I think this is an interesting marketing move, because this is probably the one time of year when there’s no shortage of movies on television all the time. But I suppose for those who would rather not watch A Christmas Story and Frosty for the zillionth airing, the timing is apt.
Blockbuster is giving free movie rentals to Netflix subscribers:
From Dec. 5 through Dec. 21 current Netflix members can exchange the tear-off address flaps of their Netflix rental envelopes and receive on-the-spot free movie rentals from Blockbuster for every flap they bring in to any of the more than 5,000 participating BLOCKBUSTER stores.
They’re hoping to lure you in to subscribing to Blockbuster Total Access— Blockbuster’s answer to the ease of mail-ordering and being able to pick up movies in-store, spontaneously—of course. But there’s no obligation. If Netflix is holding your favorites hostage, and you have a local Blockbuster, you have nothing to lose.
We’re on Blockbuster.com. It’s so cool because we can take the DVDs they mail to us into the store and trade them in for a free rental, and they still send us the next ones on our online list in about two days. Plus, Blockbuster did away with late fees. Of course, if you keep it for two weeks, you bought it. You can turn it back in after that, but they charge you a small ($2-ish) “restocking fee”.
We especially love this since we moved into our new house and elected not to get cable.
We switched over from Netflix about a year ago, and we too are happy with the recent Blockbuster.com changes. No more coupons to print out–just trade in a mailed movie that you watched (or not) at the local store for another.
Mir, I’m with you about all the holiday movies on tv. There’s something about watching them on your time with no commercials. Although, I just told my husband last night that we need to go “on a break” from Blockbuster because we have seen so many of the new releases that it’s hard to find something to rent sometimes!
Blockbuster has a great selection of old movies, as well as sets of recent TV shows on DVD. I cycle through at least 12 movies a month (not a couch potato, so much as a quilter who watches movies while quilting) even without the new trade-in at the store option. LOVE the service!
Thanks for the tip! I wouldn’t have known about it and we will definitely use it. I just dug through my recycle bin for the netflix flap I tossed last night.
hmmm has anyone tried it? I have two flaps at home right now…..hmmm