If you are fortunate enough to live near a place that has a Redbox then you know how handy they can be. For those that don’t let me tell you what they are. Someone came up with the great idea of setting up a movie rental business from a vending machine. I finally overcame my fear of the new technology and had to try it out, and I must say I do like the idea. I have since seen the idea done in other places but Redbox seems to have the formula down pat.
They have placed the rental kiosk in many convenient locations such as McDonalds and Smith’s Food King and some local Wal-Marts. At the screen select any of the DVDs available, enter your credit card and out comes the movie. When you are finished watching the movie you take it back to any location, it doesn’t even have to be the one where you got it from and return it. Your credit card well then be automatically billed for the whopping price of (get this) $1 + tax per day. These are for any selections in the box including new releases. That certainly beats out the last few places I used to rent from.
And what happens if you keep it an extra day? Nothing but an extra $1 charge. In fact if you have it out over 25 days just keep it because the charges stop after 25 days and it is assumed that you have bought the movie.
As Redbox continues to grow, there are over 8,000 locations now, it will make it easy for families that go on a road trip to stop at one place and rent a kid friendly movie, watch it on the video player that so many mini vans and SUVs have now and turn it back in for another one somewhere down the road. If I didn’t like to do the driving so much I would definitely be a passenger.
Now it won’t completely replace your local video store as the vending machines are limited on the total number of selections available. You can only put so many into one machine, so if you are looking for an obscure classic you will be better off shopping the local store. If you want one of the latest new releases, be sure to get there early because they might run out of stock, especially on hot items and especially on the weekends. That said, you generally find a pretty good selection and I only go away without finding something really worth watching occasionally.
As I am always on the lookout for great ideas to invest in, this one surely grabbed my interest. I went straight to the internet to look for more information on this company. I knew this was a good idea when I went to the local McDonalds one night to rent the latest comedy and noticed that the line outside in front of the Redbox was longer than the line inside ordering food. You know you have a winner when…
Unfortunately Redbox was and as of this writing still is a privately held company. They have made known their intention to file registration statements for an initial public offering with the SEC. Depending on the pricing and business plan laid out in the prospectus this might be a worthy investment. After all, some of the sites with a Redbox have added a second box so business must be booming.
So the last thing to say is that when I gave them my e-mail address they gave me a promotion code that I could give to my friends for one free night rental, so if you are in an area with a Redbox and want to give it a try, enter the promo code “DVDONME”. Tell them Ed sent you.
You can find them on the web at www.redbox.com.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
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