Today’s rant is about fixing things that aren’t broken. Case 1: Netflix. Case 2: Facebook.
I used to work for a Video Store (Hollywood Video – now in Bankruptcy) and got free movies as one of my employee perks. After I stopped working there, I still wanted to see movies, but didn’t want to pay the extortionist prices at a theater (that’s another rant altogether) – back then I think they were $6 a movie. Rentals were a great deal, $3 or $4 for five days and you didn’t have to buy them to watch them. And entire family could watch a couple of movies with snacks for much less that it would cost for a babysitter, movie snacks and theater tickets.
I’ve been a Netflix subscriber for years; I’m not sure exactly how long but I’d guess at least 8 years. I thought the concept was fantastic; pay a certain amount a month, have a list of movies to watch, and return when you’re ready with no late fees. (Late fees for the rental industry are like bank charges for the financial industry – it’s their cash cow). We started our subscription with 1 movie at a time for about $15 a month. After a couple of years, I increased it to 3 movies at a time and I think the price was roughly $30 a month for that. We probably watched about 10 movies a month this way; some months more, some months left. It was a win-win situation for us.
Enter some marketing guru who thinks that video streaming (ala YouTube, Hulu, etc.) is the new future. Guru convinces Netflix that although people like DVD’s, they’d prefer to watch movies whenever, wherever without those pesky disks to insert, mail back, etc. And the Streaming portion of Netflix was born. That’s great, but not all the movies that everyone wanted were available to stream, so people still needed those pesky silver Frisbees.
Somewhere along the line the Circle of Life does it’s magic and the huge conglomerate Video Rental stores that put the Mom & Pop video stores out of business are NOW going out of business due to online video companies (Netflix, Redbox, et al). It should be a lesson for large companies everywhere that what comes around goes around (Borders anyone?).
Anyway, back to Gurus, future and Frisbees. So Netflix and Redbox are the almost the only games in town that still rent those Frisbees. The downside (to me) to Redbox is that I have to return them within 24 hours or I get charged a late fee; and not every box has every movie I might want to watch. The economy is in the tank and people are pulling in their pennies. Movie theaters are now charging $9 to $11 dollars PER PERSON for a movie (not to mention the bank loan for the Milk Duds), so it’s a month’s paycheck for the entertainment budget.
Our family decides that we will move our subscription down to one movie at home and unlimited streaming. This will cost us about $11 a month (including taxes, etc.) About three months later the Netflix Guru decides that DVD’s are on the way out and that people should have to pay separate fees to remain in the dark ages of Frisbees and remote controls: $8 a month for the Frisbee (one per time) and $8 a month for unlimited streaming; roughly $15.99 a month for both.
This, of course sparks riots and hate mail and people dropping their Netflix subscriptions like they’re diseased. Because, you know, $16 a month is a horrible price to pay for choices. (Insert eye-roll here).
We rarely if ever use the streaming function; mostly because it seems whatever movie our family wants to watch is only available on DVD, (oddly enough we wanted to watch Independence Day ON Independence Day and it was only available on DVD) or we watch first runs on our cable cinema pay-per-view. We decided we’d stick with the one movie option for about $10 a month. Our viewing has changed and we may watch three movies a month; not bad for $10.
But the Marketing Guru isn’t finished and decides that not only are people archaic for still desiring those silly silver platters (instead of watching 2 hour movies on our phones…), but we should have to be confused and pay separate fees for the choices of archaic vs. future. Enter “Qwixter”. Blah.
Two fees, three choices, millions of customers and one Marketing Guru who is likely by this time holding a cardboard sign and a tin cup on a street corner somewhere.
And then there’s Facebook…I’m sure it’s not necessary for me to vent my frustrations about their constant changes. I’m not on Twitter or My Space; I don’t *get* Linked In, etc (likely because I don’t work outside the home). I understand it’s a FREE service. I can choose not to Facebook (as in verb, action).
Change is never easy, but sometimes it’s just stupid. Fixing something that wasn’t broken to begin with, had popular public opinion and wasn’t losing money isn’t just stupid, it can be financially disastrous.
The Circle of Life is about to spin yet again. Cue the crickets.
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