Fall Daze Away & The Redbox People

Don't let the idea fool you, I am freelancing the score board show for a college football game today from their basketball arena half a mile away. What a brave technological world we live in.

A few nights ago YB told me we could get a free rental from Redbox. I took her up on it and we proceeded to watch "The Avengers" on Blu Ray. Redbox is, well, strange in my opinion. It's great because they generally have something you're looking for and very convenient because of the price and you don't have to return the movie to the same kiosk you rented from. Very handy. But there is a gripe I have with Redbox that has nothing to do with company itself.

One of the great American traditions was the weekly trek to the video store to rent something(s) to watch over the weekend. I say "was" because Netflix has pretty much destroyed the rental store down the street. If you don't want a new release chances are you'll probably find something on Netflix because, one, they have it, and two, you have their streaming service. YB and I are such people. On the days a new release is desired a trip to Redbox is the most convenient option. The way YB and I go about picking out a new release to rent is by going online and seeing what Redbox has to offer. We find something that pleases both of us and then find a kiosk that has it. We then go to said kiosk, pick out the movie, pay for it, and make our way home to watch it after putting G to bed. The problem here is that YB and I are anti-traditionalists and have dropped the old ways which went something like this: float the idea of renting a movie, agreeing that we should rent one, driving to Blockbuster to browse the titles, find one we both are satisfied with, renting, going home to watch. The difference is that we no longer browse at the store. Rather, we browse from home. The problem is that rest of the public still browses at the store which can only accommodate one set of customers at a time. When you have three families waiting in line at one Redox kiosk, none of which know what they want to rent, and you are after all of them, it may be an hour before you get home with your movie assuming it is still there by the time you get your turn.

Now you may be saying to yourself, "Well, why don't you jut go to another kiosk? There are tons of them around...". Lets assume that. Instead of waiting for three families to pick out a movie you hop in your car and drive to another location where a kiosk exists that has your movie. This location only has two people in line, the first has their movie selected but is trying to figure out how to pay and their credit card want work (like those people in Walmart who have never used a self checkout but who refuse to ask the attendant for help or who credit card point of sale ESO disorder), the second who has a movie to return but can't figure out which way it goes in the slot or tries unsuccessfully to rent another one.

Now, like I said, I like Redbox. It is convenient and fairly priced with good selection. But the problem is that the general public still treats it like their corner video store. It's like watching people in the drive through window at the bank with four transactions but who are not ready for any of them. Slightly annoying, but I will still continue to use them.

Posted with Blogsy