Waiting for Netflix is not the same thing.

Fuck Head Office.

There is too much to talk about this article. The death of Bennet is something that I think will only properly be noticed years from now, such as when a star extinguishes itself.

However, I have some thoughts about the Blockbuster thing…

This is a sign of a deeper sickness. Basically, a Big Box chain uses practices such as economy of scale to deliberately shut down any competition. They know they can afford to have many uneconomical shops in a market for years, as long as it destroys any local competition. In the long run, they have an eye on the consolidation of the entire market in their own image.

I have seen this for years, a big chain comes in, and a flourishing local garden becomes a parking lot. This Mono-crop mentality, which is efficient from the point of view of producers and distributors, is unsatisfying from the point of view of consumers, who are supposed to be the beneficiaries of a “free-market” approach.

The problem with a mono-crop: when a virus comes in that is deadly to it, there is nothing to fall back on, and the entire harvest is lost. The versatility of the small business (the true free market) that can actually adapt to substantial changes in the market, is rendered inert in the face of the beige inertia of Head Office. Whereas a local owner can see things from the ground level and make changes that benefit their customers, the Assistant to the Regional Manager will look at the Business model she learned in school and wonder what the hell they are talking about.

After the Big Box has destroyed the local market, and after it has achieved a monopoly, any policy that cannot adapt to what consumers want, means that the entire industry they belong to suffers. I deal with people who come hundreds of miles away just to rent films because the Big Box chain that shut down all the Mom and Pops in their neighbourhood closed down, leaving them with no video store to go to locally.

I guess I am trying to say, in a self serving way, support your local businesses, and they are will support you.

Oh, and fuck Head Office.