Tacky, tacky

[deb6031]

Curious why I did not receive posters for November, I call VPD and inquire.  It seems they have a new policy (at least new to me) of no posters if you order less then $600 per month.  Well I’ve never ordered less than that, so they go ahead and send them late.

I was also told they don’t like people to supplement at Walmart and they feel requiring a minimum purchase stops that.  The flaw in that logic is not all video stores do enough business every month of the year to justify buying that much.  

I can understand not liking it when video stores supplement at Walmart, but I would think they could come up with a more positive solution.  I don't like it when my customers rent from my competition, but I don't do anything to punish them for it.  I am quite certain that if I did, I would go out of business quickly.

Regardless, so long as I own my video store, I feel it is my decision how much I spend each month for movies.  So even though this policy doesn’t apply to me, I don’t like the idea of it and I want to retain the right to decide without being punished with no posters.   I went back to Waxworks.

Just out of curiosity, has anyone tried to get posters directly from the studios?  I get some from Warner each month and they pay the shipping.

[mcmarc]

Better to supplement at Walmart than not purchase from VPD at all.  You might want to remind them that.


marc
orbit dvd

[nerinastorm]

We've run into that with VPD also (I thought the limit was $800 a month though but based on the 2 months back) and we often don't have an $800 order so we just pay the extra $5 for posters.  And we get a ton of them!!  

The part that bothers me is if we don't have an order of $150 for the week we get charged a freight fee of $6.25 that otherwise wouldn't be charged if our order was over $150.    

Aside from that though I love VPD!!  and the nearest store (Walmart, Kmart) to get movies is 30 minutes away, so we very rarely supplement our order.

[wevie]

So if you don't order enough then the posters are only five bucks a month?  That would not stop me from going to Wal-mart anyway.  Why would five bucks a month stop someone from going to Wal-mart and saving three to five bucks a movie.

Man I can't believe you switched over that but it is pretty stupid in there part to start charging for them.  I'm sure a lot of stores don't ever order that much anyway.

[Retrofit]

I think many distributors in the process of protecting themselves are shooting themselves in the foot.  This sort of action is almost encourageing independants to look for outside sources.  That's just my take.

[direct007]

I happily pay Ingram (our poster source) about $200/year for their poster/dvd program. We still use them for b titles and special orders, Walmart for the rest.  I understand it costs them money to ship posters and produce the DVD screeners so it's a small price to pay.  They have a small minimum order policy which is not hard to meet.  So use this knowledge as a negotiation tool when talking to VPD.  "Hey if you guys don't want my business, forget about Walmart, Ingram will be more than happy to sell me movies and send me posters"

[wevie]

Do any of you guys you more than one distributor for your movies?  Is there any reasons to even to that?

[deb6031]

Wevie, I wasn't given the choice to get posters for $5.00.  The choice I was given was $600 month minimum order or no posters at all....so you bet I switched.  And since I've never gone under $600, I still don't know why they didn't ship posters for November.  

Based on previous posts, it seems their policies vary according to the salesperson.

From my perspective, distributors offer convenience and a source of posters.  I don't get better prices than Walmart.  I just don't feel like having a hassle over a few pieces of paper.  Or letting those few pieces of paper be a reason to over buy to appease someone else.  And even tho I've never gone under $600, maybe I will in the future.  I reserve the right to choose because it's my business.  If that means I will be punished for it, then I will spend my money elsewhere.

My salesperson at Waxworks offered to let me buy one week of movies from them, which would be enough for them to send posters.  Major difference in attitude.

Well anyway, the VPD situation kinda shocked me.  My experience may or may not be representative of the company as a whole.

[sungifts]

I use Waxworks and just recently signed on with VPD.  I was upfront and told my rep that I supplement from Walmart - I only order 2 copies from distributor and the rest from W/M - $20 vs $15-17 - $5-7 savings on 6-8 copies of each title weekly ADDS up!

I also was told about the $600 min. for posters and the freight charge for totals under $150/week.  Waxworks has the same freight minimum and posters are $7.50 per month - no matter what you spend - or at least that's what I've been charged for the past year or so.  

As far as posters, very rarely, we receive pop items from Warner - but nothing else - we do call each studio often!  (we do receive som screeners from independents sometimes)

Good Luck!

[tnsherrie]

I too use VPD and have never been anything but happy with them. I was told about the $600 minimum when I opened my account with them but for all the posters (tons) I receive from them it is well worth the $5 month If I dont meet minimum. I also use Rentak though and all my Rentrak titles are also shipped from VPD with my non Rentrak titles so I never have to suppliment for my titles. My local Walmart is about the same price as VPD so it doesnt save me any money going to Walmart.

I have an awesome rep and she is always on top of everything. I think I would speak again with your rep at Vpd and make sure that you understood him/her correctly about minimums and poster cost.