It's In The Mail

File this post under lessons learned. And what is the lesson you ask? "Always trust your gut."

This week I've been following all this talk about Blockbuster filing for bankruptcy. It doesn't surprise me at all. We've been using Netflix since 2004 and I love it. I remember when I made my first Netlix rental. I remember thinking "why wasn't I doing this before?" It's such a user-friendly business model that's only getting friendlier (such as instant viewing and streaming.)

Anyway, I remember sometime in 2005 or 2006 I was seriously considering purchasing stock in Netflix. At that time the share price was hovering somewhere around $16 to $18 a share. You know the old saying - "Buy what you know." So I was all set to make the purchase. So why didn't I you ask? At that same time there was A LOT of talk about Blockbuster, Amazon, and even Wal-Mart all trying to buy out Netflix and take it over. In fact, that was the time that Blockbuster started their own "DVD-in-the-mail" program. Here was little ol' Netflix surrounded by all these larger companies trying to take it over. I thought for sure they wouldn't survive, so I backed away from the purchase. Time-travel ahead to the present day and it's Blockbuster that's filing for bankruptcy. And little ol' Netflix? They're trading around (gulp) $162.

(Sigh) Lesson learned.

A funny side note - This past summer a video store here in town went out of business (a Hollywood Video.) They held a "going out of business" sale on all their DVD's, so the kids and I checked it out. It was the first time they had ever been in a video store. I don't think Ben understood why people would go to a video store when it comes to your house in the mail. He was a little confused. It had been years since I was in a video store. It felt so weird. It's hard to believe that's how we all used to rent movies. Anyway, I felt somewhat responsible for the store's closing, so I did purchase a John Woo movie for $3. There...I did my part.