Netflix vs Walmart vs Blockbuster

[Jestak]

Greetings,

I am living in South New Hampshire and I did a test last month with some friends living in Portland (Maine), Springfield (Vermont) and near Concord (Massachussets).

We are all suscribers to Netflix and we decided to suscribe (one month free) to Walmart and (15 days free) to blockbuster. We found out what we already knew: Netflix is the best service. It had only 1 day turnover for a total of 4 days(i.e.: get on Monday, send back on tuesday, Netflix receives on Wednesday and we got back a new dvd on Thursday. Walmart war the worse with a total of 7 days and Blockbuster had a total of 6 days.

Even with the 2 free store rentals, Blockbuster can't deliver as much DVDs than Netflix in one month.

We noticed there is a Netflix warehouse in Manchester (NH) and Worcester (Mass). Blockbuster nearest warehouse is in Pennsylvania and Walmart it is in NY state.

We did not take into account also the price difference between the different services.

Any other people did the test somewhere else in USA?

Thank you

We did not verify the availability because there are a few other studies pointing that Netflix is the best if you don't take into account the 2 free DVDs at Blockbuster store where you can get 2 new releases right away.

[sacajaweeda]

Hard to beat Blockbuster's monthly pass deal. 2 out at a time, swap them out as many times as you want. I've exchanged movies 2-3 times in one day a few times. I live right up the street from the place so waiting for some schmuck in a warehouse somewhere to mail them to me is just not an option.

Well it is an option, but it's a stupid one.

[manono]

Well, the bricks-and-morters Blockbusters stock, what, at most 2,000 titles or so? And then after you've seen all the ones you want, what's left but to subscribe to the online rental services to access the other 28,000 titles they have.

My local Blockbuster long ago ran out of titles that I have any interest in viewing (except for a rare new title every once in a while), so, for me, the only option is online rentals.

Well it is an option, but it's a stupid one.

I'd be careful if I were you. Not everyone lives so close to a Blockbuster. Not everyone has the spare time to be driving (or walking) there as often as you do. Not everyone likes to wander the aisles looking for something to watch. I hate going in there. Mine mixes the DVDs and the useless videotapes together. Is that standard practice? I much prefer getting them in the mail. I agree that the monthly pass is a good deal, if you haven't already cleaned out the place of stuff you want to see.

For people that live reasonably close to a warehouse (I don't), a 4 day turnaround with a 3-out option isn't bad, as you can get 20-25 or so DVDs a month.

[dartboard]

I also tried all 3 services. I live in a Virginia suburb of DC. Netflix was also the best in part because the nerest center is in Gaithersburg, MD about 15 miles away. Walmart was also pretty good, but I found their web site harder to browse. For example, they did not have the current year's list of most popular movies just last year's list. For me, blockbuster stunk and I agree the stores just don't have much selection beyond recent releases.

[sacajaweeda]

I suppose I'm just not new enough to the game to be concerned with watching much of anything other than the new releases at the video rental places.

[tienquang2]

Walmart and Blockbuster are competing on price. Where as Netflix is still at around $17. This will all come down as service. How fast can you get the dvd to the customer, not price. I have tried all three. Net flix is the BEST of them all. I got 3atatime everytime. Walmart and BB slows down the process by delaying the shipment. Walmart and BB is just bad at sending them. I am from S Cali. They all have distribution center in S cali.

I vote NETFLIX. And by the way, I don't work for them. It is the other way around.

[jawgee]

Hard to beat Blockbuster's monthly pass deal. 2 out at a time, swap them out as many times as you want. I've exchanged movies 2-3 times in one day a few times. I live right up the street from the place so waiting for some schmuck in a warehouse somewhere to mail them to me is just not an option.

Well it is an option, but it's a stupid one.

Don't you get questions from BB employees like "How could possibly watch all those movies?" or "Don't you have anything else to do?". I've never been asked those questions personally, but I got that vibe when I was renting out three-at-a-time everyday for a month. Two or three time I went back twice in a day. I remember peeking at their computer screen & saw that they tracked how many movies I rented out in that rental period. It kind of freaked me out so I quit the program once the sale period was up ($19.99/month for 3 out at a time vs. $29.99 regular price).

jawgee

[sacajaweeda]

Why would I care what the people at Blockbuster think about the 60-90 movies I rented on their monthly pass? What are they going to do, cut me off? LOL

[mrbass]

Greetings,

Netflix is the best service.

Any other people did the test somewhere else in USA?

yeah I did a test back at the end of december
http://mrbass.org/dvdrentals/

I agree netflix is currently the best, however a year ago it was impossible for me to get a new release didn't matter if it was at the top of my queue for 6 months it just wasn't going to happen. I signed up with a different account and now what do you know....new releases easily. Hopefully netflix won't resort back to punishing users.

[Jestak]

Greetings,

I remember reading your evaluation.

Frankly, I have no problem to get new releases from Netflix and I has been with them since a long while. Of course, sometimes I can wait 2-3 weeks to get one, but generally I get the new release on my next shipping. For example, I clearly remember I got Resident Evil, Princess Diaries 2 and The day after tomorrow right away when they were available.

However, I had to wait 3-4 weeks for Kill Bill 1 and 2.

Thank you

[lordsmurf]

This topic has already been beaten to death, and always just ends up locked. Pretty much every angle and every opinion has been put here already:

1st Netflix, 2nd Walmart, 3rd Blockbuster, 4th Amazon.com
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=241166&highlight=netflix

No More Blockbuster Late Fees
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=248447&highlight=netflix

Watch out for this latest Netflix trick!
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249152&highlight=netflix

BlockBuster lowers price again
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249607&highlight=netflix

Netflix Service Dropped When Their Prices Dropped?
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=253728&highlight=netflix

WARNING!!! walmart.com DVD rentals
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=244225&highlight=walmart+rentals

Blockbuster online rentals
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=246525&highlight=blockbuster+rentals

And all of these threads are from November/December/January.
Until there is ACTUALLY something new to say, not worth posting.

Enough already.