After major losses, Blockbuser brings back late fees

This blog caught my eye because I love renting movies. I hate that the whole in-store aspect of movie renting is being eliminated by Redbox and Netflix. I think the idea of the easy/no wait Redbox and Netflix are good, but personally I like going in to get my movies, and searching on the shelves. I usually decide what to get off the new release shelf based on which movie has the most rented out already. I figure if that many people are renting it, it must have gotten good reviews. I don't pay attention to that stuff, so I trust others. It has served me well in the past. I like that you can pay cash at video stores like blockbuster. Redbox takes your debit card and automatically charges it every day. I noticed the other day when I went in to blockbuster, as I was leaving, they mentioned after the 5th day there is a $1 a day late fee. I guess to them this makes sense, and its not any worse of a deal than keeping a Redbox movie out that long. It is unfortunate though, because that was one thing I think a lot of people liked. It wasn't a big deal if you kept it a little longer. I know I have a tendency to forget I've rented something and I liked that Blockbuster or Movie Gallery wouldn't keep charging me for the extra couple days it took me to realize I needed to return it. I actually ran into a late-fee issue before I left for break. I was excited to rent a few movies for the plane ride, but I knew I would not be back in time for the regular due date. I had "powerplay" which is a monthly membership that allowed you to rent up to 15pts worth of movies a month for 15$ and no late fees. It was great because I definately spent 15$ a month on movies before I signed up for this. Each new release was 3 pts and any regular movie was 1 pt no matter how long you kept it out. I wanted to cancel my membership however, because I had my rent due, and was about to sign a lease which required a huge deposit, and I have a car payment. I was going to re-sign up for it when I figured out if I could afford it comfortably. I ended up not getting the movies because of the late fees that would be applied. I was really bummed. I love the programs that the in-store places offer, or in Blockbusters case...used to offer. Its too bad they think that is the best way to make money. I think they need to find a way to get more customers in and keep them, rather then trying to squeeze more money out of the few customers they have left. They need to come up with something that makes them better, more convenient, or cheaper then their competitors, or they will go out of buisiness as soon as Netflix and Redbox work the kinks out of their buisinesses. I know people say they go to Blockbuster or Movie Gallery because Redbox is out of a particular movie, or the selection is larger in-store, but sooner or later those problems will be resolved with this "instant" movie market, and who is going to go to Blockbster then?