If you live in Albuquerque, Modesto, Calif., San Diego, Spokane, Wash. or Miami/West Palm Beach and rent movies via RedBox, get ready to possibly pay more. Those are five cities across the United States that are serving as test subjects to see if people will pay more to rent movies from the service.
There’s no guarantee the tests will lead to permanent price boosts nor any indication of how long the tests might last.
Launched in November in Albuquerque and expanded in recent weeks, the DVD price tests complement other marketing testing by the Coinstar-owned kiosk chain, including renewed testing of video game rentals.
“We plan to continue the test until we can understand the implications,” a Coinstar spokesman said. “There is no definitive end date.”
Along with the $1.50 test in Albuquerque, price-point tests began in May in Modesto, Calif. ($1.25), San Diego ($1.25), Spokane, Wash. ($1.15) and Miami/West Palm Beach ($1.15).
Redbox also is testing Blu-ray rentals in select markets.
The company’s biggest competitor in the DVD-kiosks niche is NCR-operated Blockbuster Express. On Tuesday, Blockbuster Express announced the rollout of an additional 500 sites operated by two convenience-store chains in the South, bringing its number of nationwide dollar-rental locations to about 7,000.
LOL! ...and now it begins. The creep up has now commenced.
Supply and Demand baby. If demand isn't there at $1.50 per rental, then this won't fly.