Redbox is a marvoulous company that is ruining the DVD business. On the one hand I love it but on the other I loathe it. If you’re not familar with Redbox it’s a big red box in or near many grocery stores, Wal-Marts, and some gas stations were you can rent DVD’s for $1. Here are some pro’s and con’s of the Redbox.
Pros
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It’s cheap. You can’t beat a rental.
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You can sign up to receive promo codes and rent for free.
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You can return your DVD to any Redbox. That’s right you can rent a DVD from one and return it to another Redbox.
Cons
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It’s cheap but you only get to keep it one day. Many people forget to return their DVD and end up paying a lot of money. I have a friend who ended up having to buy two DVD’s because after a certain amount of days they make you buy it.
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It’s destroying the video store. We used to have two video stores close to our house. They both went out of business after Redbox came to town. Sure they were more expensive but I loved going to the video store.
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There are no cashiers to help you check out. That means that you rent the DVD by yourself. In this day and age that is a bad idea. I’ve waited for long periods of time as parents let their kid hit the buttons and pick a DVD. If you don’t have a lot of patience don’t go to the Redbox.
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They don’t have a lot of old titles.
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For some reason they carry a lot of reject movies that have similar titles to the movie you want to rent. Transmorphers instead of Transformers, Snakes on a Train instead of Snakes on a Plane. You have to be careful or you will go home with an imitation movie.
So there you have it. Some pros and cons to Redbox. I go because it’s the closest DVD rental place. How do you feel about Redbox?
Redbox doesn’t impact my life one way or another, there are no redboxes near enough to my house to make them a source for movies for myself.
Speaking to the economics of Redbox, it’s not likely the Redbox that has put your video stores out of busines… it’s primarily Netflix but also Blockbuster (their Netflix like service), the internet and downloadable movies (think iTunes and the many pirate ways) and the fact that DVD’s are getting much cheaper to own. Before all the non-traditional ways of getting a DVD video stores were tough businesses… at $2-$5 a rental, you’ve got to rent a lot of movies to make $.
That said I love going to the video store. I went last night. Hollywood is my chosen one, however I’ll likely never go again. They upped their price to $5 or try to get you to sign up for a service… I already have Netflix and I buy lots of $5 videos… other than to return the 2 movies I got, I’ll likely never go again. It’s the death of an age for me.
Snakes On A Train hit the rentals before Snakes On A Plane even hit theaters. I never saw it. But…why…did I never see it. And yes…I’m still YMCA’ing.
like the convenience of redbox. wife hates it. she likes the personal touch of having someone help you out.
I love red box…its easy for me cause i am good at returning there is one on the way in to work. We just kept australia for two days and i don’t mind that it cost $2 🙂
Blockbuster now has $1.99 rental one night thing too…at least out her in tx they do. i am sure there is some clause as to which ones…but we have done that too.
i like em!