mr slice

i work for redbox how do you guys like the service

telekinetic

Haven't used it. Netflix for a while, then when I got reliable fast internet, switched to private trackers.

__________________
twisted no more

snowy

We use the Redbox alternative, Moviecube, as it's closer to our house and located within a Fred Meyer. It's .5 miles away, whereas the nearest Redbox is 1.5 miles away.
We only use it when we can't get new releases from Netflix right away. I've never used the Redbox service, as it's just never been convenient to me.

__________________
If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Redlemon

I don't remember the last time I rented. I usually watch whatever I can TiVo.

__________________
I can't read your signature. Sorry.

Xerxys

I dont pay.........

shakran

and here I thought you were talking about one of these:

Punk.of.Ages

I use Redbox all the time. There's one right up the street. I go get at least one movie on most Tuesdays at midnight.

__________________
"The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion..." - Henry Steel Commager

"Punk rock music is great music played by really bad, drunk musicians." -Fat Mike

MacGuyver

Sorry, but I have no clue what this is, so you must not be doing a good job of... being in my area.

__________________
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
---Aristotle

Deeds, not words, shall speak [for] me.
---John Fletcher

mrklixx

I use it fairly frequently. I'll use it if there is a new release available that hasn't made to me via Netflix yet. I've also got quit a few of the free rentals from McD's so, free movies are always a good thing. It's a really good service if you are on vacation, or travel for business and have a portable DVD or laptop.

Just out of curiosity, mr slice, what do you @ Redbox?

__________________
This post is content. If you don't like it then you are not content. Or perhaps just incontinent.

This is not a link - Do not click here

I hate animated avatars.

mixedmedia

we don't have redboxes.

I've used Netflix for going on 5 years and never had a problem with it.

__________________
Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce

ametc

Redboxes are convenient and are EVERYWHERE in my city. I like how you can rent from one box and return it at another. It's better than Netflix imo because with Netflix you have to wait a few days to get the movie you want, with redbox you just pick it up when you want it and you're good to go.

mr slice

myjob at redbox is a fsr1 that mean that i a field dervice rep my job is to put the new movies in the mnahine and take out damage and movies that need to be sent back and clean and do some repair oon the machine

SabrinaFair

I've rented from Redbox a couple of times--it's convenient, but rather limited in selection. I like classic movies and indie films, which is why I'm a Netflix fan. Their selection of those movies is much better. Redbox is good for new releases, but very little else.

__________________
"With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy."
-Desiderata

Xerxys

I'm surprised not many people have replied to this thread ... here in Cary there is a redbox (I only just found out what it is 5 mins ago) all over. In the next Kroeger, Harris Teeter, pretty much any grocery store. Tons of people use 'em. There is usually a queue of like three people whenever I leave these stores.

Er.. just forgot not everyone lives in Cary, sorry ... carry on.

Cynosure

I like Redbox. Our family uses it a lot. However, I do have a major complaint against it...

Your labels... you know, the ring-shaped ones, printed with a type of bar code and stuck on one side of the hub in order to identify an individual disc to its renter... yours are made out of paper, which is liable to deteriorate when exposed to water. And why would a customer need to expose one of your DVD's to water? Because, the fact is, most people can't seem to handle DVD's (or CD's, for that matter) without getting their greasy fingerprints all over them; and, after passing through several users, a rental DVD can become un-playable due to the buildup of grease and other gunk on them. So, they need to be washed, gently, with warm water and a tiny drop of mild dishwashing liquid, and then rinsed and patted dry.

Well, a couple of times I've come close to inadvertently defacing the delicate label of one of your DVD's while cleaning it, and I find this irksome because I know if I do end up defacing it, I'll have a lot of trouble returning the DVD to a Redbox machine and getting my account credited for it.

Our family also checks out DVD's from our local library, and their labels are made out a type of plastic that is pretty much waterproof. Thus, we have no problem cleaning a dirty DVD from our library.

mrklixx

Cynosure, it's probably a cost factor. Your library probably has a couple hundred dvd's. Whereas Redbox probably has tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dvds. At that volume even a few cents more for a better sticker could equal a chunk of change. Plus, they rotate the discs out so frequently that a more permanent sticker probably just isn't cost effective.

Which brings me to another question for mr slice (if he's still hanging about), how long do they keep the dvds, and what do they do with them once they are out of rotation?

__________________
This post is content. If you don't like it then you are not content. Or perhaps just incontinent.

This is not a link - Do not click here

I hate animated avatars.

Cynosure

I live in a suburb of a big city, with several libraries that are networked together, and collectively having tens of thousands of DVD's.

Is the cost difference between a paper sticker and a plastic one, really a few cents (as opposed to a fraction of a cent) each?

Anyway... All it takes is few bad experiences with a service, for a customer to become dissatisfied with it and to look for alternatives/competitors. Already, I've had a few Redbox DVD's that were un-playable, due not to greasy fingerprints, but to scratches. And not only was I frustrated about that because I couldn't get my rental fee back (at least, not without going through convoluted means that I felt were more trouble than it was worth), but also because I knew when I was returning the un-playable DVD to the machine that it was going to continue circulating among customers, making them waste their money as well.

But I guess that's the price we pay for the cheap and convenient DVD rentals that Redbox (and other services like it) provides. Even so, I still think they can spend the extra half-cent or whatever, per DVD, to upgrade from a paper sticker to a plastic one. Because, really, I find myself having to clean at least half the DVD's that I rent.

(Rant: Why can't people properly handle a DVD? Good grief! It's not that friggin' hard. You simply put the tip of your index or middle finger in the hole, and hold the edge with the inside of your thumb; or, if your hand is big enough, hold the entire disc by its edge between your thumb and middle finger; either way, without having to touch any part of the playing surface.)

mr slice

ok about the paper ring inthe middle we are working to get a better labelto put on the dvd. i when you call customer service about a damage dvd they mark it damage and the manchine will for let anyone rent that disc any more and i remove the dvd from the machine and I sent it back to a warehouse in chicago and we try to keep a dvd in the machine about two monthes and when we sent it to a place that cleans and test it and resell as a preview movie.

Strange Famous

Also no idea what redbox is.

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

Xerxys

Strange, I very much doubt you got them in the UK. They are boxes roughly the size of a phone booth in which people who don't know how to use .TORRENT files rent movies from. They usually have the latest DVD releases and they're in various 24/7 grocery stores.

genuinegirly

From what I've seen around here, they're not very popular, but they are a great business model. $1/night for the rental. Super cheap and always in convenient locations.

__________________
"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq

"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy

Rekna

We use it a couple times a month when we have watched both of our netflix dvds and there is a new release to watch. We live within 1 block of 3 different redbox machines so if we try all 3 we can usually find one. Though the selection is very limited.

cdwonderful

I like it if they have the movie in stock. the out of the way ones do, the high traffic ones....not so much

__________________
Never try to teach a pig to whistle
it wastes your time,
and annoys the pig.....

Destrox

Thats my biggest thing, popular movies never seem to be in stock in them.

I have 3 very close by, rarely can find a *new* movie in stock.

__________________
You bore me.... next.

mrklixx

Just an FYI for those that use redbox, you can pretty much see online if a specific location has a movie or not, and if they do you can reserve it for yourself.

__________________
This post is content. If you don't like it then you are not content. Or perhaps just incontinent.

This is not a link - Do not click here

I hate animated avatars.

Destrox

! no way...

if this pans out to be true, you win the internet for a day.

Thanks

__________________
You bore me.... next.

biznatch

In Boulder I used it all the time. It was about 1.5 years ago, I don't remember there being a great selection, but enough to have a decent movie every few days. Very cool concept, and it can be quit useful.

__________________
Check it out: The Open Source/Freeware/Gratis Software Thread

Cynosure

Me, I haven't had much trouble finding newly released movies at Redbox. (Shrug.)

One time (I think it was a Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon), I was standing in line at Best Buy with a couple of things to purchase, including the DVD release of Cloverfield, which had just been released that day or the day before, and was on sale. I hadn't seen the movie yet, but I'd heard a lot of hype about it, so I had picked it up. But then I said, "Nah, I'll wait to see if Redbox has it." (See, Best Buy? That's what you get for almost having long checkout lines in your stores. It gives customers time to think and reconsider their upcoming purchases.) On the way home, I stopped at a McDonald's, and sure enough, that Redbox had it. ("Sweet! And for just a $1.") And after watching Cloverfield, I was so glad I didn't buy it.

tooth

Never used it. We've already got a movie rental place in town that rents all movies for a dollar a day.

coldhands

I have used redbox a few times. Generally, it is times that I want a new release. I look up on the web to see if a redbox nearby has it. Most often, none are available.

I sometimes check out the boxes when I leave the grocery store, but mostly find that the titles offered are crap movies I have no interest in, so I move on without renting anything.

__________________
"All it takes to make a difference is the courage to stop proving 'I was right' in being unable to make a difference, to stop assigning cause for my inability to the circumstances outside myself, to be willing to have been that way, and to see that the fear of being a failure is a lot less important that the unique opportunity I have to make a difference."

-Werner Erhard