Redbox Announces DVD rental price increase.

I opened a REDBOX account over a year ago, but have yet to watch my first RB movie...even the first "free" one.
Their selection is for crap, and the few times I've looked on line for a movie, and found one that I was interested in, the local boxes didn't have one in stock.

I guess their price hike will not bother me that much. :/

 

I suspect the price change doesn't have much effect on the stock price. The bigger problem is inventory. Content streaming is collapsing the market. When you can buy a movie for as little as $5 why rent?

 

At least they announced it with a little respect - citing rising costs versus attempting to sugar coat it (making it sound all good for the users, like they wanted it and that you would be finally paying for what you were getting) like Netflix did, and failed at it horribly. Plus, 0.20 isn't a huge deal.

 

Inflation is whatever the movie studios make them pay.

 

Notice another price increase seen because of the banking reform laws. Yes, keep making new laws that effect credit/debit card fees. We will pay for it in the end. Oh well.

Do you think Redbox was asleep when Blockbuster had its issues?

 

At least the fees are out in the open instead of hidden in the retail price of merchandise where everyone paid the credit card companies whether they used a credit card or not.

The reform didn't go far enough, credit card companies shouldn't be allowed to force merchants to charge everyone the same price, credit card or not. The credit card fee should be a line item on every receipt you get and only those using credit cards should pay that fee.

 

Credit card agreements only prohibit charging more for using a credit card. However, you are allowed to offer a discount for using cash.

 

I use Amazon, let them come to me!
Streaming content is nice, I just do not like the view by time limit or it self destructs restriction!
I rented a couple episodes of a show my wife and I like, but I missed the first 3 episodes on the Directv DVR....We record everything. You can watch 4 hours of program content in 3 hours with efficient application of the FF Button!

 

That sounds nice in theory, but in reality few merchants will do it. They are "encouraged" by the card companies to not do it.

That's why a requirement to make the credit card charges appear as line item in the receipt and to only be allowed to charge them on credit card purchases is a good idea.

Credit card companies wouldn't like that because if the card users had to bear the full brunt of what the merchant pays and weren't allowed to pass the cost on to non-credit buyers, card use would drop.

 

Banks keep cranking up fees for using debit cards and card usage will decline too... Redbox will feel some pain from this decision but not as much as Netflix. Blockbuster Express charges more than $1 for most of its movies. So that will help minimize the damage.

 

The shylocks are all about hiding the true costs of their schemes. To legislate otherwise would be understandably impossible. Countries that have tried always seem to end up on the 'wrong' side of history.

As for Redbox, I don't mind paying the extra 20% on the relatively rare occassion that they have a particular movie that I want to rent.

 

The consumer always pays for it in the end, no pun intended.

___________

If the US wasn't lagging so far behind other countries in bandwidth, streaming movies would be lots more popular than it is. We're now 16th fastest, behind Latvia among others.

I'm sure it's the _________________ (conservatives/liberals, insert one here) fault.

 

Shouldn't cash customers of the gas station pay more to cover the insurance premiums because their transactions invite armed robbery? It doesn't matter if it is an illegal alien, a legal alien, or an American who is shot because some punk wants a few bucks. People shouldn't have to risk their lives just to pump gas into my car.

In NJ some gas stations can't make change during certain hours while others don't take cash.

Why should the credit card companies/banks be allowed to charge a fee? Shouldn't that be covered by the interest they collect or the spread between the interest they collect & the interest they pay?

 

That wouldn't work for debit cards or for credit card users who pay in full. If you eliminate discount rates and transaction fees the banks will need to make it up elsewhere.

The best way to deal with it is to make the fees show up as a line item. Of course that will never happen, because the banks want the consumers to think they are getting something for free.

Tom