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KennyLoggins
Dec 3, 2004
Welcome to the Danger Zone

M_Sinistrari posted:

Oddly enough I still wonder why they still kept sending us that godawful cotton candy to sell when no one bought it and all it'd do was dessicate into a nasty pink block in the package.

That poo poo was hilariously overpriced too. :laffo:

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facebook jihad
Dec 18, 2007

by R. Guyovich
Blockbuster yelled at me for reading one of those magazines they had at the front one time.

gently caress you BB I'm glad you're dead

vyst
Aug 25, 2009



I miss when Little Caesars had that huge rectangle pizza but it wasn't as deep as deep dish.

Justin Godscock
Oct 12, 2004

Listen here, funnyman!
I remember keeping my copy of Silent Hill 4, after late fees were abolished, because I couldn't find the thing anywhere for sale so I rented it, kept it and paid the "fine" which was equal to the retail price.

Wrageowrapper
Apr 30, 2009

DRINK! ARSE! FECKIN CHRISTMAS!

facebook jihad posted:

gently caress you BB I'm glad you're dead

They're actually still alive in Australia. I'm sure there is a stereotype in there I can laugh at but I can't see it yet.

Justin Godscock
Oct 12, 2004

Listen here, funnyman!

Wrageowrapper posted:

They're actually still alive in Australia. I'm sure there is a stereotype in there I can laugh at but I can't see it yet.

That's good to hear you Aussies can still rent your games like six months after the rest of the world has beaten them.

Mr. Meagles
Apr 30, 2004

Out here, everything hurts


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc_yHON1oiQ

In the 1990 I was Blockbuster aficionado Buster Sales. They wanted Eugene Levy, but got me instead. I lived inside a television.

Modus Operandi
Oct 5, 2010
back in the day all the local white rappers who wanted to become famous used to work at blockbuster part time and so did the screen writers and directors to (never) be.

Frostwerks
Sep 24, 2007

by Lowtax

facebook jihad posted:

Blockbuster yelled at me for reading one of those magazines they had at the front one time.

gently caress you BB I'm glad you're dead

inanimate objects cant yell please see a psychiatric doctor for your mental health needs tia

Chumbawumba4ever97
Dec 31, 2000

by Fluffdaddy
They still exist. Over 50 locations!

http://www.blockbuster.com/franchise.html

NienNunb
Feb 15, 2012

I don't get why people got so pissed at late fees why couldn't you just return your loving videos on time you idiots.

Stairmaster
Jun 8, 2012

Wang Flotilla posted:

My town still has two running Blockbuster stores,

HOW

THE COMPANY FOLDED MONTHS AGO

a shiny rock
Nov 13, 2009

NienNunb posted:

I don't get why people got so pissed at late fees why couldn't you just return your loving videos on time you idiots.

late fees were the company's primary source of profits and there was some crap in the lawsuit about how their policies were designed to maximize the late fees they charged

Modus Operandi
Oct 5, 2010
not surprised to see blockbuster in alaska. It's expensive to download or stream there.

Chumbawumba4ever97
Dec 31, 2000

by Fluffdaddy

gently caress trophy 2k14 posted:

HOW

THE COMPANY FOLDED MONTHS AGO

Somebody done goofed and forgot to close a few

They had to close a few thousand. Its just common sense that a few would be missed in the sweep. They closed 99.9% of them successfully. I'd say "good job store-closer guy"

Tipps
Apr 18, 2006


party in the front

business in the back
We didn't have a Blockbuster in my podunk town. We had a private video/game rental place owned by a local tv/entertainment equipment store. The selection of games was awful, the selection of movies was even worse.

It was also apparently difficult to get a job there because you had to pass a rigorous movie trivia test.

Stairmaster
Jun 8, 2012

is it true its super easy to shoplift in a blockbuster

Hector Beerlioz
Jun 16, 2010

aw, hec

Dennis Eckersley posted:

Where I grew up there was a Little Caesars next to a Blockbuster. It was pretty good

A blockbuster near me became a Little Caesar's, though the spot was vacant for about 6 years in between. It was next to a 7-11. There was nothing better than renting Bio-Dome and getting a big rear end slurpee Friday afternoon after school.

SniperWoreConverse
Mar 20, 2010



Gun Saliva

StdNormDist posted:

BB was alright but our local place was cooler because there were like 3 stoner dudes who worked there and didn't give a gently caress and didn't charge late fees half the time.

I rented a shitload of SNES games and I'm bummed out that kids can't saunter down the horror section and check out all the box art for 70s/80s horror movies (not 90s, gently caress that poo poo)

drat I remember getting Nintendo Tapes with the old man and looking at the covers for like, Critters and poo poo like that
one day no one will ever remember that that was a possible thing. *single tear mixes with the raindrops*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdaM5Mv-TTo

ashgromnies
Jun 19, 2004

Gutcruncher posted:

But what did they claim? Just a simple "Late fees done exist, lol jk" or was it shitloads of fine prints that said 'by the way thats a lie, idiots'

Iirc you couldn't rent other movies and "purchased" the movie if you kept it past two weeks and would be charged for it unless you brought it back.

pixelbaron
Mar 18, 2009

~ Notice me, Shempai! ~
i worked at blockbuster for a couple of months

wasnt a bad job for minimum wage as a kid

Stairmaster
Jun 8, 2012

i wanna go inside one of those blockbusters thats still open

its liek the day 4 glitch in majoras mask

Gutcruncher
Apr 16, 2005

Go home and be a family man!

Parallax Scroll posted:

late fees were the company's primary source of profits and there was some crap in the lawsuit about how their policies were designed to maximize the late fees they charged

Right, it was to punish you assholes who dont return movies on time. Die jerks!

Pickle dicker
May 25, 2014

by XyloJW
My local Blockbuster got turned into a Slot car Track!
https://www.facebook.com/BrisbaneSlotcarDrags

Every time I drive past there at night it's full of fat 40 year old neckbeards standing about watching their little electric cars whizzing around :spergin:

Wang Flotilla
Oct 13, 2007

God damn these electric sex pants

gently caress trophy 2k14 posted:

HOW

THE COMPANY FOLDED MONTHS AGO

The two Blockbuster stores in Juneau, AK are owned by company in Texas or something. They're profitable, because internet is expensive and we only have one Redbox downtown that no one uses.

When the company folded a few months ago a bunch of people got worried and the newspaper published a story about how ours were different and we'd be fine.

StdNormDist
May 2, 2010

SniperWoreConverse posted:

drat I remember getting Nintendo Tapes with the old man and looking at the covers for like, Critters and poo poo like that
one day no one will ever remember that that was a possible thing. *single tear mixes with the raindrops*

Yeah dude critters had a cool loving cover but in the end I just got Friday the 13th part whatever: no really this is the last one guys.

Ignatius M. Meen
May 26, 2011

Hello yes I heard there was a lovely trainwreck here and...

gently caress trophy 2k14 posted:

is it true its super easy to shoplift in a blockbuster

let me put it like this: there was a pretty serious blind spot where we couldn't see jack poo poo from the registers because all the movie shelves were in the way for the entire six years I worked there. when I brought up the idea of a mirror like you might see in a Walgreens or something the manager shrugged and said it would cost too much, conveniently ignoring the cost of every few weeks getting several movies stolen in the oh-so-surprising locations hidden from view

god, and now I remember how when we got the scare talk from the district manager we were told we were in the top 5% worst performing stores lol

KennyLoggins
Dec 3, 2004
Welcome to the Danger Zone

gently caress trophy 2k14 posted:

is it true its super easy to shoplift in a blockbuster

I knew someone that would rent tapes and swap the reels every so often and not break the void seals on the VHS tapes.

you were warned
Jul 12, 2006

(the S is for skeleton)
I worked at two different Blockbusters, in '03 and '05. Someone kept stealing DVDs from the first one, but they were cutting the cases open and taking the discs out so they wouldn't trip the alarm. One time we found one with a bunch of blood on it from someone slipping with their razor or whatever. Is it really worth it for the few bucks' worth of eBay resale??

And, of course, whenever we found a broken case, we had to write up some report and stay after closing and check every single case in the entire store, on top of other general closing stuff, which meant being there until like 1:30 or 2 AM. Ugh.

There was a woman who would come to the second store and leave bibles in the store and in the real estate magazine racks in the vestibule. My manager kept telling her to stop it, and the lady got all pissed and saying she was going to "report her to a higher authority!" and eventually we realized she meant God.

Rageaholic
May 31, 2005

Old Town Road to EGOT

you were warned posted:

And, of course, whenever we found a broken case, we had to write up some report and stay after closing and check every single case in the entire store, on top of other general closing stuff, which meant being there until like 1:30 or 2 AM. Ugh.
:stonk:

Rest in pieces, Blockbuster.

big black turnout
Jan 13, 2009



Fallen Rib
my wife and i recently ended up at the last blockbuster in fl

this one:
2305 S US Highway 1Fort PierceFL

we bought some $2 dvds and took a selfie in front of it because holy poo poo a running blockbuster

big black turnout
Jan 13, 2009



Fallen Rib
i forgot but actually i took this picture to



this was in jun apparently

SniperWoreConverse
Mar 20, 2010



Gun Saliva
Wait wouldn't it have made more sense to just put empty cases on the shelf and then have like a thing of library-type shelving that holds the actual stock? Then you could put that behind the counter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdaM5Mv-TTo

Rageaholic
May 31, 2005

Old Town Road to EGOT

The last Blockbuster in my area actually just closed down a few months ago. It was like 3 blocks from my house. And up until a couple years ago, I still went there to rent some backlog and new release 360 / PS3 games. They had this $15/month 1-out-at-a-time subscription plan that I did for a while, and it honestly probably saved me a couple hundred bucks vs. buying those games new. Yeah, I could've used GameFly, but the turnaround time with GameFly was much longer. This Blockbuster was literally a few blocks from my house, so I could pick up a game one night, beat it in a day or 2, then bring it back and get another one immediately. It was so nice. Then they stopped having games that I wanted, so eventually I cancelled my plan. I went in right before it closed, when they were just starting their closeout sale, and I saw that they hadn't really gotten any new games since I cancelled my plan, so I wasn't all that bummed to see them go at that point.

Ignatius M. Meen
May 26, 2011

Hello yes I heard there was a lovely trainwreck here and...

SniperWoreConverse posted:

Wait wouldn't it have made more sense to just put empty cases on the shelf and then have like a thing of library-type shelving that holds the actual stock? Then you could put that behind the counter.

we did that for games, I don't think there would have been room for the second big metal drawer at our counter plus that would add like 20-30 seconds to the transaction for every customer

big black turnout
Jan 13, 2009



Fallen Rib
i liked having the cases out because you didn't get up to the counter with movies they didn't have

Frostwerks
Sep 24, 2007

by Lowtax

gently caress trophy 2k14 posted:

i wanna go inside one of those blockbusters thats still open

its liek the day 4 glitch in majoras mask

i looked this up on youtube but having never palyed the game idgi. what's supposed to happen

Atomizer
Jun 24, 2007



Hey guys! You're about to get a taste of one of my famous Multi-quote-posts! Congratulations and/or sorry!

But yeah, like I said, I used to work there so this thread has been a trip down [depressing] memory lane.

Flagrant Abuse posted:

when i was a kid, blockbuster put a bogus late fee on our account. like just straight-up made it up. we'd lived in one state most of my life, but for a bit over a year we'd lived in another state in a completely different part of the country before moving back. about a month after we got back we wanted to rent some movie or another and found out there was a late fee on our account that had been created while we were living two time zones away.

my mom managed to argue out of paying for that bullshit and it was at least another five years before we were willing to rent from there again.

The thing about this is that employees couldn't simply "add fees" to an account. Fees were triggered when an item was checked in (or when the item was gone for so long that it got sold to you.) It's been several years, but from what I remember we couldn't even manually charge anything, e.g. "That box of candy's not scanning, I'll just key in the price of $2." If you had a fee from a rental, it had to be from something that was rented out, paid for, and returned [late.] It was possible to ring something up and then exit the account without tendering payment, and then the balance would be there the next time you accessed the account.

Gutcruncher posted:

So what was the deal with No Late Fees? Clearly it was a lie, but what were the details?

Instead of, say, being charged $X a day for each day your thing is late, you were charged the original rental price for the original rental period. If you paid $5 for a week, as soon as the thing was late you owed another $5 but had another week to hold onto it (before another charge, and eventually the thing would be sold to you.) It was still, effectively, a "late fee" but just not in the traditional "library-style." They tried to change it enough that they could call it something different, but of course that still pissed off people who operate on their own time and don't think they have to return other people's property in a timely, pre-agreed-upon fashion. :jerkbag:

NienNunb posted:

I don't get why people got so pissed at late fees why couldn't you just return your loving videos on time you idiots.

Exactly. You know exactly when something is due, whether it's renting something, filing your income tax return, registering for classes, or anything else. If you don't do it on time there are usually consequences, often of the monetary kind. There was even a grace period, and that still wasn't good enough for some people.

gently caress trophy 2k14 posted:

HOW

THE COMPANY FOLDED MONTHS AGO

The corporate stores closed, but franchises were still allowed to stay open because they were running themselves and just basically renting the name.

gently caress trophy 2k14 posted:

is it true its super easy to shoplift in a blockbuster

you were warned posted:

I worked at two different Blockbusters, in '03 and '05. Someone kept stealing DVDs from the first one, but they were cutting the cases open and taking the discs out so they wouldn't trip the alarm. One time we found one with a bunch of blood on it from someone slipping with their razor or whatever. Is it really worth it for the few bucks' worth of eBay resale??

And, of course, whenever we found a broken case, we had to write up some report and stay after closing and check every single case in the entire store, on top of other general closing stuff, which meant being there until like 1:30 or 2 AM. Ugh.

This, basically, happened in my store a lot. Once in a while we'd have someone just run out with stuff through either the main door or the emergency exit, but mostly we'd just find DVD cases sliced open. We all would watch out for suspicious activity, but there were so many blind spots and there was other stuff to do that took away our attention. We never had to search the whole store or file reports though, we just collected the sliced cases and took care of them during inventories.

SniperWoreConverse posted:

Wait wouldn't it have made more sense to just put empty cases on the shelf and then have like a thing of library-type shelving that holds the actual stock? Then you could put that behind the counter.

Ignatius M. Meen posted:

we did that for games, I don't think there would have been room for the second big metal drawer at our counter plus that would add like 20-30 seconds to the transaction for every customer

There was way too much inventory to do that. It would take up far too much room to hold thousands of discs (or cartridges, tapes, whatever) behind the counter (which would have to be much larger than they were) or in the back room, and it would take too much time to deal with that. Besides, we already had people bringing up the empty cover boxes as if they held the actual discs. :rolleyes:

everyone wear hats now
Jul 29, 2010

A coworker got caught stealing 3 grands worth of games consoles. When then police went to his house, they also found a ton of class a drugs and animal porn.

Also we would scan empty boxes to make credit notes then spend spend spend.

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Retarded_Clown_
Feb 18, 2012

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