Cleaning out the attic and I found this treasure

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SerenityWalks@reddit

Oh man, the overdue fees on that must be phenomal! 😂

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hsox05@reddit

lol I used to work there, after a few weeks they just sold you the movie. Wish I could remember the terminology they used for it. But I do remember it was at MSRP so it was usually like 30 dollars.

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True_Dimension4344@reddit

Not here they didn’t. They tried to charge me $60 some dollars for an overdue movie once.

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Unless you had one of the very rare franchise stores, policy is policy it shouldn't have been different based on where it was. Some DVDs DID have absurd msrp, and actually for some reason VHS was even worse

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True_Dimension4344@reddit

Idk if it was corporate or franchise but I distinctly remember not being allowed to rent until I paid the ridiculous late fees for it. They weren’t asking for the retail cost of the dvd they were asking for lost revenue due to not having it in stock.

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hsox05@reddit

Yeah. I remember putting holds on accounts with significant fines on them. This also is dependent on when you are talking about. I worked there from like 03-05, which was also the time period they got rid of late fees all together and *only* charged you the price of the movie if you were like a week late. I do know that looking through their computer system the prices of MSRP of VHS tapes was always absurd. I think it had something to do with rental copy licensing or something, but there was no actual market value price it was the list price. And list price of old VHS tapes was asinine. ( https://preview.redd.it/7xtcmhoat0dc1.jpeg?width=281&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=35808f7c77dd72b6e0727747063440210433cff8 See pic) I am 100% confident that what I described is how it worked the years I worked there which was when VHS was being phased out. By the time I left vhs was totally gone

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True_Dimension4344@reddit

Oh man I’m talking further back than that. 96 maybe through 99.

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moviefreaks@reddit

Ok you maybe talking about the VHS era. And you would be indeed correct. They would charge the fees plus the $100 it costs for most VHS movies.

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True_Dimension4344@reddit

I’m not.

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True_Dimension4344@reddit

Maybe I’ve got the time frame wrong and it really doesn’t matter tbh. All I know is it was a dvd, the cost was ridiculous for late fees and it absolutely happened.

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ihavenoidea81@reddit (OP)

How much was the late fee usually?

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hsox05@reddit

Their late fees were nowhere near as bad as people now claim. OP's video says new release 2-day rental. Most likely they paid like 2.99 (or maybe it was 1.99? But I'll stick with 2.99 for consistency) to rent it for 2 days, and if it wasn't returned my noon "on the third day" you'd get charged for another day - so 1.50. Basically the exact same thing as red box except the up front basically required you to pay for 2 days. The thing is 7 day rentals were also 2.99. And if you didn't return it by noon on the 8th day you were charged for an extra day - 43 cents. And after it accumulated for a few weeks, they would just flip it to a sale. If you brought it back you could pay the late fee/restocking fee and turn it back in but at that point you might as well just own it.

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ihavenoidea81@reddit (OP)

There is a date printed on the address as 4/19/2005. Is that the date that the store received the copy? Assuming that it is and it was a 7 day rental (and I didn’t purchase the DVD), it’s been 6840 days after that 7 day rental. At $0.29 a day, the late fees would be $1983.60 for a grand total of $1985.59 to rent this movie 🤣

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hsox05@reddit

lol well, no, again, after like 2 weeks they would have just charged you the MSRP of the disc (like 25-30 bucks) and "sold" it to you until you returned it

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ihavenoidea81@reddit (OP)

Yeah I know I was just trying to calculate how much the late fee would be just in days

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hsox05@reddit

Yeah. Well since this was listed as a new release I'd probably calculate it as 2 dollars a day - so that's almost 14 grand

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ihavenoidea81@reddit (OP)

Oh snap!

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cheffartsonurfood@reddit

Yeah but if you lost a rental they charged you anywhere from $90-150. I rented a game from them and was going to return it. Lost it. Bought a new one from Best Buy and at first they wouldn't accept it. They said I owed them $120 (I think) cuz thats what they paid for it. I said nah, dropped it on the counter and walked away. Never heard from them again.

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Sad_Recommendation92@reddit

My wife and I rented a \**cough*\* movie from the "back room" of a non-blockbuster local video rental place in the early 2000s when we were dating and never returned it on accident, eventually they charged me like $90

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cheffartsonurfood@reddit

I actually went to Hollywood video more than Block Buster and I always thought it was funny that Hollywood Video had no "back room" but Family Video did.

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Sad_Recommendation92@reddit

oh that's right we had a Family Video in the town I grew up and I remember being a young lad and just trying peer through those saloon doors, it was like 5 miles closer than the nearest Blockbuster though I think the place with the "back room" I was talking about was called Video Paradise

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TerseFactor@reddit

Unless it did have an MSRP because it was yet available for purchase. In which case, the system designated its value over $100

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Interesting-Fan-4996@reddit

Those overdue fees could resurrect blockbuster lol

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undrew@reddit

Paid late fees on this would put Blockbuster back in business.

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ColdBrewMoon@reddit

You laugh but Blockbuster sent me to collections for overdue fees, it was something comical like $20.

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jgguthri@reddit

It says 2 day rental, not 19 year rental! I freaking love Dustin Hoffman in that movie. “Oops, forgot my own rule”

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Late-External3249@reddit

You're the reason they went out of business!!!

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Josherline@reddit

I’m a lookin’ and I’m a likin’

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_haha_oh_wow_@reddit

You didn't return it??? You killed Blockbuster! It was all you! If only you had returned the DVD.

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ihavenoidea81@reddit (OP)

I had 2 more in that box. 😬

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_haha_oh_wow_@reddit

I'm not a mathematician or a lawyer or anything, but that's like, 3 times as bad?

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ihavenoidea81@reddit (OP)

2.7 perhaps

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AlcoholPrepPad@reddit

Ooohh it’s the widescreen edition. Look at Mr. Scorsese over here.

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ihavenoidea81@reddit (OP)

I probably didn’t even have a good TV for it

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artificialavocado@reddit

Well you know what they say, Meet The Fockers is the modern day Citizen Kane.

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redfalcondeath@reddit

I think it might be past the due date

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Imispellalot2@reddit

You are the reason they went bankrupt. They couldn't wait any longer

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Unfair-Geologist-284@reddit

Explaining Blockbuster to our kids was a peak “I am old” experience. Also, explaining pay phones.

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erinkp36@reddit

Uh oh. That’s a lot of late fees.

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Dependent_Bill8632@reddit

You can milk anything with nipples.

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btroj@reddit

I worked at Blockbuster during this era. I can hear the weird sound those made and the tricks we’d use to get the yellow locks out when they got stuck.

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ExtraNoise@reddit

When no customers were in the store we'd unset the locks just enough to shoot the locks at each other from across the store by sticking your thumb under the tab and pushing forward rapidly. Those babies could FLY.

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JBaker4981@reddit

OP probably could've saved Blockbuster from closing their doors had you paid you late fee!

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MommaOfManyCats@reddit

Believe it or not, there's actually a market for these cases on ebay!

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ihavenoidea81@reddit (OP)

STFU really? I found like 3 of them

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MommaOfManyCats@reddit

Not like sell and retire money but they do sell lol

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Paper-street-garage@reddit

I wonder how many people just kept the movies at the end when they finally closed up shop.

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Dfarni@reddit

I bet if you pay what you owe they can open a new store

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Atillion@reddit

I can drop it off in town next time I go..

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Scrapla@reddit

I remember our mom driving us to BlockBuster at night to put all our movies and games into that outside return mail slot thing lol

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strippersandcocaine@reddit

My old boss stopped by a blockbuster to return movies *on his way to the hospital with his wife in labor*

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ihavenoidea81@reddit (OP)

I’m sure that marriage lasted!

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Munk45@reddit

You are why Blockbuster went out of business.

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WolvesandTigers44@reddit

Go pay them the 2,800 you owe in late fees

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ashleymeloncholy@reddit

I heard that Blockbuster was one rental away from going bust... just saying. /s

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veggeroni@reddit

They could've made it if people returned things on time.

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ihavenoidea81@reddit (OP)

I fucked them over

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wrongusernametryagin@reddit

Your latest fees could save the company at this point!

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BooBeeAttack@reddit

![gif](giphy|S7uj1Zg5Rn7e8)

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Fantom_Lord@reddit

The return fee is going to be outrageous

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TwistederRope@reddit

The overdue fees on that alone could bring back several stores.

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Primary_Pear5735@reddit

FBI OPEN UP!

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MCKBLAKE@reddit

Self incrimination

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ConcreteKeys@reddit

That ultimate revenge when you break up with your ex and cut him off your blockbuster account. And yes, I did get confirmation he tried to rent a movie. Not without me biatch!

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ihavenoidea81@reddit (OP)

And now that morphed into kicking someone off your Netflix acct

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ConcreteKeys@reddit

True!

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Morrisonhotel82@reddit

These bring up such terrible memories of working at blockbuster.

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Ltimbo@reddit

I forgot you had to Choose between wide screen and full screen and they were two different skus.

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TealBlueLava@reddit

Carry it with you. When someone tries to card you to ask if you’re old enough, just flash em the case.

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artificialavocado@reddit

God no they’ll think the guy is like 70.

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TealBlueLava@reddit

With how the younger gens exaggerate the age of EVERYONE older than them, you’re probably right. I told some GenZ online that I bought my first house and make enough money to live alone, he accused me of being 60. I’m 41 and live in a small town 15 minutes from the nearest “bigger” city, so lower COL and affordable housing prices. But thought it was because I’m of a generation “before that generation ruined everything.”

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