The end of late fees…
January 9th, 2005 at 4:54 am
…It’s 5:00 AM, I can’t fall asleep. To ease my mind and hopefully lull my consciousness into submisson I’ll rant a bit about something that has been nagging at the base of my skull. In fact I really don’t do enough rants. Hmm.
Anyways, I got an e-mail from Blockbuster the other day. I used to be a member of their Rewards program, from back when I used to rent four to six movies a week. Now I still get news and announcements from them trying to win me back. The truth of the matter is, I can’t afford it anymore. That, however, is neither here nor there. What is here and there is the content of the e-mail I recently recieved.
The message was a large graphic with a few lines of text at the bottom. The graphic, in huge yellow and blue letters stated proudly:
The end of late fees!”
And was followed by something to the effect of:
Yes! We really mean no more late fees. We are a benevolent multi-conglomerate that wishes only to better the lives of its constituancy. By removing the penalty of a monetary charge whenever a customer fails to return one of our videos before an arbitrary time an arbitrary number of days after they have rented it, we feel we can reduce the overall stress levels of our customers and therefore better their lives. We love you. *Hug*”
Needless to say, I was unimpressed. I saw through the carebear ibonics and clicked on a link labeled “Details.” The link led me to a page that explained in similarly saccharine words how the system will work from now on:
Rent a movie or game from our store. There will be a return date printed on the reciept…
Okay hang on a second. I started this with the intention of satirizong and making fun of Blockbuster’s new marketing strategy. However, the more I think about it, the more I realize that it’s a really brilliant idea for the company. It is certainly is a new paradigm for the rental business. First read the above “Details” link. Now consider, if you will, the following premises:
(Begin pseudo-analytical crap)
Rental stores make money by loaning movies out for money. They can only truly turn a profit if they can rent each copy more than once. However, each copy can only be rented to one person at a time. So, there are due dates. Due dates ensure that a movie can be rented several times rather than spending all of their time at one person’s house. In order to enforce the due dates, there are fees levied on all movies not returned before the due date. These fees can help to offset the loss caused by overdue rentals.
Most movies are rented within a month or two of their initial release. Their popularity dwindles as more people have either seen the films or purchased copies for themselves. The high demand in the beginning necessitates having many many copies of each movie on hand in the first few weeks of a film’s release. As the demand lessens the store must then attempt to sell the extra copies. This is wildly inefficient. Few people know that the cost, per movie, to a rental store is several times higher than the retail cost of the product. A film with a $20 retail price could cost anywhere from forty to one-hundred dollars for a rental license…
(Abruptly end pseudo-analytical crap)
Apologies, I think my rant is working. I’m getting rather tired. Suffice to say that I think the new world is upon us in terms of the rental process. Please comment on this topic. I’ll play devils advocate to anyone who wants to suggest that Blockbuster is a newly emerging corprate whore.
January 10th, 2005 at 11:15 pm
Newly Emerging my buttocks! They have been a big corporation uber alles for as long as I can recall. Do you remember Empire Videos (for all plattsburghians) it was at the same location as Blockbuster is now. Empire Video was a small conglomorant but, it had style, a certain novelty if you will. For example do you remember the two little private screening rooms where they played kiddie movies all day long and how can you forget the tower where you could see the whole store from the top. All I have to say is I think its a shame to see a place like that forced out by large corporate whores with neat-o marketing strategies. This being said I am number Blockbuster member #5168123435846s6843…Farwell Empire. Goodbye individuality.
January 11th, 2005 at 7:45 am
Well I just went to Blockbuster and after them telling me to keep a movie longer than its due date if I needed to, I inquired about what “No Late Fees” really meant. They informed me that there were no late fees for any movies because people would bring 3 movies back an hour late and get charged. Then I said what happens if someone just keeps a movie forever. They then went on and told me that after 7 days overdue the cost of the movie is charged to your account. There was something they weren’t telling people. Then if you brought the movie back after 7 days you could get the cost of the movie back, but you had to pay a $1.25 restocking fee. If you have the movie over 30 days, you have to pay for the movie even if you bring it back. So know that nothing is free. Is this better than the $4 you paid after it was 10 min over the due date? Yes, but they should make themselves a little clearer. I guess nothing is free still.
January 11th, 2005 at 3:45 pm
Fran, yes, thank you for stating clearly what I stumbled over at 5:00 in the morning (with a personal example no less!).