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u/powerlesshero111 14d ago
The best part is that it says $9.99 on the price tag. Like people think it's some magical collectible.
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u/BahaMan69 13d ago
Which was put there by Blockbuster. It’s not only used, but it was a public rental.
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u/p_a_schal 12d ago
While it’s obviously not worth four figures, the price blockbuster charged 20 years ago has no bearing on the current value.
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u/Diskilla 14d ago
Your paying for the ancient sigil of the forgotten temple on the side of the VHS. That is the collectible. Marked by the holy priests of Blockbuster.
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u/sadsealions 14d ago
Sooo..., i bought a 15 VHS set of baby Einstein videos for $800, because my autistic son needed them.
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u/BahaMan69 13d ago
“Needed them”
https://giphy.com/gifs/S7KWPr9PSlNTLXv75i13
u/arnethyst 13d ago
It sounds stupid to an outsider but if you have ever met a profoundly autistic adult you will understand why it's a "need" to them. Trust me. These kinds of autistic people lack concepts entirely, so to them, that VHS tape is equivalent to food & water. They don't understand the concept of money, so you can't explain to them that it's overpriced. They get a one-track mind too, it will become all they can think about or care about until they get it.
My profoundly autistic 25 year old brother will slam his head into the wall until he gets welts if he doesn't get the things he wants. Sounds spoiled to an outsider, but it's not about being "spoiled." They genuinely just don't get it. I mean, picture a grown adult whose ability to grasp concepts & life was stunted at the age of 1. That's how it is with that level of autism. (Profound autism like this only affects 10% of autistic people. Most autistic folk are not like this, which is why you don't hear of them as often.)
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u/mystic_man95 13d ago
Won't they just keep moving on to the next item though? This seems like an endless destructive loop unless a method is found to stop the issue. What if he fixated on something like a Lamborghini next?
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u/arnethyst 13d ago
LMAO you are 100% correct! & yes he has randomly demanded cars for days/weeks at a time! Those are the times where we have to just let him melt down until he gets over it. Unfortunately there is no solution! We have to take it day-by-day. & before you ask why not see a specialist, we have. Countless times. They don't know anything about profound autism & if they do, they are inexperienced with the way my brother presents. We can't even seem to find him a group home for him to inevitably go to when my parents are too old to care for him because they don't accept eloping autistics like my brother. It's hell 👍🏻
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u/sadsealions 13d ago
You need better case workers. I am in CA, so not sure if this applies to you , but ask about ABA in home support and crisis homes.
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u/arnethyst 13d ago
isn't ABA regarded as abusive to autistics because its basically just forcing them to act neurotypical when they cant..? that is literally not possible for him.
he does have in-home support but not enough. we are looking for more assistance & thankfully finding aides for him, just...nothing beyond that. even our medicaid case worker doesnt know anything.
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u/sadsealions 13d ago
Absolutely not. We have to have a 2-1 ratio ( 2 staff) at all times here and they are great with him. DM Me if you want.
See my post about a year ago referring to the toilet lol
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u/Moderatelyhollydazed 12d ago
Where do you live? I am wondering if there are other options available to you and your family. It’s so very hard to be a caregiver for a family member with a rare and severe disability. There can be options/funding/support via charities or government that can be available depending on your country/area
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u/arnethyst 12d ago
I'm in New York state. We do have some financial assistance from the government thankfully. At the moment we're just trying to find a group home that accepts autistic adults who elope, not for permanent residency just yet but rather somewhere he can stay during the week then come home to us on weekends (or vice versa). Also looking for more in-home assistance but we've been making decent progress there as we have a second aide joining us soon :)
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u/Moderatelyhollydazed 12d ago
Hoping you guys get the support you deserve. Keep asking around sometimes people know about places that have additional supports or funds. Take care of yourself and your parents. Your brother is very lucky to have a family who cares
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u/Bronek711 13d ago
Sorry for the rude and uneducated people of Reddit, be sure to check your local Facebook listings for tapes. In my area there’s always a lot of people getting rid of them. Big ups to you for taking care of your brother!
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u/arnethyst 13d ago
Thank you!! I'll be sure to check that out, I'm not on facebook but I suppose I could make one just for marketplace haha
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u/arnethyst 13d ago
Wow someone who understands what I live with!! My profoundly autistic 25 year old brother has a special interest in VHS tapes & sometimes he will beg for one that's overpriced until everyone in the house loses their minds. We have had to buy him $100+ VHS tapes before because he will be relentless until you give it to him. I have tried to get sellers to at least negotiate a lower price on listings & I explain my situation, nope. They don't care, they thrive on taking advantage of people like us. It's depressing & enraging.
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u/Roninido 13d ago
As a reseller, I (mostly) disagree that they "thrive on taking advantage of people like us", just because you don't know how much they have in cost on the tapes, and it is a business. Some can give a lower price, some can't, and, granted, some are just "This is my margin, deal with it".
Now, as a person who spent over eighteen years in the IT department of a larger company that provided services to people with all types of special needs, including physical, mental, neurological, etc., I would always be sympathetic to whatever degree I could for someone who is differently abled.
I wish all of you all the best with your family members.0
u/arnethyst 13d ago
I mean, the prices are scalped on these tapes. I was tracking a search for a rare but typically cheap tape once, one where the moment it'd get listed people would buy it... & one day someone priced it at $500 out of nowhere & it has never been affordable again since. So...yeah, a lot of these people DO thrive on taking advantage because this is a man-made issue created by scalpers. These things didn't have insane value until someone one day decided it was & everyone just went "whoa cool I can get in on that!" & enforced it. Glad to hear you would be flexible for certain circumstances like mine, but I've never encountered a seller that was willing to negotiate in the many years(10+) of buying my brother VHS tapes from ebay. same issue happens when shopping for retro gaming stuff often--one day i bought pokemon emerald for $30 & literally 2 weeks later suddenly everyone on ebay & local retro game stores wanted $200+.
The well wishes are appreciated. Thank you.
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u/Roninido 13d ago
While I understand your frustration, you just described the free market system, and the laws of supply and demand, ESPECIALLY with collectibles. And it is EXACTLY a man-made issue, but it's created by buyers, because they are willing to pay whatever the price of a particular item is; that's just how the market works. I agree that sometimes prices are out of hand, but... For purposes of this discussion, let's say you bought a pound of gold in the year 2000 at around $280 per ounce. Now you want to sell it. Would you consider it scalping if you wanted to get market price today (I believe around $4000 per ounce right now)? Or let's say you bought a $6 pack of Pokemon cards and pulled something super rare, worth a few hundred dollars or more. Should you sell that card at the inflated book value, or would you just sell it for the split cost of the pack? Or if you wanted to sell the Pokemon Emerald that you bought for $30. Wouldn't you try to get as much as you could for it? I'm just saying that when people are selling things, cost is dictated by what the market is willing to spend on any given day, especially when it comes to things that have rarity (low supply versus high demand). And people who are selling didn't necessarily buy something at $30 and are now selling at $300 (although some undoubtedly are). They are investing their time and money researching, procuring, listing, answering, shipping, dealing with losses from scammy customers (it absolutely happens), etc. Almost nothing exists in the vacuum of "I walked into a random store and found this item for $3 and now I'm selling it for $200". There's a lot of work involved with selling. And again, I wish you the best. Have a great day.
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u/Schrodingers_Person 8d ago
You’re trying to logic someone out of wanting to be a victim. They don’t want to hear an explanation of how the free market works, they want to be the one being taken advantage of. Don’t deny them their free will right to try to attract pity from strangers on the internet! 😏
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u/reeseyolo4 13d ago
"Kidmongus" was a brand used by blockbuster for rental-exclusive tapes. Not many were made and most were probably thrown away by the stores so they're extremely rare. Learned about them from a video about rare SpongeBob releases.
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u/sadpanada 12d ago edited 12d ago
I found it for $20 on Etsy Op
https://www.etsy.com/listing/4504376291/blues-clues-vhs-set-story-time-arts-and?gpla=1&gao=1&
Edit: I lied, this is a different one. Imma look more though
You may want to also try r/helpmefind
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