Am I the last person in the world to try Redbox?
I mean, I know I’m lazy and all. Having to actually STOP at the kiosk in the Kreepy Krogers seems like such an inconvenience when I can point a remote at the TV and press “RENT” in the on-demand menu with barely raising my hand. Sometimes I don’t even exert that much effort.
On the 1,001st time I past the Redbox kiosk in Krogers, the Cupcake said, “Mom. Look. There’s Smurfs.”
To which of course I said, “You have that movie on your iPad. Let’s go.” (Note I have finally come to terms that MY iPad is not my iPad. She’s been calling it hers for – well, since we got it. I cease to muster the energy to correct her.)
Moving quickly through this area of the store is imperative as it’s a well-laid trap for slower-paced parents to alleviate them of all their coinage. As in, it’s the store managers’ brilliant strategy to pepper the exit with rows of toy vending machines and that claw game that kids love. That wretched claw game.
On the 1,004th time we past the Redbox kiosk I actually slowed to read what she pointed at: Smurf’s Dance Party game for the Wii.
Huh.
We have a Wii. We can easily kill an afternoon on Just Dance with the Wii, but we don’t have Smurfs Dance Party for the Wii. That could be fun.
As I navigated the potholed parking lot, slugging to the car with a 40 pound monkey hanging off the side of a full shopping cart with three functioning wheels, I thought about the 5 free Redbox game rentals I have through my Gathr subscription which I don’t ever use.
I mentally committed to trying it out.
Basically it’s pretty easy. Go online to Redbox.com, reserve your rental (movie or game) and pick the kiosk you want to pick it up from. (The kiosks are prolific in the Dallas area.) Take your credit card with you and stick it in the machine. With the style and more ease than an airport check-in, the system reads the card you reserved with and spits out your rental. Returning it is even easier because you can drop it into ANY Redbox kiosk – in c+ase you forget to drive by the Kreepy Krogers but the Walgreens Redbox is on the way to school.
Oh, and did I mention it’s 1/3 the cost of on-demand rentals, and at least ½ that of iTunes rentals?
The hardest part about this evolved form of Blockbuster is remembering your reservation. I was paranoid that I would triumphantly conclude our grocery shopping and I’d forget about the rental since all my energy would then be devoted to creating a human wall between the cart monkey and the claw machine.
Alas, my iPhone has powers I once never imagined. One GPS-enabled reminder later and family dance night was SO on.
Would I rent from Redbox again? Probably as it appeals to my frugal nature, but I will admit that it stresses me out that I have to remember to RETURN the disc before I get charged for a second day. Maybe they do this already and I just haven’t discovered it yet, but if they’d add push notifications to the mobile phone app so my lazy – ahem – doesn’t have to program my own reminders when I get near a kiosk, then I’d be absolutely Smurfy about it.
Do you use RedBox? What’s been your experience? Do tell!
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