While in WalMart the other day, I noticed something quite peculiar. DVD + Blu-Ray combo packs. These have been around for a while now, I guess, but the frequency at which I actually purchase DVD’s has understandably dropped off dramatically over the last few years.

My first thought upon seeing such ‘packs’ was a gigantic WTF. Who on earth would want two copies of the same movie? Especially since one of them would likely never leave the case. After all, if you’re buying it for the DVD, chances are pretty good that you DON’T have a Blu-Ray player. And if you’re buying it for the Blu-Ray, chances are equally good that you have absolutely no desire to own the low-def, archaic ‘regular’ DVD format. You might as well be buying a Blu-Ray / Laserdisc combo pack.

Prices on these packs ranged between $25 and $35. Which makes them about $10-15 higher than just a plain ol’ DVD used to be, and about the same price as Blu-Ray discs alone are. So, there’s one initial piece of insanity that we can determine from this:

• DVD’s are essentially de-valued enough to combine in the same pack as a Blu-Ray without the need for any increase in price
• Blu-Ray discs are so overpriced that you can add a free DVD in the same pack and still make a tidy profit

However, that’s just part 1 of a 2 part opera of consumer gouging. The second piece is this:

• Anyone wanting just a plain ol’ DVD is now forced to pay a higher price for a format they haven’t adopted yet, but with all those fancy Blu-Ray discs lying around, how long until they finally break down and buy a player?

Ingenious!

You must admire the simplicity of this cash-grab in action. It really is a work of art, and the vast majority of consumers probably won’t even think twice about it. “Convenient!” they’ll say. “Two discs for the price of one!” they’ll say. However I am a tiny bit skeptical that anyone would have said the same thing if they packaged 8-tracks and cassette tapes in the same fashion.

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