Redbox Revolution
With over 800 kiosk locations nationwide, McDonald’s Redbox automated DVD rental provides an alternative to expensive movie rentals.
“Redbox continues to revolutionize, scandalize and reorganize the DVD rental industry,” the official Web site reads.
It’s a new way of experiencing DVD rentals that is sweeping the nation. Most Redbox locations are at or inside McDonald’s restaurants which has helped boost sales, the Web site claims.
Redbox is currently expanding it’s venues to grocery stores around the nation. Smith’s Food and Drug on 400 North reports they were supposed to receive a Redbox three months ago, but it hasn’t arrived yet. By the end of June, Redbox is scheduled to be in over 400 grocery stores in the New England area and on the east coast.
The allure of a cheap movie rental keeps some students, such as Josh Iverson, a freshman majoring in Computer Engineering, coming back for more.
“For a while I was going every other day,” Iverson said.
The automated teller machines vend movies the way a soda machine vends sodas. After you select your movie from a the list, the machine will wait for patrons to swipe their credit/debit card, then the movie is ready to take. Movie rentals cost $1 per night. Rentals are due back on the next day at 7 p.m. Patrons are charged for an additional day if the movies are returned more than one hour after 7 p.m. Cards are only credited once the movies are returned.
If the movie is kept up to 25 days, the card will be charged $25 and the patron will have ownership over the movie.
David G. Herrmann, an executive in residence at the College of Business, sees
Redbox either dominating the market or a number of businesses scrambling for profits. DVDXpress, DVD Play, and Flickstation Media, Inc., are just a number of companies venturing into the DVD kiosk market. For those interested, www.interactiveds.com has information about running a kiosk.
Most often, Herrmann said, the competitor first to enter the market with their service will dominate sales not because they’re the best but because of name recognition. It’s not uncommon for students to refer to the automated DVD kiosk in the Taggart Student Center as a ‘Redbox.’
Michael Bostwick, a junior majoring in international business, doesn’t mind if other companies begin to offer the automated service.
“I’ll go to whatever one’s most convenient,” Bostwick says. “My services can be bought.”
The craze all began more than three years ago in the nation’s capital. In Feb. 2003, Redbox automated retail LLC placed six kiosks in the Washington D.C. Area. From May to Sep. 2005, McDonald’s added the kiosks to their stores in Denver, Salt Lake City, and other high traffic communities.
Herrmann foresees Redbox continuing to grow until another form of technologyis able to replace it. The drive to a local McDonald’s may be enough to deter Redbox use in the future. Hermann said the video rental industry is risky business.
“I wouldn’t want to hold stock in [companies like] Hollywood Video,” he said.
An easier, more time efficient rental service could evolve even within five years. Herrmann predicts patrons may soon be able to download a video file online good for 72 hours. Burn a disk or transfer it from your flash drive to your T.V. and you’re watching a movie without ever having to leave the house. The potential rental system also eliminates the need for DVD holding facilities or the fear of product damage.
Because the process is automated, when patrons are vended the wrong movie or get a scratched disk, the Redbox Web site directs them to call their customer support. For most problems experienced with their service, Redbox directs customer to call their hot line.
Though selection is limited to approximentally 128 titles, new releases are updated every Tuesday. Because of limited supplies, new movies are often found in short supply.
Scott Hart, a junior in business finance and economics, thinks Redbox is going to put traditional video rental stores out of business. He points out the fact that customers don’t even need to be members to rent a video.
For more information, visit the Redvox Web site at www.redbox.com.
-jfullmer@cc.usu.edu