Redbox Is For Me
This story starts 2 days ago. I recently had some great things happen at work and so I wanted to celebrate. I headed over to Walmart (did they drop the dash?), the starting point for any real celebration, and picked up some beers and then headed over to the movie section.
Keep in mind that I have not purchased many moves since my days on eBay when I made buying and reselling a hobby. I counted on my awesome roommate for movies who had a great collection, Netfix, and newsgroups. I also don’t really rent movies because I don’t like to pay for something that I don’t have afterwords. See my post on virtual goods to see if you agree.
Anyway, I was lamenting my purchase of several movies at work when a co-worker informed me that he just found out that there was a Redbox at our local Walgreens. My response was a woefully uninformed “What the hell is that?” He explained it to me, gave me a photocopy of some codes he had copied down for a free rental and here is sit less than 24 hours later having already watched 2 movies that I wanted to watch and didn’t spend a dime.
So now that you are this far into the post, you may be wondering what Redbox actually is. Basically it is a movie vending machine. Not a new idea, but still awesome because it is a network. You can return a rented DVD to any Redbox location. The other point that is puts this from “cool” to “freaking awesome” is the cost. One dollar a night. You can’t beat that. Oh wait, except with codes that can be used once per credit/debit card you have.
So I was already sold and then I decided to see if they were on Twitter. They are. More awesome. Can it get better? Oh yes. They give out codes for free rentals on Monday. With all of these codes one has to wonder how the heck they even make money, but I am sure there are a ton of people that never look for codes before buying. I always do; its just my nature.
I couldn’t help but spread the good word from my Twitter account @TheCakeScraps at which point a friend took the opportunity to point out that @redbox doesn’t have the greatest selection. I can’t speak to that. I don’t even know what was released this past week, or any week, because I just look for movies that look interesting. I admit that there are movies in the case that kind of make me think “who the heck would want that movie. Some just look like crap and no surprise that imdb.com confirms my suspicions on many of the titles such as Beer For My Horses which is clocking it at a whopping 3.8/10.0.
That said, I would highly recommend that people look into this. My Redbox is a block away and it takes, literally, 5 minutes to go get a DVD and get back. I doesn’t have the selection of a Netfilx or local rental store, but the price is right, free DVD codes abound, there are no hours on it – if it is an outside machine – and there is no monthly fee. Check this service out.
On a side note, and in closing, I want to say that if you work at or own a company that employs a lot of people – such as a manufacturing plant – or in a place that has high traffic you should really look into this. I was a little disappointed because I found out that I can’t just buy one and make money from it. I have to own the place that it is going. Too bad, I would have thrown up some money to put one in somewhere and taken the chance to get some money.
What about you; does this seem like something to look into? Would you use it or is streaming video coming too fast and Netflix is too big, and who knows what else?
This has been a Thought From The Cake Scraps.
Well congratulations on the news at work, but bummer about the buyer’s remorse. Either way, that roommate who provided all those movies sounds like a swell individual 🙂
I’m not sure about Redbox, but I will give it a try. There is one about 10 miles from my house and they gave me that free coupon. I did see that they have a new movie that’s also in my Netflix Queue (but it’s listed under Very Long Wait, so it’s going to take a while before I see it). I’ll let you know my experiences after I try it out.
I tried it out after you recommended it. I’ll probably be using it every Monday for movies that I want to see. I never go to the theater and hardly ever rent so there’s plenty of choices there for me. This and hulu.com should do it for me and all for free.
@Ryan 10 miles is a bit far if is out of the way for you. If you are not going in that direction, I would say that you Netflix sub. will do fine for you. Then again, if there is a long wait on one of the movies this is a great substitute. And remember, if you have more than one credit card or debit card, each of the free codes can be used once for each.
@Chris I’m glad that you found this helpful. Again, since mine is 1 block away at the local Walgreens I will also be hitting it up for the free Monday movies. In fact, I may even have to actually rent movies for $1 just because I like to give a little back when I like a service.