Yikes. With this kinda mindset, YoYoG, ever ask yourself if this is WHY people don’t do business with you?

Nice post, Mark. I’m with you. When you’re looking for ways to “stick it” to your customers (i.e. encourage late fees), you’re gonna end up with a whole lot fewer of them.

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You’re right, it is my job to return the movie.

It’s also my job to choose to do business with people and businesses that have their customers best interests at heart.

Those silly customers like myself are the ones who keep your payroll check from bouncing. The longer you continue to think of them as silly silly people that you hate – the lower your check will be in the long run.

Since we’re talking about jobs, part of their job is to maximize the value of their customers and their assets – including that movie. So let’s do a little math.

My late fee was $12 for 26 days.

Their normal rental fee is $3.99 if I remember correctly. It sure isn’t less than that. In 26 days, there are EIGHT 3 day periods, plus part of another. So that’s NINE rentals they might have missed out on for that asset.

Total value: about $36, or $24 less than my late fee.

By not contacting me early and often, their worst case loss was about $24 on that SINGLE rental. Not counting anyone else that happened to, not counting their future loss of business from someone torqued about their change of behavior (remember, they used to send mail and make calls).

Yet *I’m* the silly one…