Friday, December 24, 2004
The start of something different?
Apparently, Blockbuster may stop charging late fees as early as January 1, 2005. An interesting move by a company that reportedly (by the article) earns 10-19% of their revenue from late fees. Apparently, another company called netflix has been giving them a run for their money. Talk about having to accommodate for shifting market competition!
Of course, there are catches: Blockbuster will give late renters a week's grace period, and after that they have bought the game/movie.
And, this may explain why a recent late return on a Blockbuster video game had the late fees shrugged off so easily.
"Do you know how late this is?" asks the young Blockbuster clerk.
"It should be two days late," says I.
"Oh, just two days?" says she. "Don't worry about it then. I'll just remove the late fees."
What does this have to do with Christmas? My family always watches a movie or three over Christmas. I'm hoping for the extended DVD version of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King this year. Missed bits I hope to see: how the Palantir ended in the water outside of Orthanc, how Sam and Frodo end up in orc's clothes in Mordor.
Disclaimer: the Blockbuster bit is US news, and I am currently in the wrong country to confirm whether or not this will be in effect in Canada. It's not advertised in their website, but that doesn't mean it won't happen. Word of mouth is likely a very effective - and very cheap - means of communication about this new deal. People like not being charged for things.
Of course, there are catches: Blockbuster will give late renters a week's grace period, and after that they have bought the game/movie.
And, this may explain why a recent late return on a Blockbuster video game had the late fees shrugged off so easily.
"Do you know how late this is?" asks the young Blockbuster clerk.
"It should be two days late," says I.
"Oh, just two days?" says she. "Don't worry about it then. I'll just remove the late fees."
What does this have to do with Christmas? My family always watches a movie or three over Christmas. I'm hoping for the extended DVD version of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King this year. Missed bits I hope to see: how the Palantir ended in the water outside of Orthanc, how Sam and Frodo end up in orc's clothes in Mordor.
Disclaimer: the Blockbuster bit is US news, and I am currently in the wrong country to confirm whether or not this will be in effect in Canada. It's not advertised in their website, but that doesn't mean it won't happen. Word of mouth is likely a very effective - and very cheap - means of communication about this new deal. People like not being charged for things.
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No, what I said was it was "taken care of." Which meant that I thought that the Blockbuster girl thought I was cute or something, so she let me off. Maybe now I'm not so cute as I might have thought. Stupid netflix. :(
The Blockbuster late fee thing will be taking affect Canada-wide starting in March. And yes, Netflix and zip.ca (here in the Great White North) are basically what is causing the change. Blockbuster's online rentals haven't caught on very well yet, so they're trying alternate routes to deal with the company's that will most likely put Blockbuster very nearly out of business.
Works like this - If it's overdue a week, the previously viewed price is charged to your account. If you bring it back within two months, the PV price is waived, but a $2 "handling" charge is assessed. So...basically...rent a game for $5.99, keep it for three weeks, beat it, pay an additional $2, and, voila, you've just saved yourself about $50 had you decided to buy the game.
And the late charge shrugging off would be due to the clerk being nice, and the fact that his store is apparently not run like by the Late Charge Gestapo as my former store was. If you get somebody nice, up to two days can be waived.
Works like this - If it's overdue a week, the previously viewed price is charged to your account. If you bring it back within two months, the PV price is waived, but a $2 "handling" charge is assessed. So...basically...rent a game for $5.99, keep it for three weeks, beat it, pay an additional $2, and, voila, you've just saved yourself about $50 had you decided to buy the game.
And the late charge shrugging off would be due to the clerk being nice, and the fact that his store is apparently not run like by the Late Charge Gestapo as my former store was. If you get somebody nice, up to two days can be waived.
# posted by 
: 2:28 a.m.
: 2:28 a.m.
*sniff* I feel like my christmas wishes have come true! This is the best news I've had all term. Does anyone have any idea how many movies I rent in a single term? Even the number for school purposes only? I'm going to save so much money!
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