Redbox is the new best thing...

[Richardo]

...if 1) you still rent DVDs, and 2) you do it 'in person' rather than through Netflix, and 3) you only want to see relatively recent movies. I'm in the demographic, for the first two anyway.

Anyway, $1.00/night, return them anytime anywhere, reserve titles on line, pretty good selection for a vending machine. I'm sold.

[TommyO]

1. If all you want is recent movies, you're right, Redbox is incredible!

I used it for a long time, and still use it for quick, "I wanna see it nows".

I re-joined Netflix a little while ago and am enjoying Blu-ray deliveries, something that the local Redbox machines don't offer.

[HopeHoops]

2. The downfall is when you forget you rented one and don't return it for a few days.

I lost one somewhere in the house and ended up paying for the full 30 days (after which it becomes yours). That royally sucked, but I figure I've saved enough over time with other rentals that I'm still ahead.

RedBox was originally rather sparse but now all of the area grocery stores have one. There's a Giant within walking distance but I don't shop there because it is too fucking expensive and a pain in the ass to find anything in. I shop at a family-owned store with lower prices (no "bonus card" overhead) and they were the first to get RedBox. I can rent a movie while I shop there and then drop it off the next day at the Giant. That works.

[TommyO]

4. Been there, done that, and it wasn't a movie that I would ever buy in the first place!

Would that family/employee owned store be Redners by any chance? When I lived in PA, they were the first ones to get a Redbox, and they fit the "lower prices, no 'bonus' card" profile.

[HopeHoops]

6. No, Karns. Great stores.

The big stores like Giant sell shelf space, not products. That's why some products take up far more space than is reasonable. All it does is push out the smaller-sales products and minimize the variety of products they offer. The small family-owned stores are where you will find variety. Karns just celebrated its 50'th anniversary and it is still family owned, founded and run by Scott Karns and his family. I've spoken with the daughter of the founder on the phone. I wrote a complaint and she called me the same day the letter arrived. They really care.

There was another small family-owned chain called Fox's Market, owned by Bill Fox. I used to shop there also, but a few years ago Bill decided to retire and sold the stores. I think the one in Hershey may have become a Karns. I'm not sure. The one I shopped at turned into a pretty nice discount grocery called Price Rite and it has all kinds of produce you can't find elsewhere, mostly ethnicity-specific things. I get full loofah's there for about $2.00. They make the best scrubbing sponges. You just slice off a fresh sponge when you need one and they fit perfectly in your palm. None of the synthetic sponges can touch them.

[TommyO]

7. OK, a bit farther west, I was in the Bethlehem area

Redners was great, they were a test market for a number of different products including California Pizza Kitchen's frozen pizzas, I still love the thick crust garlic chicken pizza that I first got there. Unfortunately, there were other, less successful products trialled there, such as Pepsi Kona - Pepsi with coffee flavoring. I loved it, friends of mine loved it, it didn't last in the market.

You're right about independent grocers offering the variety that the shelf-space marketers cannot because of their exclusive deals with manufacturers.

[quakerboy]

3. and 4)

you are willing to go into McDonalds and stand in line for 15-20 minutes while some gal with 2 screaming kids dilly dally's through the list of available movies, then some slacker teen does the same, hoping that the cleaning staff dosnt decide to wash your shoes along with the floor this particular visit.

[Richardo]

5. There's one at the Walgreens across the street from the McD's so I go there.

...and a third at the grocery store at the same intersection. Four corners, three Redboxes.