Shipped Yesterday.

[Bob]

If nothing else, it should show you just how much of a ripoff it is to pay $30 for a new DVD, a company like EZTakes proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that you can pump them out for about 28 cents a pop, with minimal staff. The only thing REALLY standing between cheap entertainment for the masses and the current status quo are heinously outdated copyright and intellectual property laws.

Shhh, he will hear you from the grave.

[Isaac S.]

But it says right on the website where you order that the discs will ship in 10 business days.  What part of that was a smokescreen?

Nobody has said they were dishonest, at least that I've seen.  They were honest about how long it was going to take, sure.  But they had a chance to make a great impression and really establish themselves and they failed to do so, because they would rather keep more money than they're used to keeping (as their business plan, mind you, is a burn-and-ship plan, not a burn-and-then-wait-until-you-can-ship-a-few-thousand-together plan, so they charge you for shipping one DVD, not for bulk shipping).  I'm all for companies making money, but if it comes at the expense of bad service, I'm not so much a fan.

And, yeah, I get that they only have five employees.  My issue is that they waited to send the DVDs they had already burned, not that they burned them too slowly.  It's amazing that they were able to get (presumably) several thousand orders done in just two weeks.  But what's not amazing is that they charged us for shipping on one DVD and then waited until they had a bunch already done so they could save money and keep more of that money we paid for shipping.  It's cheap and it's bad service.  I would say it was good business, but because it was bad service, it wasn't.

I'm not whining.  I knew what I was potentially getting myself into when I ordered it (that is, a 2-week wait).  But thinking as a businessman, they had an opportunity to impress people with their service and failed in order to make more money than their normal business plan calls for.  They got greedy and looked bad as a result.  Many of us could already have our DVDs because they were burned long ago, but they didn't ship them because they're getting a bulk shipping discount that was not taken into account when they charged us for shipping.  All I'm saying is that that's a great way to leave a bad taste in your customers' mouths.

Next time, it'll probably be a download, so I'm not too worried about it.  And I wasn't planning on ever using DVD Wagon for anything else; I'd always download directly via EZTakes.  But perhaps some people out there in MSTieLand were, and perhaps they'll now be turned off by this whole thing.  That's what I'm getting at.  It's bad business even if it made them more money in the short term because it will probably hurt them in the long term, whether that's by losing potential customers or, worse, by losing the chance to distribute CT in the not-too-distant future (though that was likely to happen anyway, I suppose, once the market for the thing was proven).

[Isaac S.]

If nothing else, it should show you just how much of a ripoff it is to pay $30 for a new DVD, a company like EZTakes proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that you can pump them out for about 28 cents a pop, with minimal staff. The only thing REALLY standing between cheap entertainment for the masses and the current status quo are heinously outdated copyright and intellectual property laws.

Truthfully, the thing standing between the status quo and cheap entertainment is the law of supply and demand.  If people will pay $30 for a DVD (and, honestly, though, who's charging that much anymore?), there's no reason the price should be lower.  Prices that are too low ultimately just create dissatisfaction via shortages when supply can't keep up with the demand.  See the Wii launch.  Heck, see your local Best Buy right now and try to find a Wii.  (And then if you find one, sell it to me on eBay for $100 more than you paid.)

[Chaos]

If nothing else, it should show you just how much of a ripoff it is to pay $30 for a new DVD, a company like EZTakes proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that you can pump them out for about 28 cents a pop, with minimal staff. The only thing REALLY standing between cheap entertainment for the masses and the current status quo are heinously outdated copyright and intellectual property laws.

Truthfully, the thing standing between the status quo and cheap entertainment is the law of supply and demand.  If people will pay $30 for a DVD (and, honestly, though, who's charging that much anymore?), there's no reason the price should be lower.  Prices that are too low ultimately just create dissatisfaction via shortages when supply can't keep up with the demand.  See the Wii launch.  Heck, see your local Best Buy right now and try to find a Wii.  (And then if you find one, sell it to me on eBay for $100 more than you paid.)

Standard price for new releases in Canada (despite the fact that our economy is doing better than yours, you bastards ) is $24.95 to $26.95, plus our famous insane sales tax, brings it up to right around $30 (and economics rules dictate that any portion of sales tax paid by the consumer is to be considered part of the cost for supply and demand purposes).

Yes, it is true that if you lower your prices TOO much, the market will become saturated. But it is also true that the BEST place to produce your product in terms of supply and demand is where the marginal cost of producing one more unit is equal to the marginal benefit of selling one more unit. The VAST amount of sales increases you get from a lower priced product far outshines the lost revenue per sale at the old rate - as long as your production costs per unit don't get out of control as you add more volume. With a production cost of less than 50c a DVD, even factoring equipment, salaries, storage, shipping, and shrinkage, maximum cost you could be looking at is MAYBE $2 a pop.

It is always greed that causes companies to mark their price up higher than the market price would actually be at equilibrium. The only reason the laws of supply and demand are starting to break down in the modern age is because there are enough stupid people around to be duped into believing what the companies tell them ought to be a fair price.

[Pak-Man]

Another reminder that this wasn't plan A. I'd be willing to bet they'll make sure they have download rights for the next one, and they probably won't get a lot of DVD shipment requests if the download option's available. I think we'll be looking back on this, years from now, as the shakey start to Cinematic Titanic. :^)

[BEERxTaco]

Speaking of the next one... MJ already has her copy of the film. I assume that means work is underway...

[SmilinJackRoss]

But doing this is pointless and makes you look like a Cry Baby. 

He's not being a cry baby, he's posting some well-deserved criticism of how this initial launch didn't exactly go as it should have.  I totally agree with Isaac S., and I don't see why you have to call him names.

[BEERxTaco]

Well, if you ask me, I think it's a by-product of today's "instant gratification" society. Life moves much faster these days. Sometimes that's a good thing, but when it makes people impatient because they have to wait a little bit, it triggers things like violent crime and road rage. I'm being serious here, although I'm not accusing anyone of becoming a criminal. It's just what people have come to expect.

Those of us who may be a little older probably don't have the same demands/expectations. I order stuff online all the time. Rarely do I follow up or check on it. It shows up when it shows up and it's a fun surprise to come home from work and find a package. Anybody ever order anything from a comic book or a cereal box as a kid? The standard was to allow 6-8 weeks for delivery. 6-8 weeks! Can you imagine anybody waiting that long for anything like that today? Aside from furniture anyway.

As far as I'm concerned, they did a fine job... especially without the download availability. I don't "blame" anyone for "dropping the ball" or "screwing up a business plan". Joel was as excited as we were to get this out. We were all thrilled to hear about it. The anticipation has been a joy for me. Sometimes delays occur. That's life. Get used to it.

There are other things we can do while we wait. [/rant]

[bettertomorrowamy]

But doing this is pointless and makes you look like a Cry Baby. 

He's not being a cry baby, he's posting some well-deserved criticism of how this initial launch didn't exactly go as it should have.  I totally agree with Isaac S., and I don't see why you have to call him names.

Instead of complaining about Cinematic Titanic not having all it's ducks in a row, he was complaining about EZTakes not being professional.  Sounded like he just wanted to bitch because he hasn't gotten his dvd yet, and didn't want to blame Cinematic Titanic so he blamed the people with the least amount of control who haven't failed any obligations they have agreed to.  Frankly, I shouldn't have said anything against the status quo of COMPLAINING.  You guys just want to cry.  Do I wish I was watching the first Cinematic Titanic movie right now?  Yes!  Is this not a reality because of EZTakes?  No!  It is obvious why there are initial problems with the first release of this new experiment.  Read my other post (minus the offensive cry baby name calling  ), and you will see what I mean.  I apologize for calling you all cry babies. 

[pyro]

Well, if you ask me, I think it's a by-product of today's "instant gratification" society. Life moves much faster these days. Sometimes that's a good thing, but when it makes people impatient because they have to wait a little bit, it triggers things like violent crime and road rage. I'm being serious here, although I'm not accusing anyone of becoming a criminal. It's just what people have come to expect.

Those of us who may be a little older probably don't have the same demands/expectations. I order stuff online all the time. Rarely do I follow up or check on it. It shows up when it shows up and it's a fun surprise to come home from work and find a package. Anybody ever order anything from a comic book or a cereal box as a kid? The standard was to allow 6-8 weeks for delivery. 6-8 weeks! Can you imagine anybody waiting that long for anything like that today? Aside from furniture anyway.

As far as I'm concerned, they did a fine job... especially without the download availability. I don't "blame" anyone for "dropping the ball" or "screwing up a business plan". Joel was as excited as we were to get this out. We were all thrilled to hear about it. The anticipation has been a joy for me. Sometimes delays occur. That's life. Get used to it.

There are other things we can do while we wait. [/rant]

Instant gratification is sort of an odd term to be throwing around here considering the old alternative is you learn the release date, you go to the store, you buy it, you go home, you watch it.  Or even with the original MST3K; you know what time it's on and when the new episodes are airing, you turn on your TV, you watch it.  Unless you're comparing it solely to rifftrax with the whole download thing.

[BEERxTaco]

I meant it as a more general term, involving many aspects of life in the 21st century.

[skenderberg]

I think it's more of a "boy who cried wolf" situation than an "instant gratification" situation.  I was perfectly happy to wait until December 10 when that date was first announced.  If December 22 or January 9 had been announced instead, I would have been happy to wait until then too.  It's not the release date that made everyone tense, it's the fact that it kept moving.

Of course, this concern will ultimately be secondary to the quality of the product itself.   If turns out awesome, then all will be forgiven.  By way of contrast, Mr. Mallon delivered his goods on time, and we all know how that turned out...

[AmandaGal]

Mike delivers his goods on time or before...

[Steve-O]

Mike delivers his goods on time or before...

That's what the ladies say, anyhow.

[RoninFox]

Mike delivers his goods on time or before...

Or if he doesn't we know why just about right away, complete with a good guess as to how long we'll have to wait.