Suckered

Over the last 10 years, Redbox has really changed the face of dvd rentals (just ask Blockbuster and Netflix). If you aren't familiar with them, they have a limited selection of movies and games, maybe 50 per kiosk, and charge basically $1, depending on taxes and such. You get the movie for a day and can return it to any Redbox kiosk.

It's worked well for us over the last few years since they've been in the area, but I've noticed a disturbing trend.  When a new movie comes out (in the theaters), Redbox will offer a movie with a similar title or an earlier version of the movie (like Ironman if Ironman II is in the box office).  While there are certainly good reasons to offer the prequel to a current movie (some people just want background info on the current movie), it seems....a little underhanded. Do you really want a business model that relies in part on confusing your customer for sales?  Seems like a pretty bad idea.

Yesterday, after getting groceries for dinner, I texted LL to see if she wanted to watch a movie and presented her with two options. One of the movies was Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies and while it sounds awful, the commercials we've seen for it look pretty good actually and some people have reviewed it as good as well.  So what the heck, we'll take a flyer for $1.30.  Unfortunately, the movie we were thinking of was Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and it's still in the theaters. Doh! A.L. vs. Zombies was absolutely AWFUL and we didn't even finish watching it. We got duped and I shot off an email to Redbox today. We'll see how they respond. NOBODY should watch this movie!! I would venture to say that nobody rents this movie because they actually think it's going to be a good movie or because a friend recommended it. The ONLY reason to rent it is by mistake. Can't be good for business long term.