Are You Nickel-and-Diming Your Customers?
(Above: A Redbox DVD that is nickel-and-diming me)
5 days ago, I checked out a Redbox DVD from the local McDonald’s with the intention of returning it the next day. For those of you who don’t know, Redbox is a DVD distributor that charges $1/day for rentals and has distribution outlets in all sorts of places. Pretty convenient, eh? The problem is, I forgot to return the DVD and am now left paying $5 of what should have been a $1 bill.
This experience makes me much less likely to rent from Redbox next time around, because I feel like they are nickel-and-diming me (i.e. ripping me off). I would rather spend the $4 to get a rental at Blockbuster and not worry about returning it on a certain date.
So, I got to thinking about my website design business. I don’t nickel-and-dime. That is, I am very up front about costs, and so long as my clients ask nicely, I will even make little tweaks to their websites for free that are completely outside of any agreement we may have. I figure that sort of customer service leads to happier customers which leads to a better reputation for my business. So I ask this of you: Are you nickel-and-diming your customers?
If you re-think RedBox DVD rentals, you will understand why they “nickel-and-dime” you. The whole structure of cheap dvd rental is to keep rotating merchandise as often as possible. Blockbuster will charge you $5 (yes, it is $5 in my neighborhood) because they have to pay their employees, rent and also pay for $200 copies of that movie you just rented. And that is also why they are going bankrupt. DVD rental machines operate on maximum profit of per-day rental. Which is actually a very smart business idea and I can watch 5 new releases for the price of 1.
And I think you are absolutely right about discussing web-design pricing upfront with clients – saved me a lot of time. Plus, it also pushed me in the direction of designing sites that customers can tweak and update themselves.
Hi, Elen! Thanks for the comment!
Let me begin by saying that I agree with you about Blockbuster. Blockbuster sucks. I would say that they suck as much as RedBox, only for different reasons which I won’t get into. Suffice it to say, Blockbuster’s bricks-and-mortar business model is probably unsustainable in the long-run.
Regarding RedBox, I totally understand why they want to nickel-and-dime us. I’m sure nickel-and-diming us makes them a lot of money. I would venture to guess that RedBox’s business model depends on folks who rent a dvd and then forget to return it for a couple of days. But that is exactly the problem I have with the model – it preys on the bad habits of Americans. I lump it right in there with cigarettes, soda-pop, and video games.
Also, when I do what I always do and return the RedBox DVD late, I am left with a bad taste in my mouth that leaves me wanting to restart my Netflix membership. And it really is Netflix and other online distributors of movies, not bricks-and-mortar Blockbuster stores, that are the long-term competitors of RedBox.
I love using redbox. But, I have found a kiosk that is locally owned and operated.