I Hate Blockbuster Forum  

Go Back   I Hate Blockbuster Forum > Lovers of Blockbuster > Are You An Employee Of Blockbuster?

 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #31  
Unread May 9th, 2011, 09:51 AM
TelePizza TelePizza is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 96
Quote:
Originally Posted by BBStoreMgr112233 View Post
So what you are saying is that your franchise store was so well run, so much better than corporate stores, that you and that wonderful corporate staff just ran it into the ground, just in a different way?

Don't get me wrong. I certainly haven't agreed with everything corporate has done and the ideas that they have had. However, I find it quite funny that you attack how poorly the corporate stores have been run with evidence from a closed franchise that is out of business. It is like comparing the deaths of two different people and how they died. The point is they are both dead which makes how the died rather dumb to debate.
I wasn't attacking anything. I was talking about how shocked I am at how you folks are treated daily.

We were run as well as we could possibly be, with having to use the Blockbuster name. We kept our business running longer than Southern Stores, which was the largest franchise besides us. End the end, Corporate forced us to shut down by raising franchise licensing fees and royalties to a point that we could not afford to pay our bills or our employees. We would have continued to be in business today if not for that.

My franchise was unable to pay the licensing fees for its 37 stores, forcing us to go bankrupt. This happened for several reasons:

- BBI Converted a large number of our customers to online customers, which means that a large part of our business ended up being us swapping out those mailers for customers. BBI was supposed to deduct $2.25 from our licensing and royalties for each mailer we accepted, so we honored them. Do you know how much they ended up deducting? Zero. They refused to pay out, basically stating that they didn't have enough money to honor their end of the deal. Instead, they raised our fees. We were doing alright on the smaller chunk of business we had left. We were steadily moving into smaller stores with cheaper rent and we were getting by. When our royalties and licensing got raised, we couldn't afford to pay most of our employees, making us shut down.

- We considered going off on our own, but those online mailers took so much of our business, and we owed BBI so much money due to raised fees, it was easier for them to just close down.

- Our franchise was purchased a year and a half ago by new investors, so try as we might, our CEO and presidents were unable to convince these investors to remain in the game.

Either way, we failed so it doesn't matter. I was simply stating my shock in how you were / are treated.
The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to TelePizza For This Useful Post:
Baby Firefly (May 21st, 2011), Hot Head (May 9th, 2011), muthaflippin (May 9th, 2011)
  #32  
Unread May 9th, 2011, 10:00 AM
Flantanella Flantanella is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 980
Do the office space scenario, and get rid of the useless DM's and RDO's. Make them fight for their job when they forced so many good people at store level out of their jobs. Also make sure they cant get their UE. Do that first and you will start big
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Flantanella For This Useful Post:
Baby Firefly (May 21st, 2011), Veruka_Salt (May 12th, 2011)
  #33  
Unread May 9th, 2011, 10:56 AM
almondSM's Avatar
almondSM almondSM is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: at a blockbuster video
Posts: 572
You could probably start by ensuring we have new releases in a timely manner, instead of a huge question mark on our faces when the customers ask when we will have it. Do that and then we'll go from there.
__________________
"evil will always triumph over good because good is dumb"
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to almondSM For This Useful Post:
Big Dog (May 9th, 2011), Propoxy (May 9th, 2011)
  #34  
Unread May 10th, 2011, 12:01 AM
Backer Card's Avatar
Backer Card Backer Card is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: On a shelf
Posts: 139
Changing rental terms:
Chances are the studios would not make it possible to lower the prices so much on the rental cost. If that were possible, making the terms $2 per day is actually worse than the current terms since a customer keeping a movie for three days is actually paying $1 more. Make it $3 for the first night and $1 each night thereafter, keeping it right in line with the current prices but giving the customers some flexibility in how much they have to pay for a rental. In the end, this will more than likely lose the company even more money. I don't have any numbers in front of me, but a majority of customers return their movies on time and as the rental period shrinks, so does the amount of time people keep them. Then when you consider that stores aren't nearly as convenient as the numerous Redboxes you find everywhere, there is also less incentive to have to return a Blockbuster movie in one day than a Redbox movie in three.

Streaming:
It's almost a certainty that Dish will introduce some type of streaming service. Other than the fact that Netflix and other various services have a strong grip on this already, this isn't a bad idea... for the company. But when you can stream your movies, why would you ever set foot in a store again?

Paperwork:
This is definitely something that could help reduce costs, but to reduce it a significant amount also requires an upgrade in technology. It doesn't really waste labor, as there isn't much to do in the stores as it is, but the cost of the physical paper could be decreased.

Computers:
It's the dream of every Blockbuster employee from the time they work their first shift, but it would be an extreme cost to update every stores computer and an even bigger cost to have IMDB or similar access inside the stores.

Blockbuster Way:
It is obtrusive to the customer shopping experience and inhibitive of customer morale. You don't need to hound customers every second they are in the store and be out on the floor 100% of the time. People don't want to hear a robot greeting every time they enter a store and employees don't want to give a robot greeting. Customers don't need to be given three different coupons every time they are out on the floor so they can just leave them up at the counter or even worse, on the shelves. And they certainly don't want to be upsold every time they come in to rent a movie.

Saying no:
This is just poor customer service. Rarely do I get customers arguing with me. If they are taken care of properly the first time, you reduce a lot of complaints. And if you think that taking off charges is making us more money, then you are wrong. Even if an angry customer pays off a disputed fee, they are probably going to curtail or completely stop doing business with you. If you help someone out with a fee, then they will almost certainly continue doing business with you, generating your store more revenue in the end. Isn't one of Dish's mottoes to "think long term"?

Goals:
Goals at Blockbuster are definitely poorly implemented. They should be completely based off ratios and should not limit the employees to a specific set of items. TPT is probably one of the best metrics as it is fundamental to the business and generates the most revenue with expected ADR. The only other metric that should be used would be (PRP$+Confection$)/transaction. Rentals, PRP and confection are the foundations of this business and are what solely should be tracked. Bundles are detrimental to your TNR, as you are constantly reducing the profit margins on confection. Combine this with the fact that customers lose buying interest with sales pressure and you make less money overall. It would be better to run occasional sales than to constantly have the bundle "deals" available.

Raises:
Obviously, everyone would like a raise, but then again it is another huge investment and is simply throwing money away for Dish. Even a 5-10% raise (probably undervaluing what is "deserved") would cost a lot of money, reducing negative profits even more.

Surveys:
Surveys are important, but they are used completely wrong at Blockbuster. We should not be telling people what score to give us at the end of every transaction, but rather with our store and service. Your goal is to get all fives, but I doubt that any store is completely deserving of it. It tells us absolutely nothing about how we can improve if we just beg for fives from each customer. This, of course, stems from the fact that the scoring system used is atrocious. A store with 5 4 4 4 5 is considered the same as a store with 2 2 2 2 2. It should be a percentage based on the value given and not whether it's a five or not. What we should be doing is asking customers to leave comments, which are infinitely more valuable.

Jeans:
You can still be casual in khakis, but I think that khaki shorts should be allowed whenever an employee wishes.
The Following User Says Thank You to Backer Card For This Useful Post:
D Money (May 10th, 2011)
  #35  
Unread May 10th, 2011, 03:24 AM
Veruka_Salt's Avatar
Veruka_Salt Veruka_Salt is offline
IHBB Freak
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Someplace where people say "Y'all" without irony
Posts: 1,025
Quote:
Originally Posted by banksmaster View Post
Bankrupcy, Lawyer, Brooklyn, Bankruptcy, lawyer chapter 13 , lawyer chapter 7
We are a Brooklyn Bankruptcy Law Firm. Our professional staff of attorneys help our clients obtain financial relief through Chapter 7, Chapter 13, and Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy code. With our convenient location in Brooklyn, New York we will provide a professional, timely, and cost effective solution to all your financial problems. Call us today for a free and informative consultation.
http://www.bankruptcybrooklyn.com/
I think you're a day late and a dollar short. Blockbuster already sorted all that out. But thanks for contributing to the conversation.
__________________
Life is not one thing after another, it's the same God damn thing over and over -- Dorothy Parker
  #36  
Unread May 10th, 2011, 08:18 PM
Ninja's Avatar
Ninja Ninja is offline
IHBB Freak
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,015
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hot Head View Post
Now you can help the mom and pop shop go into bankruptcy
They probably would have years ago if it weren't for their other ventures within their rental business. I'm happy to see them still around because theyre all good people.
  #37  
Unread May 10th, 2011, 08:49 PM
Darkfall28's Avatar
Darkfall28 Darkfall28 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Earth
Posts: 274
You know what I like? Starting up the PS3 in my store in the kiosk and before putting in a movie......having a big NETFLIX icon pop up on the loading screen in a Blockbuster store! Yet, we have no type of service on the PS3! The irony of this amuses me quite a bit.
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Darkfall28 For This Useful Post:
Baby Firefly (May 21st, 2011), KateOTomato (May 11th, 2011)
  #38  
Unread May 11th, 2011, 10:17 PM
Elphabalives's Avatar
Elphabalives Elphabalives is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Tortuga
Posts: 136
Not sure if anyone's mentioned this, but could we PLEASE get a bluray rental > Prp transfer? At my home store, we have 700 odd NR bluray (some of which has probably gone to bsi since it's been sitting there) stored in a cabinet next to the safe. We simply cannot fit it on the NR wall or the bsi section. At my borrowed store, we literally cannot fit any more in the bluray bsi. Things are overflowing and falling off the shelves. We seriously don't need 12 copies of gamer any more.

The last time we had a bluray transfer, it involved Scott Pilgrim. That was what, October? With the upcoming memorial sale, it'd be wise to get rid of some of this extra stuff that doesn't rent.
__________________
"She looks a lot like Alice with nowhere to go, and no white rabbit to follow" -Violet Sedan Chair
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Elphabalives For This Useful Post:
Darkfall28 (May 11th, 2011), Woodstock (May 11th, 2011)
  #39  
Unread May 11th, 2011, 10:49 PM
Woodstock's Avatar
Woodstock Woodstock is offline
IHBB GOD
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 3,982
Quote:
Originally Posted by Elphabalives View Post
Not sure if anyone's mentioned this, but could we PLEASE get a bluray rental > Prp transfer? At my home store, we have 700 odd NR bluray (some of which has probably gone to bsi since it's been sitting there) stored in a cabinet next to the safe. We simply cannot fit it on the NR wall or the bsi section. At my borrowed store, we literally cannot fit any more in the bluray bsi. Things are overflowing and falling off the shelves. We seriously don't need 12 copies of gamer any more.

The last time we had a bluray transfer, it involved Scott Pilgrim. That was what, October? With the upcoming memorial sale, it'd be wise to get rid of some of this extra stuff that doesn't rent.
Especially since we got a TON of blu ray rentals from stores that closed. Please take care of this! My store has over 30 blu ray rentals of RED!
__________________
"Some people are like slinkies, fun to play with, but eventually you want to push them down the stairs."

"Think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are stupider than that." George Carlin (Thanks Moonprism)

Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me the hell alone.
  #40  
Unread May 11th, 2011, 11:00 PM
Darkfall28's Avatar
Darkfall28 Darkfall28 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Earth
Posts: 274
I have 32 copies of Precious on bluray. That's right, THIRTY TWO. I had about 10 to start with. I have 24 of Gamer. Everytime a store closed around me ( uh, quite a few there) I got a TON of their bsi rental bluray. My bsi bluray is at about 1500 copies right now. I completely agree Elpha. You know what they should let us do? Make a new section in bsi just called: "Hey, We've Got A Shit Ton of This Movie You're Already Seen, Who Wants In?!"
 

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 12:17 AM.


vBulletin Version 3.7.1
© 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.