Got any tips for lending DVDs? (1 Viewer)

[Justin Bauer]

Sorry for double post...

Also, I cannot stand it when people take things that are not theirs without asking. My roommate is good about leaving my stuff alone, but every now and then I see a DVD has been placed back on the shelf upside down. He is probably the only person I would let borrow dvds, but that is because they do not leave the apartment.

My brother still has some of my DVDs out that he borrowed. Some of you would die if you saw how he treats them. He often just places them ontop of his tv cabinet, data side down, or back into the wrong cases. They are usually covered in dust and have the security stickers stuck to the data sides.

 

[Zane Charron]

I once lent my entire home theater ($3,000, Pioneer and Infinity) and several hundred DVDs to a couple to use while I was overseas for a year and a half. I know it's not good to let electronics just sit for long periods of time, and I figure someone else should enjoy it rather than it just get put in storage.

I called a few times while I was away to ask about it. They said it was fine, etc. Well, when I got back and went to pick it up, the hardware was covered in an inch of dust and smeared with God knows what (probably food, they had a young boy), and the DVDs were scattered everywhere. On the floor, under the furniture, discs out of their cases stacked up on the TV, etc. I never did get Happy Gilmore and Copland back.

An extreme case, perhaps, but beware. I lend my DVDs to only a few people I trust.

 

[Douglas R]

Going way back, I used to lend LP records and they would always be returned with the inner sleeve opening at the front allowing the record to slide out or were returned minus the inner sleeve at all which immediately showed that people didn't take care of them. I also used to lend out VCR videos. On one occasion the borrower said he had accidentally erased it. Another one said it had been stolen on the subway. Another one didn't return it at all. I had a similar experience with books which would often be returned in a poor condition and in one case it took a year of badgering before one was returned. Lend my DVDs? No way!!

 

[Woo Jae]

Basically, I rarely lend discs. Mainly since I am NOT comfortable with how others will treat the discs themselves, and I DO NOT want to worry about my stuff being mishandled by others and NOT returned.

For me, I just don't want to deal with the hassle of getting stuff back from people nor worrying about its condition.

 

[Dave Poehlman]

There are very few people in my "circle of trust".

Once you get outside of the circle of trust, it's very hard to get back in the circle, Focker.

 

[ChrisChap]

Follow the same rule you should with everything else - don't let anyone borrow anything that you can't (or don't want to) replace.

As for DVD's, most can be had for anywhere from $10-20, so I have no problem letting people borrow them. I have lent out somewhere between 50-100 DVD's and I have only had one that was not returned, and I have never had one come back damaged. However, for some reason when my wife lends out a DVD it rarely comes back within 6 months, if ever. Good thing she has her own DVD's and I have mine!

If you are too cheap to drop $20 to replace a DVD if something happens to it, then you probably should not be spending your money on DVD's in the first place.

 

[Ted Lee]

it all depends on who is asking. i have a couple of friends who know how disturbingly anal i am about my dvd's. they know, if they borrow them, they better come back in the same shape. so far so good...

people say i'm putting a material item in higher regards then a friendship. i don't see it that way. i buy stuff with my money and i like to keep it in as good shape as possible. if they're truly my friends they'll understand it's just one of my "quirks" and not judge me for it. it's not like i'm trying to be superior or anything.

One time I saw him put a DVD, data side down on the counter.

on a side note: does the "cd rule" apply to dvd's too? by that i mean that it's actually better to put the disc data-side down (for music cd's) since the substrate (?) layer is thicker on the bottom then on the label side?

 

[MarkHastings]

If you are too cheap to drop $20 to replace a DVD if something happens to it, then you probably should not be spending your money on DVD's in the first place.

In all reality, I have enough money to replace my entire DVD collection 5 times over if I had to, but why should I?

It has NOTHING to do with being cheap. I'd have no problems replacing a DVD if I had to. Hell, I'd even spend double for most DVD's to get a replacement. So does that still make me cheap for not wanting others destroying my stuff?

I spend hundreds of dollars a month on DVD's, if you want to talk about "Cheap" why not look to the people who want to borrow my movies for free. They can easily go to Blockbuster and rent them or even buy them, but THEY are the ones who are too Cheap to do that so they gotta mooch off of me.

The same goes with my CD's. Everyone is always wanting copies of my CD's. Why is it that I have to be the supplier of everyones "free" entertainment?

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> If you are too cheap to drop $20 to replace a DVD if something happens to it, then you probably should not be spending your money on DVD's in the first place.

The borrower is the one who should pay to replace it if necessary. Why is that hard to understand? If your neighbor's kid breaks your window, do you just pay for it yourself, or expect them to do so?

If you let people borrow your stuff, then pay for your own replacements if something gets lost or damaged, you deserve to have your stuff treated poorly.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Just a friendly reminder to everyone to remain friendly. Thank you.

And, frankly, it's not so much what one pays for a given possession but how much value the owner puts into it. One of my all-time-favorite films is available as a bargain-basement $9 DVD from Fox. It's in print, and I own more than one copy. Nobody but me lays hands on them. It may cost a measely $9 a pop, but, for me, it's a prized possession.

 

[Jamie Cole]

It may cost a measely $9 a pop, but, for me, it's a prized possession.

Thanks for the levity, Jack...

And you're right... it's not what something costs, it's how you value it. Now I guess that could digress into a discussion of people's wacked-out value systems, but I'm an honest, hard-working, moral guy... and I can't explain why I'm so attached to those shiny little discs. Maybe it's because it was always a dream of mine growing up to have my own film library that I could EXHIBIT for myself, my family and my friends any time I wanted. I've pursued that dream through several inferior formats, televisions, surround systems, apartments, bedrooms, houses, etc., and now I can get very, very close to the theater experience in my own home with DVD and a dedicated HT.

And I am not willing to watch those little discs walk out the door with people who don't share my enthusiasm for them. For me, it's a hobby. For them, it's at best a two-hour diversion on just any other evening. And that's okay... as others have said, Blockbusters on every corner serve that market.

I've lent movies in all formats and would say that three times out of four they come back in a condition that's unacceptable to me. I was picky with my VHS, my lasers, and now my DVDs. They're mine and I have every right to be. I have a very close circle of two or three folks that understand this, and will occasionally take a movie out of my house. But they UNDERSTAND that the packaging and EVERYTHING must be respected, so much so that they understand when I place the disc in a heavy-duty rental case for them when they leave and they're not the least bit offended.

Some people golf, some people fish, some people collect baseball cards and comic books, some collect STAMPS, fer cryin out loud. I collect movies, and they are mine. If they're so cheap that I shouldn't be so stingy with them, then why can't people buy their own?

 

[RobertR]

I have lent exactly one DVD. It was to another HTF member in exchange for borrowing his RS sound meter. No problems.

I would not lend any DVDs to someone who was not as serious about HT as I am.

 

[MarkHastings]

If they're so cheap that I shouldn't be so stingy with them, then why can't people buy their own?

AMEN!

 

[Palmino]

if you are going to teach your friends to respect your DVD's and take care about them you should do this (i did it and it really works)
every time when they bring dvd back open case and check that dvd if it is scratched ask for replacement. I know in my case it did work; poeple stoped asking about DVD and people that take DVD they take care about them. they do return them five days later like usualy.
it is hard way to look one of your friend in the eye and say, but just think about this; you payed for that DVD and you wish too keep it for while in your collection also watch it again later so you better teach them to take care about your stuff or to replace it

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

My favorite way to lend out a DVD? I bring it over to their house, we watch it on their setup, and I bring it back home with me.

Or, I usually just say, "Come on over and we'll watch it on my projector instead."

One of my all-time-favorite films is available as a bargain-basement $9 DVD from Fox. It's in print, and I own more than one copy. Nobody but me lays hands on them. It may cost a measely $9 a pop, but, for me, it's a prized possession.

It figures Jack would have a way to get Zardoz into this thread...

 

[Holadem]

I don't know about you, but that sounds "tight" to me.

Agreed. I can't see myself placing such importance on a replaceable $20 material possession.

The other day, I was trying to get a friend into Babylon 5 by lending her my boxset.

I don't lend them out to everyone but yeah, I have a few close friends who borrow movies from me every so often. Heck, I wouldn't even feel right charging them for damaging a disc, I would rather replace it myself AND warn them about next time (and make a big deal of it in the mean time so they get it).

But then again, my friends know this is my main hobby, that I am serious about it. They know I prefer going to the movies alone because I don't wish to deal with the logistics a group outting - lateness, where to sit, talking - things I find unacceptable. So yeah, they respect my stuff.

--
Holadem

 

[Deane Johnson]

So, what is Blockbuster for? It isn't like these "friends" don't have another source.

The people I consider friends don't ask to borrow things.

 

[Mark Bendiksen]

As for DVD's, most can be had for anywhere from $10-20, so I have no problem letting people borrow them.

Cool, there's someone else from College Station, Texas, on this forum who shares my philosophy about lending DVDs!Perhaps we should swap some discs sometime? (I'm half-joking, of course.)

We all have different feelings about this, apparently. I truly emphathize with those who have bad experiences, and I don't blame anyone for not wanting to let their DVDs out of their sight. For me, though, I truly enjoy sharing DVDs with others, particularly little-known gems that they may have never heard of. It's a fairly simple equation for me. If it's (a)a person I know and trust and (b)I tell them I expect it to be handled properly and (c)it's not a horrendously expensive or OOP DVD then they can borrow it. I don't lend very much, though, because most of my friends don't ask anyway.

Link Removed

 

[MarkHarrison]

I used to work with the guy who runs DVD Journal. He always had about 50 movies on hand for fellow employees and a special web site that listed the rest if you had a special request. He had two rules that I've adopted. I've also added the third since I don't have studios sending me free movies.

1) Bring them back in a reasonable time frame.
2) Don't take more than a couple at a time.
3) Don't borrow something you can't afford to replace.

I've never had a problem, but the offer is only on the table for people I know take good care of their stuff. They're also people who would return a brand new DVD rather than a damaged one. If you can't take good care of your posessions, I'm happy to give you directions to a video store.

Something else that has helped tremendously is replacing my DVD racks with a locking cabinet. We did that to keep our nine month old baby out of the movies. But having them out of sight also tends to keep people from browsing and finding something interesting.

Here's an interesting question. Most of us don't loan to the average person. But would you loan something to a fellow member here? One of the anal ones that is?

 

[Holadem]

The people I consider friends don't ask to borrow things.

Even stranger logic. I've always thougth it's the people one called friends that actually borrowed stuff - and come to your wedding, call you up every so often, visit you when you're sick, confide in you etc... I dunno. We must have different definition of friendship.

Friends don't ask to borrow

I don't condone taking advantage of people. But the above is really... strange to me. But it's OK, it's a diverse world. I shall now exit .

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Holadem