Introduction

Video Rental Shops/Outlets

Typically Video Rental shops conduct business with customers under  terms and conditions   agreed upon in a rental agreement or contract  which may be  implied, explicit or written.

Usually a customer must sign  up for an account with the shop and give billing information like a Credit card number etc.  In the event  videos are returned later than the  date  agreed upon,  normally  video shop  charge  late fees  which  usually accumulate day by day.  Some shops  have policies  where instead of late charges,   they will  treat overdue items as a sale after a certain date and charge a price  equivalent to a standard sale of  the   video with appropriate deductions for the rental fee already paid.

The most common type  of  rental shops are video  rental outlets offering  primarily movies.  Many such rental shops  also offer music  or video games as well  as some video rental outlets use a  vending machine to dispense and collect  rentals. 

Rental of Videos is covered by copyright law.  Copywrite owners sometimes put warning notices on the package  containing video   or  in the video itself  to deter copyright infringement.

Independently owned Video rental shops  started opening and came into existence  in late 1970s and now it has become a lucrative business and   there are lot of Video Rental shops  catering to the    high  demand  of consumers.

Royal Rental Shop

Royal is a Video Rental Shop which  is  located  on the outskirts of Colombo. Royal Rental shop has a Video Rental Club.  It has a Video Library  too  and  it is a business that allows a  customer to temporarily obtain a  reusable Videos  for a specified period of time in exchange of  payment.  This process is known as renting of Videos. Each and every  Video shop has its own operating system   and   common features also can be seen in all video shops.  Royal Rental Shop  is a one-man business  and owner is managing  day to day affairs  with two part-time  assistants paid by him.

Membership

Any individual is free to join Royal Video Rental Club by visiting the shop. There is an application form to be filled by the applicant.   In order to obtain membership one has to produce  two items of  identifications.  One of which must contain his or her  address and signature.  There is no initial admission  fee to join the club.  Royal  Shop  keeps  the application form and issue the new member with a membership card. Member has to sign and accept the membership card.  Each membership card has a membership number which is transferred to the original application form of the member.   All membership applications are  filed in a box file  according to alphabetical order of the members’ surnames.

Video Rental Procedure

Member who wants to rent out a video must produce his / her  membership card  every time he / she wants to rent out a video.  Video selection is limited  to  two at a time.   Member has to give the video selection to assistant who copies the video  reference identification Code number  onto the  days reference sheet. Customer is then asked to sign the sheet in order to confirm the acceptance of video and  make the  due payment as rental.   Assistant then  places the membership card into one of the empty display boxes and swaps these for the actual film boxes in the back storeroom.  The films are then given to the customer.  When the videos are returned by the customer, the Assistant puts them  back into  the display boxes on shelves and gives  back the membership card to customer.

Video  identification number /code

Video  was  invented by Charles Ginsburg and first practical video tape recorder  came into existence in 1951.  Vidoe  quality can be measured with formal metics like PSNR or with subjective Video quality using  expert observation.  A wide variety of methods are used to compress video streams.  Video can be transmitted or transported in a variety of ways.  Each and every Video has Unique identification Code Number in order to deviate one video from the other. Code number ( Example  : L269452-100001) is embedded into the Video.

Fine for Damaged Videos

Rented Videos  ( CD/DVD )  are to be  returned  in the condition in which  they were borrowed. When the  Videos are returned  one of the Assistants  will check thoroughly  the Videos ( CD /DVD ) to find out   any damage has been caused  in order to maintain  all  Videos in quality standards. In the event  any damage  has been caused to a Video rented out  by a customer,   a fine  will have to be paid by the borrower.

Confidential Information

Shop Assistants  can  only enter the video details ( rented information, Membership number, Video Identification number or Code number  etc. )  on the reference sheet maintained at the Royal Video Rental Shop. Sales information are  regarded as  confidential information and  there is no access for Shop Assistants but only the  Royal Rental Shop Owner has the access to this information. That is because sensitivity of the information  that the control of access to information or knowledge that might result in loss of an advantage or level of security if disclosed to Sales Assistants  who might have low or unknown undesirable intentions. This is to avoid misuse, modification or  unauthorized  access to sensitive information  and that can adversely affect the privacy of  the Royal Rental Shop. Further it is considered as  a trade secret of the  business.

Adding/ Removing new Videos

Owner of the Royal Rental shop has the permission to  remove new videos  to the  video Library. In the same manner,  only the owner can  remove videos from the library. There is no  permission  for the others including Shop assistants  to  add or remove videos.

Lost Membership Cards

 

In the  event a member has lost his or her  membership card,   the particular member  will not be able to  borrow or  rent out new videos.  Again    such member has to   apply for new membership  with two items of identification  which is to complete the membership application form  with necessary details such as  address  and  sign  it  and hand over it to the Video Shop.  Then  again he or she is eligible to  rent out new  videos from the video club.

 

Failure to return the Videos on time

In the event a member   fails to return the video or videos  borrowed from the Video Club he or she will be  requested to make an additional payment  and  as an action to  remedy  this type of behavior.  Such member’s    video selection will be restricted and limited to one video.