Comments on: The Window of Shame

By: Pingy

Pingy — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 02:07:08 +0000

I own a video store (very small, independant. Lots of documentary foreign, arthouse etc) and I don’t know about in other countries but here we pretty much pay *around* the same price that the normal consumer would pay for a DVD, we might get bulk deals if we get a certain amount of product but generally the purchase price that WE pay is not much different than if you had bought it from a major chain. I don’t think they’ve done that thing where you pays hundreds of dollars for a new copy of a movie – since we also rarely get films before the retail sector anymore.

If we ask someone to replace a damaged or lost item, we will generally only charge what it would cost for US to get that movie back in. We do send non payers and people who don’t return things (ie: thieves) to our debt collectors to deal with and they sort of charge flat fees that cover ‘late fees’ and then replacement. (So $60 for a movie – 1/2 late fees, 1/2 replacement cost)
We also do the late fees are half price if you pay on return.

In regards to the ‘scam’ where video stores charge $50+ for a replacement from their certain supplier I can still see this as legit.
I need a new copy of Underworld (1) At the moment, it’s $40 (rrp) from my supplier. If a customer wanted to rent that ASAP then I’d be paying that, plus the freight cost for delivery. It could easily be around the $50 depending on supplier.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 04:35:10 +0000

It’s probably a Badge of Honor at this point to get your name added to the list.

By: shepd

shepd — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 05:48:16 +0000

Use a burner CC. Find a CC with the soonest expiration and use that, or a CC that you figure you will soon be cancelling. Or, if the store is really stupid, a rebate CC/prepaid CC.

By: shepd

shepd — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 05:46:58 +0000

If this happened quite a while ago, it’s easily possible. I remember seeing the list price for Terminator when it first came out on VHS. It was $149. And back then, many times, video stores had to pay MORE for rental rights on the titles.

By: Tesselara

Tesselara — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 21:36:33 +0000

Laziness crosses the threshold into simple defiance. Love it! I’m thinking that everyone in that town kind of hates the owner of that video store.

By: Tesselara

Tesselara — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 21:33:08 +0000

There was this one video store that was so shitty about its late fees that I just stopped renting from them. For example: I had accidentally forgotten to put a disc back (I checked, saw a disc in there, forgetting that the clam shell had a widescreen and full screen disc, and thought I was fine) The store waited a week before telling me that I hadn’t returned the right disc. I didn’t know that I had forgotten it, and they charged me a late fee for each of those days. And the fee was exorbitant. I got to $35 in less a week. Never rented from there again.

By: infanttyrone

infanttyrone — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 07:11:57 +0000

G-g-g-glad it lit up your c-c-c-circuits.
The Chevette (up there & back then) was also featured
in a number of Bill Hicks’ comedy routines.
If you know Bill then you’ve probably been exposed to them.
If you don’t know Bill, drop by YT anytime and start sampling.
One Night Stand is a great 30 minute starting place.

By: vstorevigilante

vstorevigilante — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:47:25 +0000

We have a large elderly population, but beyond that – gaming. Xbox, PS3, etc. Game rentals (and also, stolen games… goodbye, $65 product) are huge.

By: Adam

Adam — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:33:06 +0000

“Either way, /my/ hypothetical video store would stop renting to people before they got up to $50.”

Uh, it only takes a minimum of one video to get up to $50 in fees. Presumably most of these are from movies that were not returned and then a per day charge was assessed to them.

By: Noelegy

Noelegy — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 21:38:53 +0000

I love that you referenced “The Year of the Cat” and Max Headroom. ♥

By: Noelegy

Noelegy — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 21:37:01 +0000

My Shame Automobile was a 1979 Chevy Chevette. My friends called it the “Shove-it” because that’s quite frequently what we had to do.

My anti-Shame Automobile was the 1960 Cadillac Fleetwood I drove in high school.

By: Sean Jungian

Sean Jungian — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 21:14:12 +0000

Yeah, @mama2tnt, I’ve done the same sort of thing. If I rented a dvd rated “R” or otherwise inappropriate for my son, (I like scary movies), I would hide it up on top of the refrigerator or somewhere else he was unlikely to stumble across it and accidentally watch it while I took a nap or something. SEVERAL times, I forgot about it up there, and our local joint was always very easy to deal with about it, usually cutting the fee in half or just zero-ing it out altogether. I never just assumed they would do that though, I always came prepared to pay the fee.

By: infanttyrone

infanttyrone — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 20:45:42 +0000

First thought was an Amish community where computers weren’t used, but then, they wouldn’t have much truck with movies, would they.

Maybe it was just an art installation intended to evoke a bygone era, something like an Al Stewart song might do…

On a morning from a Bogart movie
In a country where they turn back time
You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre
Contemplating a crime

Why should this make you think of Max Headroom and credit fraud ?
Please use complete sentences and remember that spelling counts.

By: What century is this?

What century is this? — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 18:57:26 +0000

Why is that list HAND WRITTEN? Its ridiculously LONG.