Most video stores on campus won’t castrate you if you lose a rental. They’ll just make you buy the video.

Or at least that’s the case with Paperback Grotto, 157 E. Lincoln Highway; Dollar Video, 1127 W. Lincoln Highway; and Hemispheres, 1015 W. Hillcrest Drive.

Each store has its own way of keeping track of debts owed to them for late videos.

Dollar Video charges $3.40 per day late for each new-release film. However, the older films are $1 for every day past the due date.

Students mainly keep their fines to a minimum, but on rare occasions, fines exceed well more than the film is worth.

“The latest I’ve seen a movie returned is 68 days. We don’t cut it off at all,” said Courtney Surdick, manager of Dollar Video.

She insists that the fines can be less if customers admit their irresponsibility and let the video store know about the problem.

“The earlier they come in about it, the less they have to pay,” she said. “They can purchase a movie and replace it. If we don’t have a replacement, we can cut the late fees. As long as they come in early, it’s easier be to understanding about it.”

Surdick insists that Dollar Video will hold the fee to the customer’s credit card company, which can be detrimental to one’s credit report.

Hemispheres only deals with older, used films. They also charge $1 for every day past the due date.

Jerry James, music and video manager at Hemispheres, also doesn’t cut off rental fees, but rarely will his staff chase down a film thief, who, according to James, mostly lives within four blocks of the video store.

“We have a lot of videos that never come back. We don’t really have time to pursue it (the stolen videos). We just mark their accounts so they can’t rent anymore,” James said.

Paperback Grotto has an entirely different system worked out that banks on anonymous credit statements.

Renting clientele of the Grotto sign pre-authorized forms with their credit cards that basically give the Grotto full control over the credit card. The charges themselves do not ring up on the credit card unless the rental video is returned late.

“We can take any amount desired from their account,” assistant manager Samuel Anaya said.

After seven days of the the rental being overdue, the client automatically purchases the late video in question, with the bill going straight on the pre-authorized credit bill.