Blockbuster to end late fees in 2005 (Merged) (1 Viewer)

[KeithAP]

Actually there is way to handle this problem, don't dump the movies in any bins.

When I go in I keep my old rental with me, pick up a new movie, and bring them both up to the counter. They simply scan the old movie (no need to pull out your card) and scan the new one and away you go.

Now I realize this won't work for everyone but if you can swing it, it solves the problem nicely. A Blockbuster employee is the one that told me about this "technique."

-Keith

 

[Christopher*KH]

When ever if ever I rent something I dont use the drop slot outside I take it inside and hand them to a cashier to make sure they scan it back in. Saves me the hassle like that and if it causes them to have to do something NOW instead of LATER so be it.

I am actually waiting to find out if I might get hired partime at Blockbuster. I hope I do for some xtra cash. I will without doubt tell people bout this sight and many more. Hopefully they can learn bout the benefits to widescreen.

Happy Holidays, Chris

 

[TonyD]

seems some late charges would be eliminated if they disapeared the drop box altogether.

force people to bring them inside.

 

[Mark Larson]

Blockbuster has been GREAT for me with their Movie Pass and Online rental, and i haven't had a single full-screen rental from them.

to Blockbuster.

 

[TonyD]

we just had our briefing today.
here you go.

all normal rental policies are still the same for the initial rent.
if it's a 2 day rental it's still due in 2 days.
if it's a week rental it's still due back in a week.
now here's were it changes.

if it is due back on sunday and you dont return it sunday you now have a 7 day grace period to return the rental.
this starts with the next day after it is due back.
so a sunday rental not returned,
has a 7 day grace starting, 1 day after, (monday).

if it is not returned on that 7th day, you bought the rental, at the previously-viewedplayed price.

now at this point you still have 30 days to return the rental.
if you do return it within 30 days
you get the cost you payed, back, minus $1.25 restock fee.

this goes for games and movies.

thats really it.
so if you can't get you rental back, let's use a week rental as an example.

you get it on sunday, it is due back on the following monday.
that's 8 days.
now starting tuesday you have 7 more days to get it in.
total so far 15 days.

now you own the rental.

but now you have another 30 days to get the rental back in.
if you do you get back whatever you were charged for the rental.
minus $1.25. and thats all.
origional rental price plus $1.25.

total 45 days.
so if you cant get the rental back in 45 days, well boy what else can you do?

 

[David Galindo]

Huh. I like it

 

[Chris]

So basically, hold onto it too long and they just automatically charge the CC on file the amount of the movie, correct?

Hmm. Could be a big money maker for BB.

 

[TonyD]

could be.
acording to the research they showed us most people who return something late, return it within 1 or 2 days.

so there isnt a large % who have it out that long.
so they expect this to be a better recovery system for rentals that are never reurned or take to long to be returned.

but as some have already said here and on another board, it also looks like an easier way for people to just kieep a rental if they want to.

this project was run in 2 test markets for an entire year already.
i'm surprised that hasnt come out yet.
or surprised no one in those markets has mentioned it on this or another forum.

one other thing that i speculated that this project will do is drive the value of hollywood video down.
BBV seems to think that hollywood would not be able to do somethng like this because they are too small or dont have the capital to let them float through this in the short run.
in other words they rely too heavily on the late fees and could not make it short term without them.
so this would make it easier to buy out hollywood.

 

[RichardK]

Any rough estimates on how much 'late fee' revenue is generated per year by BB?



ps. Go Cowboys ... can you say onside kick?

 

[Ryan Tsang]

I don't understand late returns. I rent anywhere from 4-8 titles a month for the past 7 years and I can count on one hand the times I've paid a late fee. Some people can do Bass Management in 6.1 with diff x-over for each speaker and set sub LP filter by ear, while brushing their teeth, but can't return something on time. Kinda silly.

Unless.... something comes up, and you knew couldn't finish the movie and you were going to rent it again anyways.....then keeping it late is essentially the same.

 

[John_Bonner]

What about people like me who return movies at 7:00am on my way to work? The store doesn't open until 9 or 10, and if I return it on my way home I'm past the 12:00pm deadline and would still have to pay a late fee. Keep the drop boxes please.

 

[Tony Whalen]

So if I understand correctly, people could concievably have up to 45 days to return a single rental, and ONLY pay 1.25 for it. After that, they own the title...and they own it for the "previously viewed" price.

You know, I actually don't have a problem with this. (BB did something I don't have a problem with? GAH!)

I mean, my god, if people don't return a movie after a MONTH, and are still bitching about paying a late/restocking fee...

What I wonder about is how they'll keep things in stock. If a new popular movie is released, and 90% of the renters decide to keep it for a week... how will they handle the bare shelves?

That all being said, I still don't have a BB card, and don't plan to get one. I'll stick with the alternative in Canada...Rogers. I like them FAR more. (I'm waiting to see if Rogers comes out with something similar...)

 

[Dave Miller]

That is a "previously viewed" price for a "previously viewed" movie. When I rent from BB, I'm amazed at the poor shape that their discs are in I'm sure b/c of the way people treat them.

I'm too picky to buy a disc that has been previously viewed in the BB system. I'll rent it, but I won't buy it.

Peace,

DM

 

[DaveGTP]

That's what I meant when I said this could be abused. For DVDs I can see no one would want to do this, but for video games...

4-5 weeks on a video game rental is plenty of time to finish an RPG (often taking 20-80 hours) or a long strategy game (even longer).

I don't like being charged the purchase price, but if you get it back without too much hassle...

That's one very long rental period for gamers!

 

[TonyD]

dave, what exactly does that mean?

the price of a game rental will be going up.

many bbv's will be getting many more copies of dvd's then they normally have in the past.

the shelves won't be as bare as it seems they should be.

John_Bonner
"What about people like me who return movies at 7:00am on my way to work? The store doesn't open until 9 or 10, and if I return it on my way home I'm past the 12:00pm deadline and would still have to pay a late fee."

thats why the box will never go away.

there is a movie rental store in the philly area that is called Movies Unlimited.
here you pay for the movie when you return it. no box no late questions.

 

[Dave Miller]

I thought that this might happen. Here's a story from the Dallas News Website:


What I meant by that was you end up paying full price for a disc that has been used by lots of people and is probably nicked up pretty good. If I'm paying full price I want the disc in pristine condition.

Peace,

DM

 

[DaveF]

Now that I understand the policy, I find it very useful. I've been renting more often, now that I've basically got two week rentals. I tend to rent on the weekend, watch it that weekend, and then return it the next week. Not having to worry about whether I get it back on the 7th day by noon, or the 8th day at 6pm is much simpler. And, when I was away on business for a week, returning a DVD a full week late with no sur-charge was convenient.

Kudos to BB for improving their rental policies.

 

[Yousaf]

So lets say you go in on Tuesday, when BB gets new rentals. This guarantees that you don't get a scratched disc. You then keep it...what is a normal pre-viewed movie price anyway? For people who don't care about having a pretty box on their shelf, could this be a cheaper way of getting DVDs?

 

[Grant B]

Just curious, do they still censor movies?

 

[TonyD]

grant, what do you mean exactly by censor?