Late fees are back at Blockbuster

Remember five years ago, when Blockbuster proudly announced “The End of Late Fees?” Those happy days are over.

Blockbuster has brought back late fees, understandably with less fanfare than when it eradicated them in 2005, Home Media Magazine reports. If you don’t return a movie within your rental period, Blockbuster now charges $1 per day, capped at $10. Previously, Blockbuster only charged a $10 flat fee for movies that weren’t returned 10 days after the rental period is over.

The rental giant also reduced the rental period for new releases from one week to five days. On the bright side, Blockbuster will not charge a restocking fee for late returns.

Blockbuster spokeswoman Michelle Metzger told Home Media Magazine that the policy change shouldn’t be interpreted as a late fee. “This is an additional daily rate and if the customer is choosing to keep out a movie past the due date, then they are going to [be] charged [accordingly],” Metzger said. “If you keep a rental car out an extra day, the rental car company has to charge you.”

Right. I’ll grant that rental companies in general are guilty of twisting the semantics to fit their advertising. Redbox’s claim of “no late fees” is nefarious: You get charged $1 every day the movie is out, so you’re technically paying a late fee even if you’re a few minutes past your 24-hour rental period (a lawsuit was filed for this reason). Even Blockbuster got sued over its “end of late fees” claim because late rentals were automatically converted to purchases.

Anyway, I see what’s going on here. With Redbox and Netflix both making deals to delay the availability of new releases from Warner Bros., Blockbuster just gained a little more power, and it’ll get more if other studios follow Warner’s lead. Blockbuster is essentially matching Redbox’s prices, but with a mandatory 5-day rental period attached. Don’t like that? Too bad, you’ve got nowhere else to go but another rental store.