Then you should have been happier with the late fees. This policy will most definately ENCOURAGE people to not return movies on time. You think a week grace period is some kind of snap o’ the whip?
Even when I apply my profoundest cynicism, I don’t see this as a big deal. This is just a change in marketting strategy which seems to give the consumer better options. If you don’t really want a movie- you can generally get it back to the store in a week. This is simply a not so sly attempt at grabbing a whole bunch of sloth-buyers. “Ah, it’s already been 5 days and I kinda like the movie- might as well just let them charge the card and keep it.”
Like manhatten said, Blockbuster wants a price that MOVES movies, they are not working on some high end collector market. I’m sure rental prices will have to uptick a little to support the extra stock on hand this policy will require and to offset the late fee income loss.
I’d like to point out to those who are upset with Blockbuster tthat they have the option to rent elsewhere.
(There are quite a few stores that I feel are too expensive, but that doesn’t bother me. There’s always plenty of cheaper stores around that cater to my requirements.)
I wonder if it has anything to do with them like netflix. For a certain amount each month (I don’t know the particulars) you can have a certain amount of movies for as long as you want them. Turn them in and get more up to the amount you are paying for.
I think my wife pays $28 a month for three movies at a time. That means she could rent 150 movies a month for $28. With no late fees.
Every since video stores opened way back, I always wondered why someone didn’t do this. It sounds like it would work…with the caveat that the store would need a system to track what movies ‘sold’ and to keep movies on the shelves for the renters.
I even pitched the idea to family/friends when they were looking for a business idea.
It would require effort but it appeared to have profit in it. The fact that I’ve never seen this business model made me think there was something I was missing and that it was unfeasible…though I didn’t know what.
{Now if I could only find the combination bowling alley/laundromat…
I still think it sounds good and Blockbuster may try it.
I was so happy to hear this, because it means Blockbuster is feeling the heat from Netflix, and I despise Blockbuster. Aside from issues of driving local business out and silly prudery, I had a terrible customer no-service experience with them that is ironic, considering their new policy.
We rented a movie from them for the first time in ages, because my inlaws were in town for the holidays to see our new baby. As you can imagine, houseguests+holidays+new baby=forgetting about the movie entirely.
I brought it back in, and asked if I could just purchase it at that point. I was told, no, I had to pay late fees (about $20 IIRC) and return the movie. I asked what would have happened if I’d just told them I lost the movie, and they said they would have just charged me the cost of the movie. When I asked the manager why he was punishing me for being honest, he intimated I was actually a liar (in front of other employees and customers) and said as manager of the store, he still had no authority to change the policy.
Fine. I don’t want to do business with a company that works like that. I returned the movie, paid the fees, and signed up with Netflix. I know lots of months I don’t maximize my investment with them, but I just prefer the way they do business: up front, and good customer service.
Yeah, I can’t get angry about this, and I have the disposition of Lewis Black.
If you can’t get Blockbuster’s property back to them within two friggin weeks, then they have every right to charge you for the loss. You broke the deal, so you deal with the (quite fair) consequences.
I’m grandfathered in on the old plan, and they just reduced the price. I get 4 movies for $18/month (yours is probably $18 also, Reeder). However, given a 3 day turnaround, and I can recycle my movies 10 times a month. That’s only 40 movies. What’s the secret for 150?
Well you have to figure in turn around time, too. After a month of staying on a strict schedule of watching and returning a movie a day, you could possibly get 1 new movie a day. From my own experience, the more realistic way of looking at it is, you’re likely to do whatever amount you rent (3, 5, 8, whatever) at a time each week, so if you’re on the 3-at-a-time plan, you can probably get 12 or so movies a month (15 if you’re pretty quick on the turnaround). Either way, it’s still a great deal. I like the 5 at a time plan because it gives me enough time to start returning a few while I still have a few to watch, decreasing wait times between movies.
Bingo. My local Ballbuster is heavily pushing the $14.95 monthly all-you can rent special, for the same reason.
A little tip for any video-store drones listening, however: after you try to upsell me on your monthly plan at the checkout, and I say no, DO NOT ignore what I just said and keep on trying to upsell, and if you are the manager, do not chime in your insufferably chirpy voice saying the same thing as I was just told twice by your clerk, unless, of course, you LIKE the idea of having a DVD case strike you sharply in the middle of your forehead.
They don’t buy them for that amount because they want to stick it to the customers. They buy them for that amount because that is what they cost. As video stores want to make the greatest profit for the smallest investment, they buy the cheapest product they can get away with. But they still have to pay what the studios charge.
(Applies more to what studios charged 10 years ago. Largely irrelevant these days.)
10 years after quitting the video store and I’m still an apologist, for some reason.
When you put it in the drop box after closing that is considered the next day. It’s not like they keep a staffer on duty throughout the night to check movies in the moment they hit the drop box bin. I can’t count the number of times – OK, it was 4 – that I had to explain to customers that movies were due by the time we closed the doors. And it’s not like we kept our hours of operation a secret.
I’ve dropped it in the box during store hours, and still been dinged the next day. Luckily, I’ve never had a problem getting the charges reversed.
When I was using a mom-and-pop video store, though, they counted anything they received during the night (presumably, whatever was there on their arrival) as having come in the night before, which was nice.
That’s a different story, of course. Except at our store, we had no “day slot.” People would constantly put their returns in the mail slot, which means they’d end up on the floor behind the (glass) door. If someone else stole the movie off the floor and we didn’t see it, that was not our problem. And it happened all the time.
My point is that I returned the movies before close of business, that is to say, I dropped it in the drive-through drop-box at 5 pm on the due date, or through the slot by the door at 6 am on the way to work. The movies were left unattended the entire day and not checked in during business hours or even after the doors were closed.
If I drop it off after you close, then of course I should be fined. If I return it in time and it’s left to rot for a day and a half in the drop box, then I get quite irate.
If you still want to defend that reprehensible practice, tdn, please let me know.
If the slot was not meant to be used as a store hours slot, then I’ll defend it, but not with much enthusiasm. They should block it up during store hours so that people can’t use it. If it is meant for use during store hours, then yes, it is reprehensible.
But the hours you used it were not clear in you post. I don’t think my interpretation was unreasonable.
