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20 Things You Didn't Know About Redbox

If you haven't heard of Redbox, then you probably don't rent movies. It's one of the most convenient movie kiosk companies on the planet. Redbox is located in so many different places that you've probably seen one around. They're placed on the outside of retail shopping areas and in very convenient locations so customers have easy access to DVDs and Blu-Rays. Here are 20 interesting facts about Redbox that you probably didn't know.

1. Houston, Texas has the largest number of kiosks

There are a lot of people who enjoy renting movies in the Houston, Texas area. The last figures show that there are around 1,200 Redbox kiosks located within the Houston area. They are spread over 900 locations which means that there are several businesses that have more than one kiosk available for customers there. What this really tells us is that there is a high demand for the services there and Redbox makes sure that they are providing ample coverage for their customers. They're conscientious about customer service.

2. Redbox doesn't just rent movies

Redbox is definitely the place to rent DVD titles or if you prefer, you can get them on Blu-Ray, but they don't just rent movies. You can also find many of your favorite video games there as well. If you want to try out a new title before you actually purchase it, Redbox offers the best alternative. You can rent games you've been wondering about to find out if they're really something that would be worth spending the money on to own. They offer a broad range of game titles to choose from in multiple formats so whatever gaming console you're currently using, you're likely to be able to find the title that you're looking for to play.

3. Redbox has more locations than Starbucks

We know that this is a huge and boastful claim, but it just happens to be true. Most of us are aware of the fact that in most metropolitan areas, you can barely go a full block without running into one Starbucks after another but believe it or not, Redbox has them beaten. The saturation is even more intense. We've been informed that research on Redbox saturation shows that two-thirds of Americans live within a five-minute drive of a Redbox kiosk. There are more than 41,000 locations across the United States. That is quite a saturation.

4. McDonald's owns a controlling share in Redbox

Redbox was actually founded by the McDonald's Corporation in 2003. They are a subsidiary of the fast-food giant and are officially registered under the business name of Rredbox Automated Retail, LLC. This might help to explain why we see so many Redbox kiosks located at McDonald's fast food restaurants. It's one of the few places where you can rent a movie for a dollar a day. It's a great deal unless of course, you forget to return the DVD. At a dollar a day if you forget it for a couple of weeks, it can turn into an expensive proposition. But with the convenient placement of the kiosks, there really isn't much of an excuse for that.

5. Coinstar Inc. dropped $20 million last year to purchase almost half interest in Redbox

Here is a fun fact that most people are not aware of. It's news to most that McDonald's owns over half the interest in Redbox, but it's also news to most when they find out that Coinstar, Inc. bought just under half of the Redbox company and they spent $20 million to make the deal. You've probably seen the Coinstar machines that offer to convert your coins into vouchers that you can redeem for cash at the customer service centers at their locations. Coinstar machines are placed in almost every local grocery store and they're most often seen at Walmart, Safeway, and many other retailers. They do charge a fee for their services though, and at last observation, it was 12.9 percent. This means that to convert your coins into cash, you're going to have to pay just under 13 cents on every dollar.

6. Redbox has rented more than 5 billion titles

This is an astronomical number of DVD, Blu-Ray and game titles, but the most current statistics show that this is how many the company has rented since it was launched in 2002. There are an estimated of a million disks rented on an average day throughout all of the United States locations and this is just on average. During peak rental periods it can be much more on any given day.

7. You'd never guess what the hottest releases were in 2002

The titles that were rented the most often when Redbox first came out in 2002 might surprise you. They were "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and "Men in Black II." You have to figure that these titles had been big at the box office and when they were available for such an affordable daily price through Redbox, everyone that wanted to see them but couldn't afford to go see "Men in Black II" at theaters could now rent it at an affordable price. This was a godsend for people with large families.

8. Redbox is the most affordable way to rent movies

You can watch the biggest hits on Redbox as soon as they're released on Blu-Ray or DVD for sale to the public. The company is really good at procuring titles as soon as they become available. They are so much more affordable than any other service. There are no subscription fees ever and you pay a flat daily fee and you can watch new releases for as little as $1.75 per night. It is estimated that a Redbox rental is approximately half the cost of a newly released cable movie rental.

9. They now offer Redbox on Demand

If you haven't been keeping up with what's new at Redbox, then you might not be aware of the fact that they now offer a service called Redbox on Demand. This gives you an even bigger selection of television shows and movies to choose from. It's done via VOD, which is video on demand and EST which is electronic sell through. Redbox is keeping up with the most current trends and customer demands for service and convenience.

10. You can purchase movies and games to keep through Redbox

Now Redbox does more than simply renting your favorite titles. You can also buy them outright. You'll be purchasing a previously viewed title, but it's guaranteed to be in excellent conditions. It's super fast and easy to do. All you must do is to browse through their offerings of titles for sale, pick out the ones that you want to buy, reserve the titles and then go pick the discs up at the location for the box that you selected.

11. You can even rent Nintendo Switch on Redbox

Switch rentals were previously not available through Redbox, but they are now. You can find titles available in this format from only si locations currently though. You're in luck if you live in Salt Lake City, Utah, Nashville, Tennessee, Seattle, Washington, Denver, Colorado, San Antonio, Texas, or Portland, Oregon. The test markets for Nintendo Switch rentals were chosen to be Los Angeles, Detroit, Miami, Seattle, and New York City.

12. You can earn free perks

In addition to having a resource for renting high-quality movies and video games at a reasonable cost, you can also earn free movie and game nights through the Redbox Perks program. Redbox just keeps finding new ways to reward their loyal customers.

13. 2011 was a very special year for Redbox

Something very special happened in 2011. This was the year that Redbox rented its one billionth disc. While this was something to celebrate, it's not the only thing that made 2011 so grand for the company. Two other things would happen that would have a tremendous impact on the success of the company. This was also the year that they launched their offering of Blu-ray choices and it is also the year that Redbox began offering video games for rent.

14. It's easy to pick up and return your movies

With more than 41,500 kiosks available throughout the United States, it's easy to reserve your titles online at a local kiosk, and then return them to the same place that you picked them up. You won't have to fuss with going up to a counter and providing your information to a clerk who registers you while you wait. The wait times can be lengthy when you're vying with other customers coming and going to pick up and return rentals. Online is hassle-free and you can do it from anywhere you happen to have an internet connection and a device to get online. You just register once, then go in and reserve your movie rentals. You drive to the selected location and your movies are distributed to you. The next day or whenever you've had your fill, you drop them off at the same Redbox kiosk.

15. The demand for Redbox became phenomenal

It was insane how fast the demand for Redbox services grew. Shortly after testing had completed in 2002 and it was introduced to the American public, rental requests soared and the demand was so high that the company was struggling to keep up. There was a period of time that Redbox was installing a new kiosk every hour of every day for 365 days out of the year in order to meet the demands of a growing customer base.

16. Redbox was a revolutionary solution

When Redbox was first introduced to the public it was novel and revolutionary in that it changed the way people rented movies. Instead of spending time browsing through the selections at a brick and mortar movie or video rental store, customers now had the option of doing everything online including registration and selecting their favorite movie and video game titles for reserve. Driving to a local kiosk to pick them up and return them is an easy and time-saving process. It also saved Americans who are fond of renting movies and games a lot of money because it's far less expensive than any other type of rental on the market today.

17. The math adds up to billions of viewing hours

Here is another interesting and fun fact that many people are not aware of. When you do the math and add up the total number of video rentals with the approximate time that it takes to watch just one movie, you easily come up with a figure that is a minimum of 10 billion viewing hours. If the movies were watched more than once or if video games were played for several hours, this could increase the time that Americans spent either watching movie titles or playing video games that they rented from Redbox. That's an impressive number and it gives us an idea of just how important this type of entertainment is to the American public. We dearly love our movies and video games but it's a little shocking to think about how much time is spent on these activities.

18. Redbox keeps their selections updated

Redbox ensures that all titles that are available for rent are properly licensed and legal to rent for home viewing. This takes time, but they're punctual about securing the rights to offer the titles as soon as they are released. This is good news for people who want to see a new release but don't want to pay the hefty fees for catching it in theaters or for paying for it on Pay-per-view or some other streaming service that charges a high fee.

19. You need to save up your Redbox Perks Points

Every time that you use Redbox rental services you earn points. We discussed their perks program earlier. This is how it works. When you've earned 1,500 points, you can get a one night DVD rental for free. It takes 1,750 points for a free one night Blu-ray rental and for 2,500 points, you can get a one-night video game rental for free.

20. There's one major difference that sets Redbox apart

The one thing that sets Redbox apart from other video rental companies is that their prices are based upon daily rates. There is no subscription required for you to rent a movie or a game. The biggest difference is that there are no due dates and there are no late fees. You can view the title for as many days as you would like, but you will need to pay the daily fee.

Dana Hanson

Written by Dana Hanson

Dana has extensive professional writing experience including technical and report writing, informational articles, persuasive articles, contrast and comparison, grant applications, and advertisement. She also enjoys creative writing, content writing on nearly any topic (particularly business and lifestyle), because as a lifelong learner, she loves to do research and possess a high skill level in this area. Her academic degrees include AA social Sci/BA English/MEd Adult Ed & Community & Human Resource Development and ABD in PhD studies in Indust & Org Psychology.

Read more posts by Dana Hanson

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