sign with their companies name on it

[@aesthe3002]

a fitness center near me kept the ticket sign but replaced the graphic.

[@SpiderconPrime]

Yo wait are you in kansas

[@gabriellemorvan1423]

@@SpiderconPrime no

[@SpiderconPrime]

@@gabriellemorvan1423 ah alright there was one in manhattan that was very similiar

[@emjenkins464]

My only memory of little chef was my sister throwing up as we went to pay the bill.... Clearly the food was that bad

[@cleanerben9636]

I remember going only once. Food was terrible and the place was filthy.

[@RodneyAndMeVideos]

That's my only memory of it too except it was my brother

[@Canadish]

I remember the food was stale and I hated it. An independent place took over a place on route to our normal staycation and it was and remains fantastic.

[@senatordr.patrickmccuskeri4288]

I worked at Blockbuster during the dark times. Right before the "no more late fees" period and left right before the app really came out. They were so confident that their stores were going to be the thing that kept them in the game. I was training as a store manager and the trainer would actively argue with people who accidentally rented Blu Ray instead of DVD and needed to exchange them. She called them dumb, asked them if they couldn't see the words Blu Ray printed on it, and then promptly denied their exchange. This happened at least once a day and was supported by the regional managers. When I got my store, the old manager who was transitioning a store to me DID THE SAME THING. We lost at least one customer a day per store to this ludicrous practice, and that is just one rude thing I was actively trained to do. As soon as the training wheels came off, I ignored this practice and all the dipshit methods taught to me in training, treated the customers like actual humans and not DVD/Blu Ray finding troglodytes, and mysteriously my store numbers rocketed up and stayed up during my tenure. TL;DR: Blockbuster also actively treated long time customers like shit destroying any hope of maintaining loyal customers.I don't think a 16 minute video is long enough to go over all the dumbass things they did.

[@lexman7179]

The thing I always find funny is that Blockbuster actually briefly worked on a streaming service in 2001. They literally could have been way out in front with streaming services.

[@LieseFury]

"oh shit fellas this looks like it might actually work let's turn the fuck around, let's not be the inventors of the next fucking radio or even the next color television we got a ship to sink"

[@dragonlogos1]

Yeah the funny part is (just because you never might have connected this) is the reason the streaming service died was it was made by Enron

[@rekhyl]

The last blockbuster got a twitter account lmao

[@lastmanstanding7155]

Lukas No way!

[@SalTarvitz]

Good, they charged me so many late fees. Haha who got the last laugh blockbuster.

[@nathanscott4403]

parody account

[@marcbhoy2811]

4:25 Well that aged terribly

[@TheAustralianMapper5378]

“Re-stocking fee, that just sounds like a late fee with extra steps!”

[@manticorigon4908]

Shut the hell up Morty

[@AsbestosMuffins]

"good will" from the company that had multiple class action lawsuits over their ridiculous billing practices. I think Netflix's early advertising revolved around Blockbuster's terrible service

[@songsforsanguinius8576]

15:23 turns out it was a good shout

[@jambury2379]

Learning that Blockbuster was also in Europe makes realize even further how hard they failed

[@RC99_Productions]

I kinda wanna open my own Blockbuster-style VHS/DVD/video games store now, just out of convenience and nostalgia.

[@galfinsp7216]

Wish you luck on that if you do open it.

[@darthdrake3095]

Rent adult films too

[@nubberton1345]

I like how this is told like Netflix didn’t do anything and Blockbuster just took them as a threat and fucked it up

[@tiredox3788]

I used to have a Blockbuster in my city to it go replace with an XXX rated store.

[@tiredox3788]

What are you talking about dude?

[@luminariel3765]

Mine got replaced with a 24hr gym

[@gabraggs2]

Mine is still empty.....

[@shadaloo4444]

Mine is now a mcdonalds :'3

[@NIgHTMaReFortyTwo]

>to it go replace with

[@shadows-sweet-embrace]

I remember going to the local Blockbuster with my mom and dad. I'm pretty sure every time we went we always rented the live action Scooby-Doo movie.

[@ericspencer8093]

True Story: I graduated from college in 1993 and fielded offers from various companies wanting to hire me (you see, kids, back in those days employers actually tried to recruit you directly out of college---you didn't have to go looking). Blockbuster was one of them, and they were really high on my list because they were a huge company and growing like wildfire, plus it was a movie rental business, so... fun! I thought. They flew me at their expense to San Antonio, Texas (I lived in the mid-west at the time), and I was thinking, awesome, going to be working in a regional office or something big and.... nope, they wanted me for an assistant manager at a store. I couldn't believe they went to so much trouble for such a minor position. The "salary" was pure crap; when factoring in the potential number of hours, it made the salary even worse, close to minimum wage, and benefits were laughable. On top of that, they strongly encouraged me to start learning Spanish, because Texas.... and when I told the rep it wasn't sounding promising, he gave me a whole spiel about how big and invincible Blockbuster was, and how their future was "cutting edge" and preparing to expand in more ways than anybody could imagine (he meant game rentals, I suppose). I turned it down, low-level retail was NOT why I had worked my a$$ off getting a degree. Ended up taking a job with a hotel chain.... so not much better, but I still think of that recruiter and how wrong he was predicting the future of the company.

[@1976jdk]

Where I live there is still a closed Blockbuster with the sign and posters in the windows. The rent for the store is so high that it's just sat empty since they closed. It's a constant reminder of simple times.

[@dungeonsanddragonshomebrew3165]

Boy did that spot reference not age well

[@WatrDragn]

During my high school senior trip in 2013 we stopped by a little plaza in the morning for Starbucks and McDonald's. We weren't allowed in any other establishments, but in the same plaza was an operating Blockbuster that my friends and I wanted to explore. It was incredibly weird to see new movie posters in the windows since I hadn't been in one of their stores in like 7 years at that point.

[@kale715]

You know what else wanted to die? Not me of course! I’m already dead inside

[@waldenotwalled5783]

nut Haha you’re hilarious because you’re being self depreciating XD

[@JosephCornishV]

Former teenage Blockbuster employee here. My location got closed pretty early in the downfall. I wonder how many disks and cassettes that got destroyed when they fell. Probably multiple millions. I wonder how many films lost viewings merely because they were obscure and unknown and eventually scrapped entirely due to age. I didn't know about the phone app! 🤣

[@Gh0stDiaz]

Does Anyone remember When they they did a colaberation with a big music concert in texas.? Bush, No doubt big acts U come in to blockbuster Buy a small portable cooler inside was 4 tickets for the show, cooler cost 20 bucks it was crazy. We shut down the highways to the raceway, and over packed the concert can't believe it didn't get shut down.

[@josephlacerra8433]

There were two Blockbusters close to my house. Both had the rudest clerks of any place I've ever shopped. The selection of current movies was always out of stock. They tried to sell you over-priced candy and popcorn, and the late fees were horrible. I was so pleased when the closed their doors.

[@arceliarae5379]

I love this channel so much. It's this wonderful mixture of nostalgia, snark, smart-assery, and trivia. It's awesome. Thank you for all the hard work you guys put into it.

[@Mazzeltoph]

Funny fact: here in the Netherlands we also had a kind of dutch Blockbuster called Videoland. They also were looking at the growth of online streaming and, unlike Blockbuster, started their online streaming service just as Netflix got a foot on the ground. They mostly stream Dutch movies and series but are able to provide some other european based series to their database, making them the biggest succesfull dutch streaming service whilst their physical stores got shut down by themselves, because the upkeep was too expensive, a very long time ago. And now they even work together with dutch commercial television to have some Videoland exclusives on their site. Amazing to think what could've become of blockbuster if they just took that deal...

[@cruelabduhl]

I feel the same about Sears vs Amazon. A large part of Sears used to be their catalog sales where you could literally order anywhere and either have the item sent to you or pick it up in store. How easy would it have been to transition that to an online model and with their brand recognition they could have plastered Amazon before they became profitable.

[@mythicalexplorer7846]

The parallels to Blockbuster dying because they believed no one would jump ship so easily and the same happening with Netflix after the password sharing disaster is ah *chefs kiss* the definition of irony. The CEO of Netflix said the EXACT SAME THING and now their absolutely dying.

[@directorredacted8408]

when my blockbuster announced it was closing in like a week back then I just rented a shit ton of movies and just kept them since they were closing

[@StarshineGoomba]

Shortly before Blockbuster declared bankruptcy, I subscribed to their last-ditch effort deal of pay so much for unlimited (one at a time, I believe) in-store rentals, as well as one DVD at a time via mail. Months later, bankruptcy is declared and the store in my neighborhood closes down. I continue to receive the DVDs by mail for a bit before up and canceling my subscription. However, there were still titles left in my cue that I had never received. So despite me taking my credit card information off of the website, I continued to receive the DVDs in my cue right up until they ended the service. This went on for a good six months, and I was never charged.

[@leahcakes808]

Bring back the corners

[@leguman3780]

You know you're getting old when you hear a KZbinr talk about Little Chef and you remember Happy Eater...

[@amojak]

"You wouldn't rent a movie from blockbuster!"

[@isleepwithsirenss]

I don’t think my family got a Netflix subscription till our local Blockbuster closed

[@liamdoes8580]

I miss block buster it was like the only place you could buy porn

[@poppers7317]

Now porn is free for all. What great time we live in.

[@liamdoes8580]

Austin C I'm just tryna make a joke don't look into my logic

[@sevenseven3263]

Poppers 73 not if you live here in the Philippines, where they're banning porn sites left right and center

[@Moocow2003]

jorge eleazar Castro you poor soul. try tumblr, it's not even blocked on data plans which is wild

[@pleasegivemelikes7410]

Porn should be banned in the US

[@masamune2984]

I remember working at Blockbuster when Netflix came out. EVERY employee immediately thought “wow...we should buy this tiny company, it’s gonna be huge. Watch corporate f*** this up.” Everyone tried to pass that info on to the top. So much for that. That’s corporate executives for you. Good at climbing ladders and...not much else.

[@clayxros576]

You're giving them too much credit and assuming they weren't just stuck at the top by other execs.

[@vicwolfrin]

When blockbuster was closing and sold off all there dvds and games I got a doctor who box set and Prometheus for £5

[@halocrafter300]

2:32 Tuning in about 4 1/2 years later to say, according to Wikipedia, Little Chef was made defunct in January 2018.

[@noasundqvist7090]

To mention, it wasn't originally tiered. You could buy a deal and take out as many dvds as possible out and order some too. It drastically raised their snack sales and of course popularity but then they increased gredier and gredier profit tiers, like EA.

[@FlossCandy]

I use to work in a small blockbusters in the UK, it was super busy and on Friday/Saturday nights the people queued to the door (although the shop wasn’t big, but still). I also use to steal all the Nintendo points cards out of all the traded in and rental games. I met my partner of seven years, he use to come in and rent movies as his place didn’t have internet. There use to be deals where if you rented two movies you could have a tub of ice cream for free, lots of people didn’t want it so we’d scan it through anyway and take it home :) Edit; I also worked in a little chef when I was 16, I quit without notice because they wanted me to do an evening shift (so, midnight by the time you’d leave) and do an early start the next day and refused to change it even though it’s illegal in the uk

[@LordSephleon]

During the mid-to-late 90's when I was in high school in NYC, Blockbuster was my go-to for video game rentals (and Anime too, as I discovered them there in '94). I rented so much from the local Blockbuster store that I actually played every game they had (pre-PS1 consoles) and watched every anime they had, in some cases re-renting games I hadn't yet beaten or movies I really enjoyed. I was even on a first-name basis with a couple of store employees (Sergio, wherever you are, you still owe me that Tetris challenge). Before those years, my grandparents would bring me to a mom-and-pop rental store that didn't have many options for games, but it was enough to give me a taste of games I'd eventually want to buy (and others I'd want to avoid). In 2005, I ended up working part-time for a Blockbuster store in Vale's Gate, NY. The job wasn't anything spectacular (although I did hate the fact that we had to push the Movie Pass on our customers, even when it was pretty clear they didn't want it; I did notice that people liked the Game Pass more often than not), but I loved getting five free rentals *_per week_*, which could consist of any combination of video games and movies from within the store as long as they were not complete new releases (less than a month). Unfortunately, I had to leave that job long before I could exhaust their game collection when they stopped giving me hours as I picked up a full-time gig elsewhere. Learning just how poorly they managed their business, I'm not surprised at all at their downfall. Clearly the people in charge lacked actual business sense. Honestly, I've had a Netflix account for ten years now and don't watch anything other than that (and KZbin). It was a fun ride when they were at their prime, and I'll always have fond memories of Blockbuster from my youth, but they were dead long ago. Poor bastards.

[@rorylumley4727]

It is intresting watching the viedo after netflix took a downturn caused in part by not adapting.

[@BiggestDawgEver]

Yup, I worked for Blockbuster for seven years. The pay was shit but I loved that job. I made it to assistant store manager. When we had the regional meeting regarding the transition to "no more late fees" and the "you bought it charge" in 2005, I left that meeting, went home that night, did up my resume and started job hunting immediately. I was gone in a month. The one that baffled me the most was that when I started, we were still a part of the Viacom/Paramount brand and we were a month away from the home video release of the biggest movie of all time; Titanic (Paramount pictures). It was our job to presell the movie. It soon got out that Safeway grocers, HMV, and Best Buy, all in the same shopping center, were all selling it for less money than us. The reason I got was our cost per unit was higher. So much for corporate synergy.

[@Devilsfoodz]

wow blockbuster must have made a bet with someone to see how quickly they could alienate their customers and die. Great video! this had me laughing way too much

[@ImplosionStudios]

That "Blockbuster" is only in name, it is not a corporate entity. I closed the LAST corporate Blockbuster on the SW side of Oklahoma City about a decade ago in the Blockpockalypse. You are right, they made bad business choices at the end when streaming started and the transition period was when the mail rental and Redboxes went viral. Dish bought Blockbuster and they lost all the studio rights to rentals; the store managers would have to go to Wal-Mart and/or Best Buy in town early Tuesday mornings and buy up a shit load of video stock for rentals...then when the rentals made enough money, we'd send a big chunk to their corporate office for them to send to people by mail to rent instead. Additionally, they tried to make us sell Dish 2 year contracts to people...and our store was in-between the urban black and brown low income areas...people with no money, no credit, many times no documentation at all...2 year contracts...think about it. At the end about a month out, I knew their "fire sales" were coming (where we sell the whole store inventory, even the shelves), so I let my employees collect all the movies and games they wanted, put them in boxes in the back store room, and waited for the last week when everything was less than a dollar so everyone at least got severance of premium loot. I kept the spiral Blockbuster gum machine we all remember, an orange apron with Blockbuster patch, the sealing machine and hot guns, and even ripped the Restroom movie clacker looking sign off the bathroom door.

[@ImplosionStudios]

...and, I shit you not, as I clicked Post...a Dish van drove by outside. LMMMFAAOOOO

[@jxv8860]

The sheer amount of dvds I stole blockbuster is impressive

[@jxv8860]

I’d like to clarify as a kid 😂

[@veryinactiveukmapping]

There used to be a blockbuster in my old hometown located almost next to the cinema (I think it was separated by a kebab shop) and once the company closed down it got replaced by a Sainsbury's Local. Mind you there was already a Sainsbury's superstore in the town but having two was amazing. And, while I didn't go in there often, I have fonder memories of it than blockbuster.

[@masonrobertstv5917]

I can completely relate *cause I wanna die too*

[@theinquisition9390]

Mason RobertsTV u are vampire

[@rc-jn7bi]

Attention seaker

[@BrandonOfJapan]

Lmao so original *slaps knee*

[@AmberAmber]

Mason RobertsTV I hope you're gonna be ok?!❤️❤️

[@mikagrimm8482]

Mason RobertsTV same here ...

[@believethebible88]

I know this is a year old video, but I had to mention the way Blockbuster made you feel like an untrustworthy slob with their limited entrance and exit mazes, staff on a raised platform behind plexiglass, security cameras, etc. It felt like prison. Or high school.

[@kevingluys3063]

"lmao they'd make a movie about The Spot" 🤔

[@whatdoyousuppose]

My local Blockbuster was really chill. I remember in the final year of its operation on a couple occasions if I didn’t turn in a Nintendo DS game I rented on time, they just let me keep it without paying additional fees. Probably why they went under...but it was a nice final perk, I guess!

[@Michelle-iq2yp]

I actually know that there’s a toysRus in a plaza where I am, next time I go I’ll take a picture and send it to you.

[@litjay7073]

I remember going to Blockbuster on Fridays to rent the new games to play with my cousin. I was in there so much the Manager and staff knew me by name. The manager would even wave the late fee sometimes.

[@spman2099]

My father owned a video store for my entire childhood. I was just entering into my twenties when they killed late fees. At that moment, I knew that they had killed the entire industry. It was a dying industry already, but it was put to death very suddenly that day. New movies only have about two weeks where all copies would be rented. So, if you rent a movie, and keep it for those two weeks, that copy is going to struggle to even earn back its initial cost (which was pretty high, because video stores paid a large premium for getting movies before the general release). Late fees were never an anti-customer cash grab, they were the only thing keeping customers accountable, and keeping video rental stores able to stay open.

[@derp6764]

"I imagine Ironfist wouldn't be that much different" - Fucking brutal perfection.

[@thomasshepherd8909]

I find it hilarious that Karl mentioned The Spot as a shit tier villain but he’s the main antagonist of the new Miles Morales movie

[@charliejones4325]

It's wild hearing them talk shit about the spot when he was in Across the Spiderverse

[@trihexa7739]

15:25 aged well

[@notworthyourtime9799]

I worked for Blockbuster in 2004 for about 10 months. I couldn't believe how poorly run the corporation was. New programs that were intended to improve customer attitudes by getting rid of late fees, kept finding new places to sneak in late fees, but calling them something else. Each change just made a new set of customers swear to never go to Blockbuster again when they got hit with a "reshelving fee" or whatever it was that week. Every month there was a new sales platform that was coming to help keep market share, but was clearly just going to cannibalize the existing rental system, each time. And because they were all poorly planned, every time the experience was awful, and the customer would be lost.

[@Squiggy8440]

In the years of block buster where i was living, we had also Rodgers home video and movie central. My mum at that point in time would buy blank vhs tapes and record movies on that set of channels and certain shows on other channels and rent movies from rodgers. Rodgers also sold video games, cds, and a small mobile service. :)

[@IggyBoiOutOfSpite]

The building that used to be blockbusters in my town has been empty since it closed down and has only just this year turned part of it into a subway. Still has the blockbuster song above it too

[@michaelvnuk]

In the us or at least in northern Illinois we have Family Video and stood against Blockbuster and Netflix, it still lives

[@ehow5678]

I have seen a few here in central Illinois too

[@elliepurser5735]

Michael Vnuk we have family video in NC

[@Zaya512]

We still have Family Video in Michigan too.

[@tibbygaycat]

Oscar Salazar We have one by St. Louis Missouri that shares the building with a pizza place, Marco's pizza. If you get an order of $12 or more you get a free video.

[@aaroncarr1348]

There are over 700 family videos I wish the one I worked in had a marcos pizza tho, rip me

[@swededude1992]

In Sweden we have a rentalmoviechain named Hemmakväll. Back in 2010 all of their commercials said: Rentalmovieshop. 2012: Rentalmovieshop with some candy. 2014: Rentalmovie and candyshop. 2016: Candyshop with some rentalmovies. 2018: Your local candyshop. Fall 2020: Hemmakväll told in all newspapers they're ending their movierentalpart and to only foccus on candies. All movies in the stores can be bought and any delayed movies with a delayfee does not need to paid, the delayed movies can be kept for free. Hemmakväll is now a pure candyshopchain.

[@hannabasil8226]

I remember when we would order Netflix movies in the mail lol😂😂😂 am I old?

[@Xxx_EvilSmurf_xxX]

I shoplifted ice cream from a blockbuster once, nobody was there to serve me.

[@garretttharp4142]

I have actually been to one of the last Blockbusters. It was located in Alaska, where I lived back in 2018. Bonus Fun Fact; When I lived in Arizona, the Blockbuster near my house was closing. We happened to drive by when they were taking the signs down (specifically the big sheet of plexiglass that was lit from behind). I asked if I could buy them (there were two) and I managed to get both of the signs for $10 total. I gave one to my brother, and put the other one on the wall in my room.

[@Bjorn308]

My local Blockbuster is now a Chase Bank... SLSSDCDS: same location, same shadyness, different company, different service. LOL.

[@theplaguedoctor3381]

this explains a lot, netflix didn't learn and became the new blockbuster

[@helpahoe920]

I am sad to inform you, but little chef still exists

[@clarbart]

You know, best part about Stilt man is that he actually did appear in the Netflix Marvel shows. He made a cameo as the dude who made Daredevil's costume.

[@ghoulofmetal]

Blockbuster is currently a danish online rental service

[@Elusive_Moonlight]

You should make a video about Benjamin Solomon the dentist that killed 98 Japanese soldiers.

[@ianwilliams401]

Saying ironically let’s make a show about the spot after across the spider verse sounds crazy

[@SCarr8813]

Blockbuster actually invented and designed the rental service and machines for Redbox. The problem was they ordered too many too fast, and couldn't afford to pay for all their units. So the manufacturer then names the service the most opposite Blockbuster thing they could instead of blue, red.

[@Lastrit_JME]

Ah remember when Netflix didn't care about account sharing, those were the days

[@bigbootybartholomew6680]

Blockbuster locations could have had delivery drivers like a pizza place and get DVDs to people way faster than the mail

[@Sir_Budginton]

That’s actually a good idea

[@heyyoitsmebrian]

i know this is an old video but i worked at a block buster through the "end of late fees" fiasco. i was only 20 so i didnt give much of a damn about people and their complaints but it was astonishing that 99% of customers (rightly) were extremely confused. we had to hang out little signs on every door and every wall with a FAQ and around 9 out of 10 people at the register would ask me "hey, i dont get it, restocking fee? thats just a late fee" ... and i think my shorthand explanation was "well late fees are cumulative, its $5 every 2 days, the restocking fee is just a one time thing"

[@DPush420]

The last blockbuster in Alaska is closing down, or did a few weeks ago. The funny thing is that it still posted a profit. I heard dozens of radio interviews from locals who have no idea how they will watch movies now seeing as how the internet access is still spotty up there. Not one single person thought to buy the place and keep it open under a different name.

[@lottiewinterton7360]

McDonald’s McDonald’s Kentucky fried chicken And a Pizza Hut McDonald’s McDonald’s Kentucky fried chicken And a Pizza Hut

[@Tigermoto]

Milkquake 101 Ermagerd! Well that's gonna be stuck in my head

[@saoz3]

what

[@troyschramii4828]

Sounds like Frankenmuth

[@Moocow2003]

that song is literally my childhood (that & s club 7)

[@jakjak9797]

Would you like an apple pie with that? would you like an apple pie with that?

[@Aogami20]

As a former employee of Blockbuster I can tell you that they did actually have a competing DVD/game by mail service. They had store employees sign customers up for it, and let them come into stores to exchange their mail-in DVDs for an in-store DVD for free, letting them get their new movie even faster than waiting for the next one in the queue. However, they insisted that brick and mortar storefronts were still the way to go, and their deals with movie distributors were beginning to fall through so they couldn't keep up with the demand for the DVDs by mail service, resulting in mass customer dissatisfaction and people switching to Netflix ANYWAYS. PLUS, signing up all your customers who still DID come to the stores led to those people not coming back to the stores and the stores themselves hemorrhaging money. The end

[@riv2052]

my favourite thing about blockbusters is that i could always get the pre-order bonus for games without pre-ordering because no one would ever use blockbuster and they would just have a shit ton of codes left over

[@garlicbread9875]

The last one is in Oregon

[@benTi900]

To quote Dave Gorman “...If punching yourself in the balls doesn’t do it for you, put on some knuckle dusters and try it again.”

[@joshduncan8922]

I lived across the street from a Blockbuster and I spent more time there than in my own house. Its now a dollar store that I got banned from.

[@BHJohnson]

There was a Blockbuster near my high school that basically functioned like a Best Buy since they actually sold movies and games and actually had a lot of business because of it due to its location. They stopped doing that cold turkey in 08~09. It's a pizza restaurant now.

[@lewisclp9412]

hahah i completely forgot about little chef

[@onlymeok]

A co-worker and I, went to a Little Chef back in the year 1995. We ordered a cooked breakfast. It took them ages despite being the only customers and only one item on the plate was warm so I surmised each food item had been cooked in sequence and allowed to cool.

[@turtleflipper9935]

what about wimpey burger?

[@talltroll7092]

Last time I looked, there was still one in Stowmarket. That should tell you everything you need to know about both Wimpey and Stowmarket

[@cleanerben9636]

Wimpy was ok.

[@imoraljuptorion2053]

Blockbuster is a great example of a business refusing to change to fit in and it backfired horribly. When I can say that the locally owned grocery story I work at does more to say up to date, there is an issue

[@guildmasterbaron1656]

I was a manager in Blockbuster during these times and got fired for being outspoken about the mistakes being made in the company.

[@Jorendo]

Here in the Netherlands we had a chain called "Videoland". They were one of the bigger chains back in the day for movie rentals in my country. Atleast they got smart enough and switched to online streaming and now working together with some tv stations to make shows for their streaming service or atleast have the exclusive deals. Still weird to think it is somthing that was so big in my youth, getting to rent a video and later dvd every now and then. And i no time we saw the numbers and the size of the stores shrink, till it was completely gone. I love netflix, but renting a movie always had something special, it was a experience to go to the videostore and just look around, and giggle like mad as a small boy when passing the 18+ section that was not hidden away in a corner at our videostore but rather close to the action movie section (kinda fitting i guess, i mean..they do get some action). Also to be lucky enough to get the movie posters out of the poster bin as they would put them for free in there when the new posters where put in place.

[@mruniverse9978]

There used to be a blockbuster where I lived. But it got destroyed because someone drove through it when the man accidentally put his foot on accelerate instead of the breaks