Redbox rentals? Seem to be a great deal.

Re: Redbox rentals? Seem to be a great deal.

I think McDonald's owns these and has them mostly in their restaurants, but is putting them in other places also. I'd like to try 'em out but they don't seem to have put them anywhere in CA yet.

Re: Redbox rentals? Seem to be a great deal.

A friend of mine works for Red Box. The company is co-owned by McDonald's and Coin Star. The machines are only in a few markets, but are being rolled out gradually around the country.

I love being able to see online if a title is in stock and then reserve it. Saves a lot of driving around.

Re: Redbox rentals? Seem to be a great deal.

Here in Torrance, a Ralphs supermarket just got a similar machine up and running a few weeks ago. I don't believe it is by Red Box though, although the price is the same, $1 per night. Haven't tried it yet but it seems like a nice idea.

-Keith

Re: Redbox rentals? Seem to be a great deal.

Knock me over with a feather! First I had heard of these...then visit their website only to find out they are in most of my local supermarkets...including the one I frequent!

It's not like I didn't notice that my supermarket didn't remove their rental counter...but I'll be darned if I noticed something called "Redbox" in its place.

Re: Redbox rentals? Seem to be a great deal.

Yup. Although I saw a number of Price Chopper supermarkets had them, too.

I preferred when the Burlington Hannaford was "Martin's!

Re: Redbox rentals? Seem to be a great deal.

Yep, looked great at first, then I realized there's ZERO indication of whether you're getting a pan and scan version or OAR......

Re: Redbox rentals? Seem to be a great deal.

And, of course, right after I ate at Carburs!

PM dispatched!

Re: Redbox rentals? Seem to be a great deal.

Good point- anyone know if they tend to favor pan & scan? If I got a foolscreen disc I'd probably break it before putting it back in the machine! Just another reason why there shouldn't be separate releases to begin with...

Re: Redbox rentals? Seem to be a great deal.

Denver was one of the first, if not the first test area so we've had them for I think 3 years now? They really are great and seem to be getting better. Top ~40 movies plus tv series that have just been released.

Pros, they are widescreen only. I think I only saw one instance where they had a fullscreen disc available and it clearly says on the movie info screen that it is fullscreen.

No tricks with the discs, you get exactly what it says. A movie for a $1 for one night. Cutoff is 7PM I believe.

Now you can check availability online and actually reserve your movie before you head to the kiosk. This is something that is new and addresses one of the cons I have below.

Return them at any location you want.

Discs are surprisingly in good shape.

Forget to return it? Only costs another $1 for another day.

Free rental promotion codes happen all the time, so sign up for the emails. I think I rented an unlimited amount of movies for two months straight because of the codes they gave out.

Cons -
Popular movies can be hard to get. Some locations have actually added a second kiosk right next to the first one if the area is popular. Of course, each kiosk has different discs so you need to check each one for the movie you are looking for.

There can be a long line at times and people are sloooooow.

Returning movies can be slow as well since you have to do one at a time, and it takes about 30-45 seconds for the screen to reboot and accept the next movie. Plus you have to wait in line with the renters.

I don't believe I've ever seen an 'unrated' version of a movie, so if there are two versions you get the rated one. Also no bonus discs.

Some locations actually have them locked up inside so once the business is closed, you can no longer rent or return movies. 2 McD's around me do that and it is lame.

I'm now a Netflix user because of Blu-ray but I loved those little red kiosks.

Re: Redbox rentals? Seem to be a great deal.

Jason: If the "return time" is at 7pm, say...do the lines tend to clog just before then? I would think that could lead to some interesting dynamics inside the queue!

Re: Redbox rentals? Seem to be a great deal.

Here in the SF Bay Area (CA) there is no Redbox but all the Safeway stores now have similar machines run by a company called "DVDPlay" out of Redwood City. It looks like DVDPlay charges $1.50 rather than $1.00. I haven't tried them yet because I have Netflix and the DVDPlay choices looked very limited.

Re: Redbox rentals? Seem to be a great deal.

It's funny, I never even gave these a second thought, but I may give them a try. It at least is an easy and cheap way to get some big releases, and there's one pretty much on the way to work. Selection is severely limited, but what the heck.

BTW Jason, Denver, and pretty much the whole Front Range is a common test market. We are always getting products which either fail, or don't appear to the rest of the country for a year or two.

Re: Redbox rentals? Seem to be a great deal.

Not really, but I when I was using them frequently I rarely ever went to one that had no one at it. There were always at least 1 person renting something. That could be at 5pm or 2am. Gotta watch out for those people renting $1 movies at 2am though. I should know, I'm one of them.

Wasn't aware of that, but I'll gladly let them test more products on us. Wish they would have picked us to test out FIOS. We have enough tech industry to make it worthwile.

But definitely check them out. For a vending machine, they do have a surprisingly large selection and even get a lot of smaller direct to video DVD's. But those get yanked pretty quickly.

Re: Redbox rentals? Seem to be a great deal.

In my area, they're only at a few Wal-Marts. I didn't realize they were only $1 per night until I read this thread. I think I'll give one a try this weekend.

Re: Redbox rentals? Seem to be a great deal.

Not sure on the total number of copies, but if I had to guess I would say no more than 10 of any title. New releases, especially big releases, have more copies at first. You also have to take into account that if someone rents from one kiosk, they can return it at another kiosk. So the numbers can get really screwy. And it doesn't take long for them to get popular, especially if it is brand new and people are checking it out for the first time.

BTW, get a free rental here: http://www.redbox.com/Help/Signup.aspx
You have to sign up for their newsletter, that you can immediately cancel.

Re: Redbox rentals? Seem to be a great deal.

Malcolm, I thought the nearest one was over 40 miles away.

I rented 1 title each of the last 2 days. The Prestige, which had been Yellow the night before, had plenty in stock at 8:30 the following morning. Pretty simple, accepting the extremely limited selection.

Re: Redbox rentals? Seem to be a great deal.

A LOOOONG time ago, I lived in Southern California, and the Ralph's supermarket in my neighborhood had a VHS rental vending machine. The first time I saw "Goodfellas," it was a copy I had rented from that machine. This was sometime in 1991. You had to use a credit card, if I recall correctly.

This sounds like a cool idea, except for the hassle of returning the DVDs on time.

Re: Redbox rentals? Seem to be a great deal.

We've had them here in the Toledo for over a year. Our machines are "The New Release". www.thewnewrelease.com Never thought it was a big deal, so never posted a thread about them. All the movies are shown as widescreen UNLESS stated right in the touch screen when you're selecting them. I rented "the Devil Wears Prada". Slightly scuffed, but played just fine. There seems to be about 4-5 of each movie in the machine. A little over 100+ movies to choose from at each machine. Only cost $1.07(tax). I'd recommend this company.....was happy and 90% were widescreen DVDs.

Re: Redbox rentals? Seem to be a great deal.

Malcolm, which one was Fullscreen? Like I mentioned earlier, there was only one instance where I saw a fullscreen disc and that was at the very beginning. At the time I even emailed them that I wouldn't rent there at all if they stocked fullscreen vs widescreen. That would suck if it becomes a habit in different locations.

Re: Redbox rentals? Seem to be a great deal.

We've had Redbox in our area (SLC metro, UT) for about a year and a half now. It's great if you're looking for a new release to watch on the cheap. For me, if I know there's a particular movie coming out that I'm really interested in, I'll pop on over about 7:30am on Tuesday to pick it up before the crowd empties out the machines over the course of the day. Now, that was before online reservations became available, so I'm sure it's much easier now.

Every single title I've rented from Redbox has been OAR, which has been delightful. I've had only one disc (out of at least 20-25 that I've rented) that was so scratched up that it became unplayable. I telephoned Redbox customer support to let them know about it, and they gave me a free rental code right there on the spot. Pretty neat.

Like I said, it's great for finding a widely distributed new release, as long as your timing's good. The chance to watch "The Prestige" in my own home theater? "I'll buy that for a dollar!"

Re: Redbox rentals? Seem to be a great deal.

I tried them for the first time last night. We rented Flags of our Fathers. My wife attempted to return it today and the machine was stuck on the Windows shutdown screen. I received a "What do I do" call from her cell phone and dialed up the 1-800 number for Redbox. They said a tech had been dispatched and offered to let us keep it one more day and they will credit the additional day. So far I like it.

Yet another nail in Blockbuster's coffin...