i wondered why anybody bought those when you could just use your vcr to rewind the tape
E
As mentioned, gearheads used it to save wear and tear on the machines, but I think a large number of people had them because of late fees. They were crazy in my neighborhood at one time. I can remember having a stack of 3-4 movies to rewind some days, 1 in the vcr, one in the rewinder then switching trying to play beat the clock.
Growing up, my dad knew a guy that owned a couple of mom and pop type video stores. It was a mixed bag, sometimes they'd break a block buster, and he'd lose money because no one would pay the $30-90 tapes were at the time, they'd just get a new membership somewhere else. But sometimes, that would be offset by one of those rewinders breaking a few porno tapes.
A broken "Star Wars"? Screw you! A broken copy of "Flabby Face F@ckers 8"? Yes, I will pay your $97.50, just stop sending those bright pink bills to our house

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