On 20 Dec 96, Mrs.Caesar wrote to DAWN BIDOT:
 MC> About the price of the movie tapes; I agree they are asking too much for
 MC> them. I have be collecting the tapes as they came out and haven't paid
 MC> over $15 for any one of them.
I too have almost never paid over $17.95 for a Disney movie on VHS.  I have 
been buying the Disney animated releases steadily since 1983.  Between then 
and now, almost all animated Disney movies have been released on VHS except 
for a very few - Song of the South, Saludos Amigos, Make Mine Music, Melody 
Time - all from the 40s, and Black Cualdron from the 80s.  Disney also hasn't 
released as a literal (i.e., in original form) the Adv's of Ichabob & Mr. 
Toad, but the two 30 minute vignettes that compose most of the movie have 
been released as separate short subjects.
 MC> What makes one Disney film worth more then the next?
Rarity.  Disney releases movies during a window of time, and after that, the 
movie goes into "moratorium".  If you buy the movie during it's issued 
availability window, you pay maybe 15-16 bucks for it.  Once the movie is on 
moratorium and all retail sources are sold out of their stocks, the only ones 
you can get the movies from *then* are collectors who bought extras when they 
were out.  A movie may stay on moratorium for 8 years or more.  As time goes 
on, copies of the movie move from collectors into private hands, and so there 
are less and less copies around as time goes on for people to buy, so the 
price goes up for specimens of the dwindling supply.
Helping collector price increases is the fact that every 5 years or so, whole 
entire herds of families come into existence - people who, say, didn't have 
kids before, and *they* suddenly decide they want movies for their kids now. 
Like, right now, there are tens of thousands of families with kids that 
didn't exist when Little Mermaid came out on video in 1990.  So they didn't 
buy it in 1990.  Now, they're married, they have kids, and they want Little 
Mermaid. But it's been on moratorium for 6 years!   So what do you do?  You 
hit collectors, and pay collector prices.
When movies first go on moratorium, only people who were asleep at the wheel, 
(who wanted them but didn't get them when they were available) want them. 
When they buy, these people bring up the collector price a little.  But after 
5 years, the market expands - not only do a few stragglers who where asleep 
at the wheel want what copies remain, but now there are thousands of new 
*families* also competing for those tapes - all potential customers of 
collectors.  After 5 years of moratorium, sealed copies of tapes like Little 
Mermaid are as rare as gold!  Result - the increased demand, with the tiny 
quantity of tapes available, combine to cause the price of those few left 
that people will sell, to skyrocket!  Capitalist theory in practice!  THAT'S 
why some movies are now more valuable than others.
 MC> They are all enjoyable.  And these people who buy them,
 MC> never take the wrapper off, and old out for the highest bid are not
 MC> real Disney fans.
Not so!  I buy 10 of every title when it comes out, and I leave them all 
sealed.  I also buy one CAV laserdisc of each title.  *I* watch and enjoy my 
laserdiscs, and therefore am totally enjoying my Disney movies.  I do this 
*while* having the other copies sealed and waiting for interested parties.  
So you can buy sealed tapes, keep them sealed, and still enjoy Disney!
 MC>  They are missing out on the enjoyment of watching
 MC> them over and over with their kids and Grand-kids.
As explained above, we actually don't...
 MC> This year my father-in-law was smart.  He put one on layaway 2
 MC> months ago. At the time he didn't know it would be so big.  But my
 MC> little sister-in-law will have one under the tree this year.  And you
 MC> know in a month they will be falling off the shelves of every toy
 MC> department.
...And every Disney title, except possibly Lady & The Tramp, which is in the 
middle of fierce litigation because of music royalties - will eventually be 
back out again.  Little Mermaid, now worth generally about $200.00 a copy, 
will be out on video again in 2 years probably, and at that time, the value 
to Little Mermaid copies will drop again - to normal list of $19.95 or so.  
But then the cycle will start again.  Everyone who wants Little Mermaid will 
buy it.  A year later, it will go back on moratorium.  A year after that, 
prices will start climbing again, for those who missed it when it was out.  5 
years after that - around the year 2005 - it will be back up to $200.00 a 
copy again.  You see, that "new generation" of people who always will have 
missed it when it was out, will always come into existence, and every time, 
they will drive the price back up.
--- GoldED 2.50
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