>Blockbuster should have eliminated late fees and offered DVDs by subscription in-store, but they made too much money off the late fees.
FWIW they did do exactly that. It was a monthly subscription fee, you could have three movies or games out at a time, no late fees. I don't remember what the plan was named but I think it was movie pass, to start a new membership you typed "pass" into the terminal. It was pushed somewhat strongly in store I remember having a new sign ups quota per shift.
So strange that this somehow became a relevant tidbit in a post about Borland ignoring Macs.
This made me go search the wikipedia page. From what I can tell they had a dvd-by-mail service introduced in 2004 via Blockbuster.com. And between 2005-2010 they had a phony "no late fees" policy that got them sued for deceptive advertising..
I was young at the time but pretty sure subscribers in my store did not get late fees. I could only find two sources below to corroborate my memory. I would not be surprised that they were doing something shady to get sued though.
FWIW they did do exactly that. It was a monthly subscription fee, you could have three movies or games out at a time, no late fees. I don't remember what the plan was named but I think it was movie pass, to start a new membership you typed "pass" into the terminal. It was pushed somewhat strongly in store I remember having a new sign ups quota per shift.
So strange that this somehow became a relevant tidbit in a post about Borland ignoring Macs.