Less than 12 hours after I wrote about Blockbuster dropping late fees a woman named Julie Dennehy commented that Blockbuster would be charging customers "the lowest possible price" for un-returned videos, minus the original rental fee. Suspicious that she was a Blockbuster employee, I wrote back asking if should point me to anything in writing regarding the price. I know from first-hand experience that non-Retail videos can cost rental companies as much as $100 per unit, so I was very eager to pin down how much Blockbuster planned on charging people who didn't return videos on time.

Julie, it turns out, is the owner of Dennehy Public Relations, a boutique agency specializing in "creating a buzz" for companies like Blockbuster. Buzz is important, but so is an active dynamic corporate website, something DPR hasn't managed to put together since purchasing their domain name five years ago.

Anyway, Julie replied with a copy of the Blockbuster's Press Release (nothing new there) and referred me to Google where I could read "hundreds - maybe thousands - of news stories" about the new program. News flash, I've read dozens of them. They all say the same thing and, frankly, all exhibit the same level of skepticism displayed here.

Here's an excerpt from my reply:

Julie Dennehy: Thanks for being open to corrections... release attached and you can Google for hundreds - maybe thousands - of news stories written about this new program.

BC: I've read several of the news stories, but never did see a copy of the actual press release (it's not on Blockbuster's website). I appreciate the copy. I did note with interest that the press release does not address the issue of price for the late videos.

Julie Dennehy: You gotta admit, this new program is pretty generous to folks who borrow merchandise and don't return it...

BC: It's a game of semantics... you're replacing a late fee with a late fee. The only changes under the new program are:

1. you get to hang onto the item a little longer for free
2. you own the product after you've paid the "fine"

Additionally, if you dispute the sale you can get your money back after paying a restocking fee. The restocking fee in this case is basically a late fee as there are no appreciable costs associated with restocking a rental product.

Julie Dennehy: this type of flagrant behavior makes it hard to run a business, and many of the Blockbuster stores are franchised and run by hardworking business owners who are trying to make a buck, right?

BC: Without a doubt. Of course, Blockbuster brings in $320 Million in late fees every year, a number which I'm certain was projected to decrease over the next five years as more and more people stop renting videos from Blockbuster and start renting from Netflix or receiving content using video-on-demand systems. By increasing the amount of money the average "late returner" pays, you can minimize the effects of having fewer and fewer "late returners".

In a blitz of pre-holiday PR joy, Blockbuster gleefully announced that it would stop charging late fees on movie and video game rentals starting January 1, 2005.

There's one teeny, tiny catch, however. Rentals will still have a due date. Customers have one week to return games and two to seven days to return videos, but with an added seven day grace period. There's probably a Marketing 101 reason for saying "One week with a 7 day grace period" instead of "it's due in two weeks". The catch? If you don't return the rental after its due Blockbuster will simply sell it to you. Automatically. Enjoy. Don't worry, in the interest of good faith, they'll credit you the cost of the rental.

It's unknown at this point if the customer will have to pay retail or the nearly 5 times pre-release price that Blockbuster pays.

I don't rent videos on a regular basis, but if I did, NetFlix would be looking better and better every day.

This is what happens when children are taught that "Everyone's a winner! There are no losers." Twenty Kerry supporters meet with licensed mental health counselors at the American Health Association in Boca Raton, Florida, yesterday. The session, in which they were encouraged to share their emotions and shout epithets at President Bush, was designed to treat (God help me!) Post Election Selection Trauma or PEST. First they're fleeing to Canada, then websites like Sorry Everybody and Fuck the South started popping up, and now we have a treatable syndrome.

I have news for those suffering from PEST: your parents did not equip you to survive in the real world. Your first reaction would probably be to sue them, but I'm here to help. Repeat the following out loud:

"George W. Bush won the election."

You don't have to like it, you just have to accept it.

In the beginning there was the IBM-PC, then Apple, then IBM-compatible. "PC Software" this and "IBM Compatible" that. IBM, IBM, IBM. IBM, and its cousins, ruled the home-computer market. Now, CBS MarketWatch is reporting that IBM is in talks to sell its PC unit. Sad, but not surprising. Big blue knows how to make high-quality hardware, but they don't do cheap, and that's where the market is today.

A nice collection of tips and tricks on the basics: Photoshop for Photographers