New Releases: An Affront To Corporate?
I swung by Fry’s during lunch today to pick up Terminator: Salvation, and noticed that the ‘New Releases’ blu-ray section was missing. Walking around for minute thinking that they might have moved it to another location, I quickly came to realize that I didn’t overlook it. It was simply…gone.
An employee must have seen me wandering around doe-eyed and slack-jawed like an abandoned Alzheimer’s patient off his meds, and he cautiously snuck up on me from downwind, using the bright overhead halogen warehouse lights as cover. Silently sidestepping into my field of vision, he opened his mouth, and this was our exact conversation:
Fry: “Can I help you find something?”
Me: “You used to have a section for ‘New Releases’…”
Fry (nodding his head): “Yep.”
Me: “Did you move it?”
Fry: “No. We’re not allowed to have it anymore.”
Me (confused): “Why is that?”
Fry (shrugs his shoulders): “We just can’t.”
Strange. Having a ‘New Releases’ section helps customers identify (surprise!) new movies that have come out. Why would Fry’s not allow such an obvious helpful service to its customers? What kind of mail order college graduate makes these stupid decisions? Does the mob have a corner on the ‘New Releases’ market, and will break your kneecaps and make you “sleep with the fishes” if they discover that you’re telling customers what the new movies of the week are? Is this some sort of new rule Corporate came up with, or is this practice much more widespread than that?
Netflix used to list upcoming releases on its site so you could save them for rental as soon as they come out. Without notice, this service was dropped from its site.I never got a real answer from customer service but it’s like another thing they do called “throttling.” If you watch movies and send them back too quickly, they’ll slow down the rate at which you receive discs by shipping them from a more distant warehouse. By not letting you know what the new releases are, they can keep from having to stock so many of the new titles and steer you to something else. Great service.
Many thanks, Kathcom. This makes sense, in a “big business” sort of way. I swear, if I ever win the lottery, I’m going to open my own movie theater and show flicks that I think are cool, employee a few locals, and not worry about making a profit…all for the love of the movies