Coinstar raises price on rentals from Redbox kiosks

Coinstar has announced their quarterly earnings today, surprising some.

The company is raising the price on Redbox kiosk rentals from $1 to $1.20, effective the end of the month.

Execs say Blu-rays and video game rentals will still cost $1.50 and $2.00 with no price hikes.

Says the company:

We remain committed to providing redbox consumers access to the latest movies at an incredible value. This marks the first price increase for a redbox standard definition DVD rental in eight years. The change is primarily due to the increase in operating expenses, including the recent increase in debit card interchange fees as a result of the Durbin Amendment.

Overall, Coinstar says their Redbox business surpassed $1 billion dollars in revenue for the year.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 27 Oct 2011 16:25

xaznboitx

Hm... I was told that 1.15 was a test to see if people would still be renting dvds from redbox which was a temp price so I guess it's going higher.

27.10.2011 17:01 #1

omegaman7

Hate to say it, but 1.20USD is rather trivial LOL! I think Greed played a role here. But perhaps there is some truth to the rising debit card fees. But since it's all done by computers, how can that be? I suppose somebody has to deal with it...

Operating expenses? The more customers you have, that rent the same disc, the more profit you earn ;)

Mobo Gigabyte 790XTA-UD4 CPU Phenom II 965BE C3 step @ 4.0Ghz 1.475V RAM Ripjaws F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM 7,7,7,21 2T 1.65V Cpu Cooler ECO-R120 (ALC) GPU BFG GTX 260(216 cores) PSU HX750W
------->One day, I will fold@home and my electrical usage will be laughable...<-------

27.10.2011 17:18 #2

SProdigy

So now what do all the former angry Netflix subscribers have to say about this?

27.10.2011 17:18 #3

omegaman7

Netflix doesn't anger me :p To stubborn to change. Besides, blu-rays shipped to my door is excellent :D

27.10.2011 17:21 #4

Jeffrey_P

Redbox works well for me. I rent 2 or 3 Blu-Ray disks a month. There's four Kiosks within walking distance.

On another note.. Capt. America is fairly decent except for the audio looping and some scenes that look way too cartoonish.

The kit car with the supercharger sounds more like a turbo, flying wing even if it is a turbo prop sounds like a commercial jetliner and the onboard bombs sound liked Huey UH-1. I guess most people won't notice or don't care.

Jeff

27.10.2011 18:41 #5

omegaman7

Redbox is 8 miles from me :( though there are 3 machines there. They're handy, when netflix denys me a new release. Like jurassic park. Grrr! LOL! They must not have got enough copies. I don't think redbox will have that one though. I wanted to see if they were worth buying first. I may just grow inpatient and buy them. We'll see.

27.10.2011 18:45 #6

klassic

Originally posted by omegaman7: But perhaps there is some truth to the rising debit card fees. But since it's all done by computers, how can that be? I suppose somebody has to deal with it...

All businesses get charge a fee to accept credit and debit cards. There is also a percentage charge per transaction. Debit cards and credit cards with rewards programs are charged at higher percentages.
I am not happy with the increase, but costs have to go up eventually. $1 was such a nice round number. $1.20 just feels odd. My question is are the coupon codes going to be worth $1.20 now?

27.10.2011 19:59 #7

Jeffrey_P

I don't see why not.
Call, email them and ask.
1.866.733.2693

27.10.2011 20:44 #8

core2kid

Redbox could have adjusted the time from 9PM to 8PM and probably have made more money. A significant number of people are still at work or on their way home at 8PM.

28.10.2011 03:29 #9

ruff469

Originally posted by omegaman7: Hate to say it, but 1.20USD is rather trivial LOL! I think Greed played a role here. But perhaps there is some truth to the rising debit card fees. But since it's all done by computers, how can that be? I suppose somebody has to deal with it...

Operating expenses? The more customers you have, that rent the same disc, the more profit you earn ;) Originally posted by klassic: Originally posted by omegaman7: But perhaps there is some truth to the rising debit card fees. But since it's all done by computers, how can that be? I suppose somebody has to deal with it...

All businesses get charge a fee to accept credit and debit cards. There is also a percentage charge per transaction. Debit cards and credit cards with rewards programs are charged at higher percentages.
I am not happy with the increase, but costs have to go up eventually. $1 was such a nice round number. $1.20 just feels odd. My question is are the coupon codes going to be worth $1.20 now?
Correct. The banks are raising fees all around which eventually all ends up on us. But here's the kicker. Those companies receiving those fees can use that as a tax right off. That's why it is illegal for them to charge as a service charge for using our cards but they find ways to do it anyway and we as consumers don't fight it so what eventually happens is we establish a precedence which will later become common law and irreversible. Kinda like paying child support for a kid that's not yours or paying income taxes for the first time.
So essentially people who rent from redbox are really just padding the companies pockets. Even though its just $.20 multiply that by all the customers plus per day, per transaction, and you can see that the shareholders just made a huge lick.

28.10.2011 11:10 #10

Jeffrey_P

Transfer day is 11/5. I'm opening a credit union account on that day and shutting down my current bank account.

No debit card and many other BS fees.

The downside is there is not a branch on every street corner but.... 25,000 no fee ATM's within X amount of miles.

Jeff

28.10.2011 23:10 #11

AfterDawn: News