Before I start this, let me just say that I'm not a Blockbuster 'insider' or anything. I read an article a *long* time ago about how this system worked and thought I'd chip into this discussion.
Do you remember, long ago, when there was no Blockbuster? In my town, video stores were mostly mom and pop shops with names like 'Videoflicks' and 'At The Movies'. They'd have like 1 copy of a new release and you just had to be lucky to get it. If a movie was deemed particularly hot, they might buy two. They couldn't buy a whole boatload of them because the distributor charged a pretty steep price for new material.
I think at this stage of the game (mid-80s) it might have been legal to just buy copies from licensed distributors, set up shop and you were all set. The same goes for games. These same stores would rent NES games (!) too. Probably the same business model. Buy from distributor at inflated price, then rent away.
However, at some point along the way, the model changed. Blockbuster showed up. Mom and pop went out of business. But, it's important to note that Blockbuster was still following the same business plan. Only difference? A BB store could buy 10 copies of a new release instead of one.
Then, one day, a bright young plug at BB headquarters said, "Screw this. Instead of buying 10 copies from the distributor, why don't we go right to the studio/production company and say 'If you give us as many copies of your movie as we want for free, we'll give 20% of the profit we make on renting it out'?"
The studios loved it. They worked it into movie contacts (rental profit is now part of the total gross of a movie - Arnie get 2 points of all the rentals of T2 until the end of time).
And thus was born the BB "If we don't have a copy [of a new release], it's free!". Oh, they'll have a copy alright. They have 8000 copies of the new release titles in each store now.
Hrm. What does this have to do with the original post? Well, I'm guessing that if BB is right in with the film studios, they're probably right in with the game publishers too. So EA is getting.5% of the rental profit for all EA games rented from BB.
DON'T get a credit card! I don't know what it's like down in the US, but here in Canada, you'll inevitably see a few banks handing out credit like candy. "And hey", you'll think, "it's only a $500 credit limit and I'll only use it in emergencies".
Then, suddenly, when you're carrying a balance of $489, they'll raise the limit to $1000. Woo hoo, more credit!
Take it from a guy who graduated sitting on about $5000 in credit card debt, just don't go for it. You'll spend years paying it all off - more if you don't get a decent job right out of school. I eventually defaulted on that debt and have spent the last few years trying to clear that bad credit rating.
US Dollar currently buys something like $1.60 Canadian. Translation: stuff is cheap. A hotel in the downtown core will cost you $200 Canadian per night, but that's only $100 US. Sweet.
Any taxes you pay up here, we cheerful refund. I'm not kidding. People keep receipts and then send them to our version of the IRS. The difference is, our IRS (called the CCRA) actually pays you!
(sings) Ohhhhhh Canada, our home and native land...
I don't know about black or latino, but I've heard that in 2003 there will be more Cantonese speaking individuals in Canada than French speakers. In Toronto alone, with a greater metro population of about 5 million, there's something like 1 million Chinese folks. And hey, I'm not complaining.
Most of the large cities here are *very* diverse. The more smaller towns and rural areas aren't. But isn't it the same way in the good old you ess of eh?
Hear hear! If it was moderation day for me, I'd mod this up. That dude on NBC News (I think), John Roberts, used to do the news on a local independent station in Toronto (CITY-TV) back in the 80s. Of course, back then he was called J.D. Roberts.
Just the most flat, toneless enunciation you can imagine.
I've yet to hear a Canadian say, "No doot aboot it". Then again, I've never been to the Maritimes.
Canadian version alive and kickin'
on
Webvan Out Of Gas
·
· Score: 3
Here in Toronto, we never had Webvan, but we've got a great copycat called Grocery Gateway. These guys are unreal - and let me tell you, it has *nothing* to do with delivering groceries.
For example, their delivery windows are only 1 hour wide - so no mint chocolate chip ice cream sitting on your porch. The drivers (what are they paying these guys!?) are customer service freaks - if they think they're going to be even 1 minute late, they call you and let you know. If you go nuts and tell them they suck (not that I ever did), they calmly ask you to please call the customer service number.
Then the real service shines. The customer service reps are the exact opposite of everything you've every experienced. They are nice, polite and best of all, they give you free groceries. In the case above, my whole order was free, because it arrived 2 minutes after the delivery window I selected.
It makes me wonder what the Webvan experience was like. Not enough repeat customers? What did they charge anyway?
Try Ektron's eWebEditPro product. We use it as part of a recently completed Vignette installation to allow clueless business users to enter text to templated web pages. It's a decent WYSIWYG editor (bolding, italics, H1-6, etc.) and it lets those few that know HTML switch to the source to edit directly. It's been a screaming success so far. Only problem - not open souce, but the license is reasonable (I think it cost a few hundred bucks).
Slashdot Mirror
Do you remember, long ago, when there was no Blockbuster? In my town, video stores were mostly mom and pop shops with names like 'Videoflicks' and 'At The Movies'. They'd have like 1 copy of a new release and you just had to be lucky to get it. If a movie was deemed particularly hot, they might buy two. They couldn't buy a whole boatload of them because the distributor charged a pretty steep price for new material.
I think at this stage of the game (mid-80s) it might have been legal to just buy copies from licensed distributors, set up shop and you were all set. The same goes for games. These same stores would rent NES games (!) too. Probably the same business model. Buy from distributor at inflated price, then rent away.
However, at some point along the way, the model changed. Blockbuster showed up. Mom and pop went out of business. But, it's important to note that Blockbuster was still following the same business plan. Only difference? A BB store could buy 10 copies of a new release instead of one.
Then, one day, a bright young plug at BB headquarters said, "Screw this. Instead of buying 10 copies from the distributor, why don't we go right to the studio/production company and say 'If you give us as many copies of your movie as we want for free, we'll give 20% of the profit we make on renting it out'?"
The studios loved it. They worked it into movie contacts (rental profit is now part of the total gross of a movie - Arnie get 2 points of all the rentals of T2 until the end of time).
And thus was born the BB "If we don't have a copy [of a new release], it's free!". Oh, they'll have a copy alright. They have 8000 copies of the new release titles in each store now.
Hrm. What does this have to do with the original post? Well, I'm guessing that if BB is right in with the film studios, they're probably right in with the game publishers too. So EA is getting .5% of the rental profit for all EA games rented from BB.
Comments?
HSBC = Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation
Then, suddenly, when you're carrying a balance of $489, they'll raise the limit to $1000. Woo hoo, more credit!
Take it from a guy who graduated sitting on about $5000 in credit card debt, just don't go for it. You'll spend years paying it all off - more if you don't get a decent job right out of school. I eventually defaulted on that debt and have spent the last few years trying to clear that bad credit rating.
If you do get a card, use it responsibly.
Good luck in school. It's a blast.
Check out this test.
I got 5 right. Ouch!
Hold it in Canada (Toronto). Why?
(sings) Ohhhhhh Canada, our home and native land...
You will be able to soon - Pocket PC Phone Edition
Oh yeah...he's not with us any more.
I don't know about black or latino, but I've heard that in 2003 there will be more Cantonese speaking individuals in Canada than French speakers. In Toronto alone, with a greater metro population of about 5 million, there's something like 1 million Chinese folks. And hey, I'm not complaining.
Most of the large cities here are *very* diverse. The more smaller towns and rural areas aren't. But isn't it the same way in the good old you ess of eh?
Hear hear! If it was moderation day for me, I'd mod this up. That dude on NBC News (I think), John Roberts, used to do the news on a local independent station in Toronto (CITY-TV) back in the 80s. Of course, back then he was called J.D. Roberts.
Just the most flat, toneless enunciation you can imagine.
I've yet to hear a Canadian say, "No doot aboot it". Then again, I've never been to the Maritimes.
Here in Toronto, we never had Webvan, but we've got a great copycat called Grocery Gateway. These guys are unreal - and let me tell you, it has *nothing* to do with delivering groceries.
For example, their delivery windows are only 1 hour wide - so no mint chocolate chip ice cream sitting on your porch. The drivers (what are they paying these guys!?) are customer service freaks - if they think they're going to be even 1 minute late, they call you and let you know. If you go nuts and tell them they suck (not that I ever did), they calmly ask you to please call the customer service number.
Then the real service shines. The customer service reps are the exact opposite of everything you've every experienced. They are nice, polite and best of all, they give you free groceries. In the case above, my whole order was free, because it arrived 2 minutes after the delivery window I selected.
It makes me wonder what the Webvan experience was like. Not enough repeat customers? What did they charge anyway?
Feed the beast.
Try Ektron's eWebEditPro product. We use it as part of a recently completed Vignette installation to allow clueless business users to enter text to templated web pages. It's a decent WYSIWYG editor (bolding, italics, H1-6, etc.) and it lets those few that know HTML switch to the source to edit directly. It's been a screaming success so far. Only problem - not open souce, but the license is reasonable (I think it cost a few hundred bucks).