According to this CNN article, Blockbuster is dropping its hated late fees. Read on, however. The fucktards at Blockbuster seem to believe that we are so stupid we won’t notice that the late fees have been replaced with something much more complicated and potentially more expensive to the customer.
On behalf of the American public, I say: Eat me, Blockbuster.
I don’t get what your saying, its seems pretty level to me. Actually it appears to be a good deal: Don’t bring the movie back and you keep it. Simple.
Well, what do you think they should do? Just let you have the movie indefinitely without charge?
Hmmmm, that’s pretty clever. I bet they’ll haul down twice as much.
It really is a pretty smart idea on their behalf, as long as they are charging a fair price for the product.
I don’t think the pitting is about them charging late fees, but changing the deal to “if you’re a week late, you bought it” and pretending that they are “abolishing” late fees.
Again, late fees are fine, pretending you’re abolishing fees when you’re really just changing the deal to something just as onerous is bullshit.
Yeah, charge a fair price, riiiiiight. I bet the DVD will be that wacky $100 they usually buy them for.
I like the idea, too. Personally, I hate people who can’t be bothered to return the movie on time, and I don’t even work at one of these stores. I just like to have the movie there when it’s supposed to be there.
I frequent Hollywood, but I don’t think I’d have a problem if they implemented this policy as well.
And what, pray tell, would be their incentive for doing this?
This is precisely what I have come to expect from all large organizations, anyway. Governments and corporations only differ in that governments can kill people.
As someone who once paid them $80 in late fees (for a movie that fell behind the TV set and was forgotten about) I have a Q.
Will the price for the “product, less the rental fee” be:
MSRP found at Target?
Blockbuster’s cost? (Higher than MSRP 'cause it’s purchased for rental)
Marked up based on landed cost?
Discounted based on # times rented?
Of course the major difference is that under the new policy you apparently get to at lest keep the DVD. I wonder if you can go to the store and get the original case for it?
Anaamika, Blockbuster is trying to buy Hollywood Video.
Pretty lame pitting. Blockbuster is trying to come up with a new model to handle its competitors. Perhaps the OP prefers paying late fees? The fact that a borrower has a month to return the item is irrelevant. I know, Blockbuster should just give away DVDs and VHS tapes. No late fees, no commitments, no nothing. Just walk in the store, pick out 5 DVDs and they’re yours.
laina_f, NEVER speak on my behalf again.
What he(?) said.
I don’t have much fear of getting ripped by them. I recently (temporarily) misplaced a DVD I rented from them. I quivered in fear as I waited for them to get the list price for the movie (The Paper Chase) - I’d heard about those astronomical 100 price tags on their movies.
It was 4.00. Less than what I owed in late fees.
Let’s be serious, folks; of course they’re going to charge more than you would pay elsewhere for the DVD. To charge less would simply turn them into a DVD store with a paid trial period. Hmm, come to think of it, maybe that’s exactly their plan. Maybe this is Step One of their shift to selling rather than renting DVDs?
Also, there’s no way a major national (international?) corporation like Blockbuster is going to switch to a new way of doing business that nets them less money. No matter what their long-term strategy is, I guarantee that overall, they’ll be taking in more money from the customers this way than they were when they had those “late fees” that they “don’t” “have” “anymore.”
God, I hate Blockbuster.
You know, I hate to point out the obvious here, but…both the old AND the new late payment fee schedules are completely irrelevant if you just return you stinkin’ movies before they’re due.
Waaaaaaaaahhh!! Blockbuster wants to penalize me for being an irresponsible idiot!! :rolleyes:
I don’t get it. I know sometimes things happen beyond one’s control and movies get returned late, but really, why hate Blockbuster for this? You know how long the movie is rented for, you know you have to return by then, so what’s the problem? Just return the god-damned movie. Really, I would probably go insane if I worked at a rental store because of people returning things late. I think this is a smart move for Blockbuster, because it gives them a chance to stick it to the deadbeats, and I’m all for that.
Not necessarily true. Blockbuster was blindsided by the success of Netflix. So they might be willing to switch to a system that nets them less money per rental than before, if by doing so they are better able to compete and hold onto market share. If your choice is taking in less money from a customer or losing them outright, you’ll accept less money.
I love competition. I haven’t visited a Blockbuster or other video rental place in ages thanks to Netflix.
Per the article, Blockbuster expects to net more money from this than from the late fees. More power to them — I can’t count the number of times I put a movie in the drop box the night it was due, only to find out that they didn’t bother to scan it until the next day and dinged me with late fees.
(Well, actually, I can count the number. It’s probably something like three or four, but the principle stands.)
I think this is a great idea.
Actually, Step One was, wait for it, selling DVDs. Step Two was working with the studios (well, OK, beating the crap out of studios) to make all DVDs affordable by the consumer. The $100 DVD essentially never existed, and the $100 VHS tape is all but a thing of the past. Substantially everything is now priced for sell-through.
Sigh. You’re right, jack. Those corporations are all huge monopolies and come to peoples houses and force them to rent movies at gunpoint. That’s why they never have to change their strategies to respond to the market. The price of everything keeps going up and up and up because consumers don’t have choices and companies never have to compete. This explains our current 10% inflation rate.