Comments on: Cancelled Blockbuster Online in favor of….

By: Clever Dude

Clever Dude — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 19:15:47 +0000

Out of the 10 or so movies we would get per month, maybe one would be unwatchable. But with the in-store exchange, we would just go to the store and get something else.

By: Diana

Diana — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 18:38:27 +0000

I’m reluctant to try it because even at Blockbuster you get unwatchable (scratched) films. I see only one person in the comments section mentioned that it was ok. Did everyone else have unscratched movies?

By: Festival of Frugality: 92nd Edition : SavingWithMe.com

Festival of Frugality: 92nd Edition : SavingWithMe.com — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:51:23 +0000

[...] Cancel Blockbuster Online In Favor Of… I have heard about RedBox but have not seen them in my area yet. I saw a machine at a grocery store that was very similar. An interesting concept, but I don’t think it is something I will use due to the fact you still have to go to the store to return it which is the reason I hated Blockbuster stores. Netflix has a very cheap plan that is like $4.99 a month and you get up to 2 rentals a month, up to 1 movie out at a time. So that equals out to $2.50 per movie, for me the convenience would be worth it. I still get the traditional three movies out at a time and we pay like $17 for the convenience. I love Netflix though and probably will not trade it out at any point until it all goes digital. [...]

By: Debbie M

Debbie M — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:40:26 +0000

I just tried Redbox for the first time last week. I have Netflix, but I wanted to watch a movie I know my boyfriend wouldn’t like while he was gone. Rather than try to time the Netflix, I thought I’d go over to Redbox when the movie came out on video.

Good things:

1) They had the movie I wanted in stock, although it was not pictured.
2) I actually was able to get the movie I wanted out of the machine.
3) The movie was totally watchable–not too scratched up.
4) They really did only charge me $1 + tax.

Bad things:

1) It looks like you have to go through the whole list to get to the movie you want–I was glad my movie started with the letter “B” and I only had to go to the next screen twice. (There may be a quicker way, though, which I would look harder for if I wanted a movie that starts with the letter “W.”)
2) Swiping my card did not register for many tries. I think you have to push it through slowly.
3) Then my card registered, but they claimed not to recognize it.
4) Then I waited several minutes for Windows to shut down and restart. (I guess this is a good thing–it knows that when it’s screwed up it should turn itself off and start over.) They did recommend activities to while away the time, though: I could recite the declaration of independence, I think it was, or slowly hum some song (I forget which one) three times. Funny.
5) Then I had to go through everything all over.
6) When I returned my movie, it took 16 tries to get the machine to accept the disk. It kept giving me a message to place it so that the label was showing a certain way, which it already was.

Even if it wasn’t annoying, I could never make the switch from Netflix because I like to watch a lot of weirdo (ahem, independent) and old (ahem, classic) movies.

By: Festival Of Frugality #92 - Ideas For Saving Money And Increasing Your Income

Festival Of Frugality #92 - Ideas For Saving Money And Increasing Your Income — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:30:57 +0000

[...] Clever Dude has moved away from Blockbuster and is renting movies for $1 a day, via Redbox. [...]

By: MoneyNing

MoneyNing — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 16:55:13 +0000

Wow that’s great to hear since our company supplies a component for the DVD kiosk

By: Brainy Smurf

Brainy Smurf — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:38:39 +0000

Yeah, we’ve had RedBox in the grocery stores for a few months now and we used it exclusively… and I think we were the only people checking out the big new vending machine. But, my, has it gained a ton of popularity!

Since around mid-July, I can’t think of a time we’ve been in the grocery store where the RedBox doesn’t have a line-up of 4-5 people… so Blockbuster may have to start to worry!

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 06:40:25 +0000

That’s so funny… I cancelled Netfilx a few months back for one of the same reasons. The pressure to watch the movies right away so we could get the next one and so on. We were getting our money’s worth but I felt this overwhelming need to get more for the money. We seem to be doing fine with just cable and no movies now. I’ve seen those boxes around here.. I don’t think it’s Redbox, something else but haven’t tried them yet.

By: Tight Fisted Miser

Tight Fisted Miser — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 03:10:12 +0000

I’m a Redbox user too and posted about it last month. I usually only rent 1 or 2 movies a month which isn’t enough to justify a subscription service. You can use the code “redbox” for a free rental the first time you use the service. You can use the free code once for each credit or debit card you have. It will take quite a while before I run out of free movies.

By: Tyler

Tyler — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 15:03:49 +0000

Thats creepy. I just cancelled Blockbuster last night and had the intention to check out redbox at the local grocery store tonight.