Late fee

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A late fee, also known as a late fine, is a charge levied against a client by an organization for not returning a rented or borrowed item by its due date. Its use is most commonly associated with businesses like video rental outlets and libraries. Late fees are generally calculated on a per day, per item basis.

Organizations encourage the payment of late fees by suspending a client's borrowing or rental privileges until accumulated fees are paid, sometimes after these fees have exceeded a certain level.

Significant portions of the revenue of video rental outlets and libraries alike come from the payment of late fees.

Late fees are widely regarded as an annoyance. In 2005, video rental chain Blockbuster Video capitalized on this perception with a major advertising campaign that touted a revision of its rental policy as "The End of Late Fees".

More recently, in 2006, Rogers Video has used the same technique, except only for movies, and without any restocking fee (due to movies costing much less than video games).