On Wednesday, October the 21st 2009 I walked into one of the local stores in Florence, Alabama and left with the movie “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” from my local Redbox Kiosk. This may not seem like a big deal to some but the problem happens to be much deeper than it appears, let me explain: 1) I had rented my copy of “Transformers 2″ online at Redbox.com. 2) Although I had already rented the DVD online I still ended up having to wait behind 3 other people who took over 5 minutes each. 3) They were taking so long because all 3 of them came for a copy of “Transformers 2″ and ended up leaving with another movie, or no movie at all because I more than likely had rented the last copy of “Transformers 2″ online just 30 minutes prior to this moment in time. With that being said I will now begin Part 2 of “Redbox Etiquette” :

3) Look Ahead – For almost everything we do in life we have to stand in line, and the same holds true when you want to rent a DVD from Redbox. When you are standing in line at the Redbox Kiosk with the intent of walking home with a DVD all you need to do is simply “look ahead.” This can be as simple as looking at all of the movies your kiosk has featured on it’s side, or you could even glance at the Redbox screen while the person ahead of you browsing through the DVDs. This can give you an idea about what is available in the Kiosk and most importantly it can cut the amount of time you spend browsing through the movie titles in half or more! You can usually see the screen from a good distance away (I can usually see the movie selections 3-4 people back) so take the time you spend in line and use it to your advantage!

4) The Blockbuster Mentality – Ok let’s go back 2 years, and think about how renting DVDs use to be and then look at how some of us can’t shake the old “gatherer” mentality. When I spent $5 on a movie I took my time and made sure I got a movie that was worth the $5, because if I’m going to spend as much money on a movie as I did my dinner tonight, I’m going to make sure the movie is worth that money. I would walk around rental stores from 15 minutes to 45 minutes depending on how many “new” movies had come out since the last time I was there. This is no longer that case boys and girls, we are renting our DVDs from Redbox and it only cost us $1! Time after time I hear people complain about the 1 person who stands at the Redbox kiosk for 15 minutes while the line of 10 people behind him keeps growing and growing. In 15 minutes I could have searched every movie in the Kiosk’s inventory 9 times over and by the time they finally leave with their 1 obscure movie I’m almost positive they have as well! Let’s lose the gathering mentality and learn to quickly rent our DVDs once we are standing in front of the Redbox Kiosk, that way everyone can enjoy the “Redbox Experience” with much more ease.

Ground Rules:

1) As a rule it should take no more than 4 minutes per movie.

2) Use the online service! (There is a reason the website is plastered everywhere on the kiosk, and it ask you for your e-mail!)

3) Show some respect to those that are returning DVDs.

4) Enjoy movies you would have never considered before Redbox.

In Conclusion – Over the last 5 months I have seen movies I would have never even considered before Redbox came to my town. It’s amazing what kind of movies you can find when you start letting yourself enjoy every movie in your local Redbox. Just because a movie looks like it wont be good, doesn’t mean it’s not a great movie and at $1 a night it’s worth a shot. Over and over I have been able to cut down on the amount of time I spent at the Redbox Kiosk because I go with 1 movie in mind, the 1 movie is out of stock, and I just revert to “the next movie that sparks even slight interest I will rent” mentality. Surprisingly the movies that I rent on the fly have ended up being more memorable to me than the ones I “pick” before I leave my home. Renting with Redbox makes renting DVDs fun again and with over 15,000 locations, it keeps getting easier and easier to enjoy a Redbox near you.

Part 1 of “Redbox Etiquette” can be found here: Redbox Etiquette (Part 1)

For those of you that don’t know what “Redbox” is, let me explain: In the south east and other parts of the United States a new way to rent DVDs has gained popularity very quickly, I would even gander to say quicker than Netflix ever did. It’s a very simple system and even my Grandmom has started using it, there is a kiosk of DVDs which looks like a big Vending Machine. But the biggest things that defines the Redbox system is the cost and the online system, you can browse all of the Videos in every Kiosk at Redbox.com and then Rent the videos online with the cost of renting @ $1 a night with 0 contract. You can rent a DVD for 1 night and return it the next day and it will cost you $1 and nothing more, no hidden fees and no hidden agenda by Redbox. At $1 dollar a rental I have watched a plethora of DVDs that I would have never watched back in the $5 rental days. After numerous rentals and standing in line time after time I feel as if there was a need for something on “Redbox Etiquette”  before the number of Redbox users skyrockets beyond it’s already massive base. Let’s begin:

1) People Returning DVDs and you aren’t 100% sure what DVD you are going to get this time – What do most people do? If you guessed they completely ignore the person returning the DVD then you are correct, and most people might say that they got there first so it’s only proper, I have a problem when the person returning the DVD is either a) obviously in a hurry b) cutting it close to 9:00pm – I have seen someone returning a DVD who got in line at 8:38pm (the DVDs are due by 9:00pm) and have to stand in line until after 9:00, to which they walk away having payed for another night or c) Family, Family Family – If it’s obvious the group standing behind you isn’t happy, the baby is screaming and needs to get home, the mom is flustered, I beg of you, Please Let Them Return The DVD!!! Returning a DVD takes all over 30 Seconds, and it’s only right to think about those standing in line.  Let’s show respect to our fellow man, and actually look out for one another instead of having our blinders on and forget about everyone else around us.

2) Redbox.com – There is a website and every kiosk is connected to their servers, you can browse the titles in the kiosk and you can even rent them online. I cannot stress enough how much people need to start using the online part of Redbox, and it’s even more of an issue if you want to rent a DVD that has been released in the last 2 weeks. You can go online and click on the Movie you want to watch and actually “check up” on all of the kiosk in your area to make sure they have that Movie in stock. The system used when you rent online is also a time saver because you don’t even have to go into the menu system of the kiosk itself, you just click a big button on the front menu and swipe your card and out comes your movie. On a final note, when you rent a DVD online the Kiosk automatically removes the movie you rented from the list of available movies. This means you will always be able to get the movie you picked, no matter what!

Part 2 of “Redbox Etiquette”: Redbox Etiquette (Part 2)