CLASSIC - Redbox upping price to $1.20

[underpants]

This is classic our-age economics, develop a monopoly (of sorts), kill jobs, develop loyalty, then jack up revenue.... 20%???? Exxon would literally KILL to do that. And it is all based on complicity and "eh it's just 20 cents" lazy mentality.

Redbox raises price to $1.20, readies for 2nd battle with studios

The company's first price increase since it launched eight years ago comes as Redbox reported strong results for its third quarter ended Sept. 30, possibly fueled by the gaffes of its primary competitor, subscription service Netflix. Redbox revenue during the quarter jumped 28% from a year earlier to $389.8 million, while operating income rose 56% to $83.5 million.

Redbox may face more challenges in the future, however, as several studios that already forbid it from renting their DVDs until 28 days after they go on sale -- including 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. -- are considering extending that delay to as much as 60 days in an effort to boost more profitable sales and video-on-demand rentals.

Such a move would make it more difficult for Redbox, which has 34,400 kiosks nationwide, to draw consumers interested in recently released movies.

--No it won't ---

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/10/redbox-raises-rates.html

[onehandle]

1. Redbox has a few good years left, but eventually streaming will kill them.

I haven't rented a DVD in years.

[Beartracks]

2. One thing I've never understood about Redbox...

The movies are manhandled by consumers and returned to a Redbox where they may be rented out again, fingerprints and all. I always have to clean Redbox DVDs. Once, I got one that was scratched and unplayable.

Notwithstanding that I didn't know who to complain to (since, you know, it was "only a dollar"), my question is... how do they do quality control?

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[nomb]

3. I've never cleaned a DVD or Blu-Ray in my life, and every one I touched was a rental. n't

[Beartracks]

13. I recall now it was a cheap DVD player...

... and it didn't take much in the way of fingerprints to screw it up.

But there was at least one with scratches that my player couldn't read. Maybe the same thing: overly sensitive.

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[TreasonousBastard]

4. They don't-- they rely on cheapskate suckers who don't know any better.

[Beartracks]

12. Um.... What are you saying?

:silly: LOL My question about "quality control" was meant to be a bit facetious. However, I presume that some stated effort to quality control must appear in their business model somewhere.

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[Logical]

6. Hmmmm......I have rented over 200 DVDs from red box and never cleaned one and never had one....

not play. One time I got the wrong DVD but it still played. You might need a new DVD player.

[Beartracks]

11. You're right to speculate about my DVD player.

Now that you mention it, it was a cheap-o model.

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[Xithras]

21. I've had bad DVD's from all sorts of rental places.

I don't think they're any different than any other DVD rental place. Back when I rented DVD's and laserdiscs from the local stores, I frequently had to clean them. I've also had to clean untold Netflix disks over the years, and lots of Redbox disks. It's simply the nature of the medium.

And, fwiw, I've had two Redbox rentals that were so badly scratched that they were unplayable. If you go to their website and click Customer Service, you can either get their number and call them, or do a realtime online chat. Either way, they'll refund your money without complaint. Both times I've contacted them, they've even given me a free rental code as an apology.

I have no complaints.

[Beartracks]

23. Good to know!

LOL I never thought to go to their web site.

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[Logical]

5. I would suggest anyone who thinks 1.20 is too much should try to do it cheaper!

[Name removed]

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[Logical]

10. I do not wok for them. But I do get tired of people complaining about....

Price increases no matter what. If it was so easy then another company would under cut them.

[greyl]

17. Netflix can work out to be cheaper.

11.99 a month, and I'm averaging 12-14 discs a month, looking back through July.

[AngkorWot]

7. It's a shame they put that other rental movie vending machine service out of business.

Whatever that was.

[BlueDemKev]

14. Blockbuster has better deals

Blockbuster's prices are still 99 cents and they almost always have 2-to-1 deals going on. I'm not sold on the whole RedBox thing. Higher prices, limited availability, ZERO personal service.

[JI7]

16. there are still blockbusters around ?

[BlueDemKev]

19. Blockbuster's Still in Business

The one that's still open in my town is in my neighborhood.

[JVS]

15. Right after netflix pisses off its customers they pull this.

Nice timing.

[BlueDemKev]

20. Go to Blockbuster!!--Cheaper Prices

Screw RedBox AND Netflix. Blockbuster has 99-cent movie rentals (49 cents on Sundays). And at least with Blockbuster you don't have to worry about having your identity stolen (which has happened with Red Box).

[Xithras]

22. But Redbox is being a bit smarter about it than Netflix was.

First, the price increase is 20%, and not the whopping 60% increase that many Netflix customers experienced. Second, they are being very upfront about the reasons behind it. I received an email last night that listed the reasons for the increase, which was much better than Netflix's vague "rising costs and changing business model" announcement. Third, the increase only applies to standard DVD's. Rather than raising prices across the board, they rightly decided to limit the increase to one product. BluRay and video game rental prices will remain the same. And fourth, they're phasing it in. Instead of just hitting people with the new price, the cost of a Redbox rental will remain at $1 for the first night during a transition period, and will only go to $1.20 for subsequent nights.

Maybe they just took a lesson from the Netflix fiasco, but at least their giving the impression that they care about their customers experience. This is in stark contrast to Netflix and their "this is the way it is, so deal" attitude during their price increases and service changes. IMO, the way Netflix reacted to customer complaints was FAR more damaging than the price increase and service changes themselves. Redbox seems to be trying to avoid that mistake.

[slay]

18. Boycott Redbox!!!

:) :P :evilgrin: For real.