The End of Late Fees?

Blockbuster Video has declared the end of late fees. Rent games or videos, bring them back, basically, whenever you want, and never pay a late fee. If you believe this, you must also believe in gnomes and leprechauns.

Here's how the 'No Late Fees' works. Rent a video on a Saturday, and its due back Monday before noon. If you fail to return the item on time, but return the item before seven days, you will be charged a $1.50 "restocking" fee, per item. Then, if you hold the item for more than seven days, the transaction converts from a rental to a sale, which will be processed against either your credit card used to open your account, or against your membership card. If you return it within thirty days, the sale will be canceled, and you will still have the restocking fee.

To me, the words "No Late Fees" means if you rent an item, and return it late, you incur NO fee. Well, then what is a restocking fee? Is it not a fee that is incurred if you return an item late? Blockbuster's web site Q&A regarding this policy states "BLOCKBUSTER incurs processing, administrative and other costs when we have to convert rental product to a sale, as well as when you return the product after that sale. The restocking fee helps to cover that cost." Ok, to help offset that lateness CREATED fee, don't convert the rental to a sale. And if putting the item back on the shelf incurs expenses for the company (even though, if you return it on time, apparently this expense does not incur), I have a solution. When I bring an item back late, I'LL put it back on the shelf. No need to assess a restocking fee to me.

The end of late fees. What a misnomer. It may be the end of accumulating late fees, but if bringing an item back to the store still generates a fee, it's a late fee, no matter what you call it. "A rose by any other name is still a rose".