In Search of a Rental ‘Locker’

12 Mar, 2010 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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With six Oscar wins, including best picture and director, Summit Entertainment’s The Hurt Locker became my quest when test-renting select movies using commonly known channels Blockbuster, Netflix, Redbox and Movie Gallery/Hollywood Video, in addition to local video stores.
 
Additional titles randomly selected in my queue included The Constant Gardner, Slumdog Millionaire, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and The Kingdom.
 
Rental options featured the usual suspects: in-store, subscription, streaming and kiosk. For my test, however, there were a few rules, namely that all rentals had to be on Blu-ray Disc and available by mail.
 
Specifically, I wanted to pit Blockbuster by-mail/streaming against Netflix by-mail/Watch Instantly digital service.

To be sure, there were more immediate rental choices, but with limited Blu-ray availability.
 
Redbox offered 50 kiosks within a 11.3-mile proximity renting only DVD titles, which rendered the service moot for my purpose. But for comparison purposes, title availability in DVD, price and online support were factored into the analysis.
 
Indeed, among my selections, Redbox stocked just two titles, even in DVD. According to the Redbox site, Hurt Locker was available at a kiosk 4.2 miles away for $1.09, which included tax, but only on DVD. G.I. Joe was available 1.3 miles away.

There were 20 Blockbuster Express kiosks in my area, according to its Web site, with the nearest one 21.4 miles away! Too bad, that kiosk had Hurt Locker on Blu-ray for $2 per day plus tax.
 
With my local Hollywood Video (4.2 miles from home) shuttered, and the nearest alternative (three closer locations were also closing) more than 22 miles away, the bankrupt chain was of little use.
 
Blockbuster also offered 30 physical locations within an 18-mile radius, including one store 1.3 miles away from my home. Two independent video stores, Video 99 (6.3 miles) and Diego’s Video (7.5 miles), factored in the mix, although the latter had discontinued renting Blu-ray titles.
 
All the movies, with the exception of Constant Gardener, were available in the local Blockbuster on Blu-ray for $4.99 each plus tax for five days (the same as DVD).
 
Video 99 had Locker on DVD (Blu-ray was rented) for $2.50 for 48 hours. It had Slumdog and G.I. Joe on Blu-ray for $3 each, in addition to DVD. Kingdom was available on DVD only.
 
Again, walking into a video store didn’t seem to be much of a challenge, and to hear the analysts these days, brick-and-mortar video stores are about as cool as VHS.
 
As a result, I sought the value and convenience of a subscription program whereby I could watch and return titles on my schedule. I signed up for Netflix’s two-DVDs-out-at-a-time plan with unlimited streaming for $13.99 per month and a free two-week trial. The price increased to $16.99 when factoring in the Blu-ray option.
 
I also chose Blockbuster’s two-DVD (no extra charge for Blu-ray) program, which included five free in-store exchanges for $16.99/month and a two-week free trial.
 
The online registration process for Netflix was painless and took about five minutes. The same routine at Blockbuster.com took a while longer when it wouldn’t recognize my user name and password. A call to customer service took care of the problem — after about 20 minutes, including holding time.
 
My identical queues at Blockbuster and Netflix listed the following titles:
1.    The Hurt Locker
2.    The Constant Gardener
3.    Slumdog Millionaire
4.    G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
5.    The Kingdom

Electronic Non-Starter
 
For electronic distribution, Blockbuster On Demand offered four of the five titles for rent, including Locker for $3.99 for 24 hours with no subscription required.
 
The Netflix Watch Instantly service, which is free to subscribers, didn’t offer Slumdog or any of the other titles in the queue, with the exception of Constant Gardner.
 
Not able to access Netflix streaming on my Mac, or interested in connecting a PC laptop to the TV via HDMI cable at home (I’m a little old-fashioned), I opted for physical media.
 
E-mail Alerts
 
Following prompt e-mail greetings from both services, Blockbuster informed me March 9 that Constant Gardner had been shipped, and I could expect to see it in the mailbox no later than March 11. There was also a mention of Hurt Locker being in limited supply.
 
Netflix e-mailed in the afternoon that same day that Locker on Blu-ray would arrive March 10. Another e-mail followed shortly informing me that Constant Gardener would arrive on the same day.
 
With its Swiss-like precision, halcyon dotcom vibe and a founder/CEO who implores his employees to take vacation, Netflix has morphed from David to feel-good Goliath in the business world. The company recently awarded a team of scientists $1 million for improving its customer algorithms. Its fiscal calls sound like public apologies for being so successful — and modest.

In fact had Netflix not informed me with Big Brother efficiency that my top two rental requests would be waiting in the mailbox 48 hours after I signed up, I would have considered it a slight.

Blockbuster by mail, by comparison, was a blind date with low expectations. Considering the relentless beatings the company takes in the media and on Wall Street, the fact I even got an e-mail was encouraging.

So, with Constant Gardener set to arrive 24 hours after Netflix, it appeared Blockbuster would come up short, again.

But sometimes preconception can land on its butt.

For when I arrived at home after work March 10, waiting for me in the mailbox were not just my two requested Blu-ray Discs from Netflix, but the identical titles on BD from Blockbuster.

In the end, Blockbuster had promised low and delivered high to tie the score.

 

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