2008 Woodie Awards
The End of Late Fees, The Start of Pure Insanity
Michael Smith
Issue date: 1/26/05 Section: Perspectives
- Page 1 of 1
The responsible and conscientious have had their day in the sun long enough. Finally a victory has been won for the undependable, chronically late slackers of our world. This marks yet another step on the road toward a total lack of accountability in our society. Yet the consumers are certainly not complaining. Blockbuster Inc.'s latest move was aimed directly at the young underachieving demographic.
Blockbuster has done the unthinkable and made the most prevalent nuisance of the video rental experience a thing of the past. Now the burning shame of returning to the video store a week late with your copy of Gigli is no longer paired up with the added smack in the face of a hefty late fee. Blockbuster's customers will never again have to ravage their minds for a believable story to excuse their tardiness, when in fact they know that they have kept Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood for weeks because it has touched them like no film had before.
With revenues down from projected figures because of the emergence of the lazy movie buff's dream come true, Netflix.com, and to a lesser extent On Demand movie rental offered by local cable companies, Blockbuster has decided to get in on the "no late fee" game to gain back the market share taken from them by these upstart companies. Under the new arrangement, customers are given a weeklong grace period after their rental's due date to return the movie without any penalty. If they fail to do so, they will have automatically purchased the movie at its regular cost. If they don't want to be the proud owner of say You Got Served, for instance, they can bring the movie back, get the cost of the movie refunded, and only be charged a small restocking fee. This could prove a brilliant move because the number of people who will return to Blockbuster from Netflix and On Demand movie viewing will no doubt be staggering.
What kind of trickle-down effects could this decision have? Could this unprecedented turn of events in the movie rental business lead to more lenient policies toward lateness across the board? Will the library finally give amnesty for notoriously overdue library books? Will angry teachers stop locking students out of classes just because five after nine in the morning isn't something they can do? Will late homework be accepted just the same as those assignments done on time? Only time will tell, although many will be keeping their fingers crossed.
Weather or not the other aforementioned institutions follow suit, this deal makes many customers extremely happy. Those copies of Gigli can now be pried out from under the couches across and returned to Blockbuster with the comforting knowledge that no wallet will get any. Thank god for the overnight drop box.
Blockbuster has done the unthinkable and made the most prevalent nuisance of the video rental experience a thing of the past. Now the burning shame of returning to the video store a week late with your copy of Gigli is no longer paired up with the added smack in the face of a hefty late fee. Blockbuster's customers will never again have to ravage their minds for a believable story to excuse their tardiness, when in fact they know that they have kept Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood for weeks because it has touched them like no film had before.
With revenues down from projected figures because of the emergence of the lazy movie buff's dream come true, Netflix.com, and to a lesser extent On Demand movie rental offered by local cable companies, Blockbuster has decided to get in on the "no late fee" game to gain back the market share taken from them by these upstart companies. Under the new arrangement, customers are given a weeklong grace period after their rental's due date to return the movie without any penalty. If they fail to do so, they will have automatically purchased the movie at its regular cost. If they don't want to be the proud owner of say You Got Served, for instance, they can bring the movie back, get the cost of the movie refunded, and only be charged a small restocking fee. This could prove a brilliant move because the number of people who will return to Blockbuster from Netflix and On Demand movie viewing will no doubt be staggering.
What kind of trickle-down effects could this decision have? Could this unprecedented turn of events in the movie rental business lead to more lenient policies toward lateness across the board? Will the library finally give amnesty for notoriously overdue library books? Will angry teachers stop locking students out of classes just because five after nine in the morning isn't something they can do? Will late homework be accepted just the same as those assignments done on time? Only time will tell, although many will be keeping their fingers crossed.
Weather or not the other aforementioned institutions follow suit, this deal makes many customers extremely happy. Those copies of Gigli can now be pried out from under the couches across and returned to Blockbuster with the comforting knowledge that no wallet will get any. Thank god for the overnight drop box.