Coinstar buys out Redbox, will test higher Blu-ray rental prices
By Darren Murph 
posted Feb 18th 2009 4:10AM
posted Feb 18th 2009 4:10AM
[Via ZatzNotFunny]
Read - Buyout
Read - Increase in BD prices
posted Feb 18th 2009 4:10AM
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dammit now i'll never go blu.... never ever...... i refuse to ever pay more than $1 to watch a movie.....
You're cheap, you must live in the backwoods chevy boi
well can't say i still live in the sticks but i definately came from there and that poor old wrecked chevy is still sitting in the driveway (which is better than the front lawn on blocks) and i'm not too cheap just a bit of a smart ass
I don't get it. I have Netflix and I rent Blu Rays yet my monthly fee has never gone up. Is there like a grandfather clause or something?
Show me a RedBox that has Blu-ray. Heck, when you email them, the company itself can't identify which ones have Blu-ray and which don't. Their reply to me. Just drive to every RedBox in your area and check. When I asked how to easily identify, they told me to look at several (10-20) movies in the machine and see if any have Blu-ray as an option.
So, yes, I've reverted back to DVD for rentals. NetFlix can't get new releases (DVD or Blu-Ray) and RedBox can't identify which have Blu-ray. Blockbuster is way to expensive...so I give up.
No doubt. If they just made it easy to find out where they blu-rays are I'd get them from Redbox. But like you said it's impossible to know.
This is why I use Vudu for HD :)
Services like this would have benefitted form an HD DVD world.
The Combo Disc makes inventory and rentals simple.
Rent the movie, watch how you want.
@T-Bone- I think pretty soon they will get it down. they are still kinda the new kid in town.
I have still yet to see a redbox with blu ray discs. appearantly there are some, but to me they are a unicorn or leprecon. I really shouldn't eat lucky charms when I go on the internet
your not missing much, the one at my local wal-mart (oldsmar, FL) has blu-rays, but usually they only stock like 4 or 5 blu-rays. Blockbuster is better
Almost all of the Redboxs in San Diego have Blu Ray. I just started using this service about 1 month ago and I really like it. There are multiple locations close to my house and a good selection of new movies in Blu Ray. I really hate that they are going to raise the price on the Blu Ray it just shows that people don't care about the consumer anymore. Like Billy said they are the new kid in town even though they have been out for about 3 years. As more and more people realize how great the service is the company would get more profits, but they aren't going to wait and continue giving the customer a great service/movie at a great price, they are going to jack up the price and make me Jaded like blockbuster did.
I think this is a sad day
P.S. I will switch to DVDs because my PS3 does a good enough job of upscaling!
I have two Redboxes very near me, but neither have Blu-rays. Redbox would be smart to get into the rentals of Blu-rays as their seems to be a pent up need for more rentals of this format. Local Blockbuster always has all the recent Blu-rays completely rented out.
Here's a question... if Blu-ray is such a hot up and coming commodity, why is there a need for rentals? And people wonder why there are such a large number of people who don't see Blu-ray catching on, many people aren't even buying the dang format, they are just renting it which gives the studios no major incentives to continue backing the format.
Here's a question that was posted in 1998... if DVD is such a hot up and coming commodity, why is there a need for rentals? And people wonder why there are such a large number of people who don't see DVD catching on, many people aren't even buying the dang format, they are just renting it which gives the studios no major incentives to continue backing the format.
Oh my, I have been owned by the master debater. My god that is the smartest line I've ever seen, taking someone else's statement and just replacing a few words and adding a couple more. You can respond when you actually get an IQ and actually have something to say.
I love Redbox!
I will be happy to see blu-ray in the machine as well!!
Blockbuster needs to change their rentals to a dollar a day like Redbox. This would hurt Redbox, and turn the company around. Comparing the two, Blockbuster has a huge selection. Even though I use neither, I love Netflix.
Actually if Blockbuster did the $1 a day rental it would cause them to go under. Blockbuster's overhead is far more than Redbox's. $1 would cost them money just trying to keep the stores with a roof over them and keep employees to run them, not to mention the utility costs. Let’s be nice and say the store costs $2000 a month just to have the space, that’s 2000 rentals right there, now with an average of 12 hours a day being open and a normal of 3 employees at $7.50 an hour, that’s $8100, so now you’re looking at 10100 rentals just to cover the cost of the store being open, you go and tack on business taxes, rental licensing, and any number of other cost which are associated with operating a business, there is no way a rental store can operate a store front exclusively for rentals at $1 a rental.
That may be true, but if Blockbuster charged $1 per night I bet they would actually make more money. As it is, their movies are usually out for two weeks (they let you have it for seven days, and then give you seven more to return it). So, in all actuality, let's say that the average rental is gone for 10 days... that means that in all actuality they are only making 40 cents per night. If Blockbuster changed to $1 per night rentals, even if the customers returned the movies after one night, they would still be able to rent it out again the next night (like Redbox). At the end of the day, they would not have to stock as much inventory (because they are getting more mileage out of it) which translates to lower costs, and they would get $10 for ten days of use instead of $4 for 14 days. This would be especially true for new releases (where most of the movie rental money is made anyway). Also, I never get more than one movie at a time from Redbox, but I see people all the time taking 3 or 4 movies from the machine... I doubt that they watch them all and return them the next day (which means multiple dollars at checkout, multiplied by the number of days the movies are out). Comparatively, I can't count how many times I've been at Blockbuster and they never have the new release I want in stock. With $1 dollar per night rentals the movies would be returned quicker and I would be a much happier customer that is more willing to return because Blockbuster was able to satisfy my needs.