Renting movies at fast food joints and grocery stores for only $1/night is one of my favorite ways to save money. Redbox (owned by Coinstar) and NCR Corp (with subsidiary TNR Entertainment) are the two biggest movie rental kiosk companies.
The kiosks from both businesses operate virtually the same way: choose a movie, enter an email address for your receipt, swipe a debit or credit card, and take your movie for $1 per night. Redbox even allows you to reserve movies online for pick-up at a kiosk of your choosing.
The concept is brilliant: customers get the movies they want at a low price, while the company doesn't have to pay expensive overhead for floor space and employee wages/benefits.
In fact, this business strategy--in conjunction with mail-order and streaming-online movie services from Netflix--works so well that video rental chains like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video are bleeding from the ears. Blockbuster is now $855.9 million in debt and is considering bankruptcy. Hollywood Video (owned by Movie Gallery Inc.) is going through bankruptcy for the second time.
That's the nature of competition in a free market. New, better ideas replace old, obsolete ones. The result in the video-rental industry is cheaper prices for consumers and the convenience of picking up a movie along with the groceries or a fast food meal. Use a kiosk and you might even be able to afford some buttery popcorn to enjoy with Transformers 3: Explosions and Stuff.
--Jens
Great article. It's only a matter of time before big chains are a thing of the past.We are becoming more and more an online society. Thanks for choosing my picture.
Thanks Valerie.
The marketplace is definitely shifting online and to self serve as people become more accustomed to new technology (i.e. self-serve checkouts in grocery stores and movie rental kiosks). Thanks also for posting your picture under a Creative Commons license so I could use it.
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