@@lysergicpillamyd483 Except now it isn't convenient to stream at all. Streaming just sucks dick now, with how much shows get removed and shuffled around. It's a waste of money.
It will still be around but prices will keep going up like they are with vinyl. I know so many people who collect music, but look at me crazy when I tell them I collect 4K discs.
2:45 Redbox didn't charge late fees. They'd keep charging the daily rate until you had paid the full value of the movie, then they'd stop charging for it.
Honestly, these seem like great little miniature libraries. In fact if some of the more rural libraries that can't open daily can get ahold of some of these they might make a great addition. Just put in new and high demand discs every so often and they'd be pretty much set. Only thing to figure out would be making it read library cards and eventually it'd need maintenance.
@@KeanueAnakoni-Aukai ah yes, me and the twenty-so people who’ve I’ve seen at the library every time I go in don’t exist. (Also physical media is quickly coming back. Did you know there are more cassettes being produced now than ever?)
Guy came into my store asking if we had a Redbox so he could return his. The double take I got when I yelled back they were bankrupt as he walked away was priceless. "What do I do!?" "Guess it's yours now!"
@@chuckielover06 happened to me back in the day as well i felt so lucky as a kid when my dad and i showed up and it was closed and my dad just said guess they're yours now got like 3 games that day
I rented Kid Icarus on NES and the day AFTER I returned it, they closed shop. I asked my mom if it were one day later I guess we'd just have kept it. This realization about how a mere day can alter destiny and fate really hit hard as a child.
My theory on why some machines still work is possibly the payment processing service its using is still active but the bank account it uses is gone,frozen or etc so the machine will most likely think its gone through when in reality it never did
That's a pretty good theory but my theory is that the red box is trying to communicate with some server somewhere to verify credit card information and that you're buying / renting the disc but since they shut down I don't think it's reaching to the server telling it the information. That's probably why the first one errored
Having worked in eCommerce, if it actually worked this way then Redbox's software is pretty bad. The CC processor should be saying "no, merchant account no longer valid" at this point, and if the machine takes that as an indication that the charge went through, some dev did something stupid.
I was a repair tech (FSR 2) for Redbox from 2013-2017. The blue machines were a Walmart thing (It’s their color) for a short time. In 2017 we had to upgrade all of them to Windows 10, once Microsoft dropped support for Windows 7. Game theft was a huge problem. The machines used a low resolution camera to scan the barcodes on the discs, so as long as it could read the barcode it thought it was a good return. People would photo copy and print replacements or just move the stickers to some other junk disc to return them. They didn’t have a way to track who rented them because barcodes were only unique to the disc titles, not the actual discs themselves. I’m actually surprised they lasted as long as they did.
@@The_MEMEphis Streaming is ok, but I'd still prefer a DVD/Blu-Ray service. For example, Netflix DVD before they closed had more titles than the streaming service did. One example is some older TV Shows, Netflix DVD had them, but the streaming services didn't.
I work at my local library where I deal with all the incoming donations we get. People are allowed to donate anything pretty much, so I've seen some wack stuff. But last month I came in and someone had donated thousands of new movies in their Redbox cases in plain cardboard boxes. I have no idea if the person who donated them was a Redbox employee, or someone who just raided a dying Redbox, or if this was someone's guilty collection acquired over the last decade. The weird thing is, the closest Redbox to the library (literally just down the road) is still there and pretty much operational (haven't tried it in the last few weeks tho, so idk..) so these discs were probably not from there. I just ended up setting them out for our annual DVD/CD sale last week. A handful of them got bought up, so now they're just randomly floating around my town.
Redbox went into liquidation bankruptcy. It’s parent company sells off the assets. Those stands still make money so they are sold off to whoever buys them and could potentially stay open if whoever buys them decides to keep operating them.
From what I understand Red Box is pretty much gone and can't even afford to take the machines out themselves. I heard that it's now all up to the stores to remove them
Redbox kiosks were kind of like the last remnant of the old days of video rentals. They kinda felt like the last little glimmer of the Blockbuster experience existing until the 2020s.
@@kasiadinero1695GameFly is staying alive until gaming consoles no longer support physical media. Then they’ll be out existence like the way of the dodo 🦤
This is crazy, the end of an era I'm going to miss these machines because you would randomly see movies you never planned on seeing. Kind of like the old Blockbuster experience
I found some random anime in one. "The Sky Crawlers". Turned out to be pretty good. They had to 'dial back' the realism of the CGI on the air combat scenes so they wouldn't clash with the regular animation. The sound was done by Skywalker sound.
My theory: these machines have some kind of "offline mode" programmed in, where if the machine is not able to access the Internet, it will assume the card is good and dispense the movie, then store a ledger of card numbers and amounts due on an database inside the machine itself to resolve later once the device is re-connected to the Internet (or synchronized in some other way). This would explain why your card was not charged. Scholastic Book Fairs use a similar system - the machine is often not connected to any Internet or phone line, someone at Scholastic just runs all the cards from the machine once it's shipped back. I suspect they are not the only ones that take this approach.
I suspect you are right. IF I were the creditors, I'd keep the bank account(s) in question open and keep the credit card processing account active as well in case what you describe happens... Somebody gets one re-connected to the internet and suddenly a few hundred bucks comes in. I kinda doubt it though, because for that to happen, I suppose the new "owner" would have to log into whatever computer is inside to connect it to wifi. Though if they connected it to ethernet... maybe... possibly... Might not be worth the time/hassle for either of them.
For the sake of (1) privacy and (2) security, I hope and pray you are wrong. Terrible idea to keep CC info in a sidewalk PC. Especially since these things run Windows.
Are the machines completey offline or are they online but just... there is no master redbox server to talk too. It's possible it can connect to bank to validate the card... but that the only thing that works. Including actual pricing. (I am talking out my butt thou no idea how these kind of systems work)
I work in a restaurant and our POS system has a similar mode where it will store all CC info to be manually re-ran once internet connection is restored.
All retailers with RedBox units were asked to unplug the machines and place an out of order sign on them. As it turns out, very few followed the request.
@ColouredColor Thickness of the disk shouldn't vary. It ceases to BE a DVD or BluRay if the thickness deviates from the specification, and they legally cannot use those trademarks. It also has no impact on the recorded bitrate and codec.
God I feel so old, but I remember when these were new. Redbox was a really good service in rural areas. We always got to see a new movie every weekend because of one of these before we had a a decent internet connection. I'm not surprised that Redbox is gone, I'm just disappointed by what its bankruptcy means. Just another reason to be bitter towards streaming services, I guess.
Netflix has been going downhill for a long time, but 2020 was the death nail for streaming IMO. Every company came out with their own service and pulled their content from everywhere else. Now there's like 2 or 3 decent things to watch at best on any one service. It's not worth paying for more than 1 month of any service to watch what you want and then switch to something else and do the same thing
@@jarrodm9010 yeah, if it weren't for this I'd be at least paying for 1 or 2 streaming sites. now i just (allegedly) pirate everything, because it's too much of a hassle to get it normally.
I remember I was at a sleepover with a bunch of my friends, we brought over 2 Xbox 360s and I forgot to bring my copy of call of duty, my friends dad noticed and he took all 9 of us to go get the game at red box and got all of us snacks, soda and pizza. His dad was such a chill dude lol
One of the first special Redbox Rental DVDs was "Up!". It had the menu removed and no subtitles, not even closed captions. It also had a bunch of ads for other Disney stuff, which could not be fast forwarded or skipped. At the end of the movie it would automatically restart the ads so it would play them and the movie in an infinite loop. But the chapter markers were left in so if you wanted to rewatch it without seeing all the ads you could go to chapter 1 before it hit the end of the credits and returned to the start of the loop. Disney figured out a way to make a DVD worse than a tape. When I found it had no subtitles or closed captions, I figured parents of deaf children would be really pissed off, a quick google showed that yes, they were. If there wasn't a theater showing with subtitles, the only way their deaf kid could enjoy the movie was to buy a full retail copy.
These have become Zombox kiosks. There are a handful of them still running, but there is no payment processor to charge you even though the machine is able to validate your card. The company is dissolved, and all staff were laid off. Only a few contractors remain tasked with dismantling the remaining locations and liquidating the disc inventory.
Man this is way sadder than I thought it would be. My childhood was going up to our cabin every few weeks or so and every single time without fail my Dad and I would stop at a Redbox and pick out 3 movies to watch over the weekend together. It was always such a quick way to find new movies and I’m sad to see that era die.
That makes me feel old because I had a similar experience, but it was with Family Video or Entertainment Tonight. Redbox could never replace Video Stores.
5:38 The last time anyone would get the chance to play Redbox Roulette and your rando pick was Beauty and the Beast LOL Honestly that seems so perfect somehow...
part of the reason that the redboxes are still there is many outdoor kiosks are cemented into the ground so it costs a lot to take out. also the kiosks cost like $35 a month in power alone.
Yeah, they are also hard-wired into the electrical, so they have to pay an electrician to disconnect it from their wiring safely. (No plugs into the wall, just cable straight to the breaker box..) I seriously doubt $35/month though. It's a low-power computer and a few low-amp motors getting very little use. I'd be surprised if more than $10/month
@@marks47 Some of the outdoor kiosks have built in refrigeration systems to keep the insides cool, which would increase the power consumption quite a bit.
@@jandajanda2242 It can cost considerably more than that, and here’s the math: an indoor Redbox unit operates at 7 amps on 120v DC power. (An outdoor unit needs 14-17 amps to operate, so your costs could more than double). That makes the wattage 840 watt for JUST an indoor unit. 1680 to 2040 watts for an outdoor unit. Here is the formula to calculate energy costs - power usage (kW) x time (hours) x power company rate (kW h). We are running .84 kW for 730 hours (hours in a month) at a rate of 15 cents per kilowatt hour (energy cost in my state). That’s $91 to run an indoor unit for a month or $182-$223.38 for an outdoor unit. We can assume the price would be lower than that because every component won’t be drawing power constantly (outdoor units have climate control that WILL be drawing constant power), but I promise, you’re going to be spending more than $35 a month on that. I would estimate with consistent usage, you’d spend $45-50 on an indoor unit and well over $100 on an outdoor unit.
I bought some movies from my local Redbox the other day, at a Food Lion too. Just did it for posterity and to have a few more. Looking at my CC statement, it did not charge me for them lol
Wow. The CC processor's API is almost certainly returning an error, but whoever programmed the kiosk did such a bad job that a response they weren't anticipating ("Error, Merchant RedBox no longer exists") is being interpreted as success. It'd be hilarious if I hadn't run into that exact situation in one of the codebases I inherited and had to fix... Ended up giving away free comics to all shoppers for a week because the java-wrapped-in-perl-wrapped-in-php CC processor module took silence (e.g. when the java module was outright deleted) as success... "File not found? I guess everything worked! Here ya go!"
@@oasnteti took a class in highschool and could barely wrap my head around simple java codes, but this is so hilarious and interesting to me nonetheless
@oasntet the Redbox software has an offline mode, so it's storing the payment info while the network connection is reestablished. Since the network connection is dead, it's permanently in offline mode
@@LouisSubearth I'm amazed they didn't suffer a lot of thefts, then; all you'd have to do is jam some tinfoil in the right spot to block cell phone reception and use a card that validates but isn't actually connected to an account (even use an ancient magstrip writer to do so) and poof, free DVDs/BluRays. I guess the main reason they didn't is that anybody inclined to steal movies was already doing so far more efficiently via bittorrent or usenet...
Moved from NC to CA... Seeing Harris Teeter and Food Lion in this video is nostalgic. Me and my dad would always stop by at a redbox kiosk before or after getting groceries. When we're done using it, we return it at a nearby kiosk at a CVS store. Sad to see them go away slowly throughout the years.
When you look at the terms of operation, they should state that late fees are basically treated as a purchase of the movie. So... there should be no daily rental accumulation deals. So... no. No $5,000 late fees should happen for one movie.
why this is working is there is no internet so it going into a offline mode. of course normaly it would charge you when internet was restored. sense thats never going to happen and even it did it would be trying to connect to a bank that no longer there. i think the walmart one use the stores wifi so still connect to the internet.
@@gogereaver349 If I were them or their creditors, they'd want to keep the bank account open. Probably wouldn't cost much to do that in order to collect funds coming in anytime someone fooled with it enough to get it connected It might do its "phone home" call and maybe process the transactions. Whether it goes through the old redbox servers to do that, or just goes straight to the CC servers would be interesting to know. I think I'll go get a prepaid CC and see how many discs I can get out for $4 purchase. I imagine it won't actually do anything to the card...
I’m actually currently working on cleaning out their headquarters and flagship warehouse right now. I’ve been finding some cool stuff. All the office spaces where left completely untouched with everything still there
Also funny that you mention that trick. I was cleaning out the fraud detection heads office and found a box full of fraudulent disks. Found everything from mixtape cds to demo cds from rappers that never took off.
3:20 I rented a few Redbox titles where all I received was the photocopied front of the disc. I had to call Redbox and explain what popped out of the machine. The third time it happened and I called, the representative didn't believe me. I said "I can text you a photo RIGHT NOW and she actually gave me a number and I texted a photo of the case within five minutes after I rented the title- there was no time for me to go somewhere and make a photo copy of the front of the disc to take the photo in a few short minutes.
Some would just unglue the original and stick it to the inside of the empty case. I rented an empty disc box once and that’s how I discovered it. Redbox just gave a code for a free rental and told me to simply return the empty box as normal 😂
@@aaronlane8276 No. It is easier to put the disc in and rip it. Then you have a perfect copy of the ISO forever. You literally just have to press "OK" and wait a few minutes without doing anything. Stealing the actual disc is a lamer move.
Back when Netflix was only DVD by mail rentals you could have out up to 4 movies and you had to return them if you wanted more. I really liked Princess Mononoke so I kept it around while using the other 3 slots for rentals. They said "no late fees" but after a couple of months I got a $20 charge on my bill for the movie. So I still have it today.
If I remember right after 15 or 20 days or no return redbox just assumed you were not gonna return it so you were charged 20 bucks for 20 days worth of rentals
@@Cheezus I actually have a "late" DVD from when I was a kid, and I don't think my parents got charged for it?? we rented 2 different movies that night and when we tried returning them, only one was returned and we got stuck with the other one since then. And we had done Redbox on and off for years while in possession of the late DVD. It never once charged them for it??
There were no late fees. Rather, the discs were rented on a daily basis. If you kept a disc longer than the maximum rental period, you already more than paid for the disc with the daily rental fees.
Remember the summer for 2016 going with my parents every weekend to find a movie for us to watch. I hope DVD movies never die since it’s a way to get movies without paying for a subscription.
In the late 1980's, years before DVD's were released and the technology of kiosks for them was available, I worked with a guy in the US Navy who had a business plan to turn those small shed photo drop of points into drive through movie rental huts with a single person working inside and 50 to 100 copies of the top 100 movies at the time. Like a mini drive up Blockbuster. It seemed feasible a the time, but DVD's would have meant more movies could be stored in the tiny spaces. The biggest issue he saw was licensing of the movies to rent. I've often wondered if he had anything to do with the technology behind Redbox or Netflix (which got it's start as a subscription service of renting DVD's by mail with a plan to eventually switch to streaming the films).
I havent used a Redbox in years, brings back good memories though, my dad passed away almost 3 years ago from Alzheimer’s. I used to get him movies al the time from Redbox, i remember going all over the area to get whatever new movie he wanted, using the app to locate it, etc.
I recently bought a Blu-Ray copy of the live action Ghost in the Shell movie from Dollar General that was precisely that, a former RedBox disc still with Redbox label on it and everything in a case marked Previously Viewed.
That first map is in the part of Idaho that I live in, but then the Harris Teeter and Food Lions are all on the east coast? I'm so confused! Were you guys just on an epic cross-country road trip?
Some of my best childhood memories was standing beside a redbox and my mom asking us what movies we wanted to watch. We didnt have much growing up, but redbox was a good memory
Please either install the Red Box OS on a steam deck just to see how broken it would run, or try and get one, personally would love to see what you could get running (Maybe Doom) or see if you could add your own disks.
I'd imagine it won't do much. Would be surprised if the "main" interface even came up. I'm not a Redbox tech, but I'd imagine it would start polling for hardware unique to redboxes. Stuff like the little robot "arm" and the disc storage carousel through limit switches and rotary encoders. When it doesn't "see" them attached it'll know they're disconnected or it is somehow out of order. Now I'm curious to see if I'm right, though, so go for it! lol.
Bankruptcy doesn't necessarily mean shut down. There are still assets and liabilities to be allocated and serviced according to whoever owns them now. Somebody on the receiver list might end up getting your rental and/or late fees. Alternate theory: Redbox owes their CC processor a bunch of money, but there are others higher up on the list. So the CC processor deliberately flipped the account into a "test mode" that approves all transactions without actually charging them, thus getting a little revenge on some private equity firm by ensuring they have far less stock to liquidate for cash...
Also depending on how the bankruptcy procedures go, who gets what assets and what they decide to do with them, it's possible that the service could be restored to operation. Redbox's rental model was solid, the company went bankrupt for other reasons, so someone might think it's worth reviving if they don't have to be saddled with the debts.
@@asteroidrules If they restructured a bit to reduce overhead as much as possible (using local wifi instead of paying for a cell phone number for each kiosk) it might still survive another few years. But optical media is done, outside of a population of collectors who aren't going to be interested in renting anything. For better or worse, streaming has won...
I went to a Redbox kiosk and rented a movie, not realizing they were bankrupt and forgot my car was paused, but it "processed the payment" as if the card wasn't paused...
i remember when these first came out we never actually rented a movie from there but me and my brother would always mess around with the machine and check out what they had one time when we went over to a friend's house their dad did go out and rented a redbox dvd i don't remember what it was but i vividly remember him walking in with it and us getting excited its also really interesting that this vid popped up in my feed because just like a week or 2 ago me and my dad went to walgreens and walking out we saw a redbox i had no idea they had been bankrupt but i just asked my dad "you remember when these first came" and he said yes and we just chuckled because they are so obsolete nowadays but we had no idea they filed for bankruptcy i was shocked to even see one still
Man I wish they still have games and some of the locations. But yeah from what I've heard that before they even went bankrupt they weren't paying the fees to the movie studios. Also people that worked for Redbox they go to like the doctor or something like that for healthcare and then we'll find out that their insurance wasn't covered because it wasn't active cuz Redbox was not paying insurance for the company.
I heard about that! And worse yet, they were getting the insurance premiums taken out of their paychecks. So, allegedly RedBox was committing fraud against their employees.
Thing is those vending machines could be bought and with just a little code changes we as owners could franchise the machines to be rentals far past Redbox being involved…. It’s just a matter of setting up a small online database, and a payment account to direct to.
I would totally buy a kiosk and set it up in our small town and just have it link to a local lan server to administer it so I could rent out movies in our very tiny town…. I mean I have tons of DVDs in my collection…. And I already lend out to my local friends…. This would just be awesome if they will let us take it…. Lol. I could totally just put it on my porch. Hahaha
Redbox stores transaction data locally in case of an internet outage. Once it reconnects to the internet, the payment is processed. But there's no company and I'm assuming their servers are permanently offline. Also, everyone who used that particular machine has their card info on the hard drive. Someone would just have to decrypt it.
I've been wondering if these could be refurbished for private use. Like how anyone can own a food or drink vending Machine and make money with it. Seeing as how they are basically abandoned, and businesses are trying to get rid of them, I would offer to take one and set it up somewhere for local rentals myself. If I had a way to easily reprogram it to send money to my own account and not rely on redox servers to process everything.
I work at a Food Lion that also still has a working machine. A customer just asked me tonight if it was still actually working and I told them I'm pretty sure it is. I low key want to try to get something out of it, albeit very few of the movies in it interest me.
I’m so confused. This was clearly shot on the east coast cause of the food lion and Harris Teeter but the picture of google maps shows a shot of Meridian/Boise Idaho.
i’m from nampa idaho and im so confused on where the HECK is that food lion and harris teeter anywhere in the treasure valley area (where he showed the maps 0:37). Anyone else?
My guess is that Redbox didn't collect the Kiosks, or perhaps the owners of the place bought them when it went out of business. I also suspect that those that still had rented movies out with no way to return them, that the bankruptcy court thought it wasn't worth the cost to go around to each house and collect the movies. I know that they turned it over to collection agency, when another movie rental company, Hollywood Video collapsed many years ago and that lead to a big attorney general investigation over the practices. Maybe as the result, Redbox and the bankruptcy court didn't want to risk something similar. After all losing a few used DVD or Blu-Ray discs isn't that expensive of a loss to take. I bet it would cost more to pursue collections and spend time to track down the renters or get search warrants. I suspect the one that the cards still work on may have been using someone else's internet (perhaps the store provided it) and that the payment processor is still running but Redbox may not have an account anymore. It could also be malfunctioning too. As to the dark screen, I wonder if the LCD backlight failed sometime between when you took out the movie and when you returned it.
According to the Redbox subreddit payment processing stopped working on all Redbox machines around mid July for new transactions as it seems like the central server shut down, likely either broke or the server host realized they weren’t getting paid and shut it down. Unfortunately if you were renting during that period you were charged the full amount as if you never returned even if you did so it doesn’t seem to be the payment processor locked them out, just the server that handles returns and rentals shut down.
Soooooo I was told by someone that ummmm you can get these movies and about 95% of the time it DOES NOT CHARGE YOU …… I was told this ….. just like you said at 2:20 right after I made this comment 🤣
Red Box the times when you went to the grocery store with your family and couldn’t wait to go because you were so excited to pick out a movie/game. If you had the chance to experience this you had a badass childhood 👍 it’s a very strong core memory not just for me but I hope to think thousands of kids that did the same thing when they went to the grocery store with there parents
I’m glad you and your generation got to experience this and it gives you happy memories…..but….what you guys missed was the real, full-force aspect of movie and game rental in the 80’s before even Blockbuster existed. Even a small town would have a good number of privately owned ‘mom and pop’ rental stores. So whilst you experienced getting groceries and a recent movie, those before you experienced getting groceries and getting a recent or old movie only from Blockbuster…..my generation experienced going out expressly to go to a few or handful of rental shops to get new or older or much, much older movies. We’d often come home with a movie or two from two to four different places in the mid80’s ! It was an experience all by itself own self! Heheh 🙂
@@machfront I also experienced Blockbuster as a kid in the early 2000s but don't really remember much I was to young but remember walking the aisles to see every single movie on display.
Here is the most important question of them all. *How do functional machines interact with your credit card information?* I *think* when they can't reach their homebase directly, they internally store that data until they get their next connection. So, if someone unauthorized gets their hands on a machine you used, can they decrypt your information? Or is your card going to get charged for use at any point??? I actually do not know what happens at this point. But I know of at least three (last I knew) kiosks that are still up and running. A fourth machine is permanently on that 'Out of order' screen and the fifth Wal-Mart machine has its plug pulled. A sixth machine has just been taken away. But was fully functional up to that point. I should take a photo of this one machine. It is so poorly maintained that it would fit in at a haunted house. I mean the spiders have decorated it *that much* and the red is extremely solarized. It stands as an abandoned relic, already. *To anyone brave enough to use one of these...* let's say zombie machines... I'd recommend checking your card's usage records regularly. Best results is that any rental/purchases just never show up. Wouldn't want someone to try and rent the machine clean and then get $25 'late fees' show up for thousands, one day. Or, worse of worse, the new owner misusing your credit card number(s). What I am thinking is that all of the employees who remotely serviced these machines have been fired months ago. So, is there anyone even left to come haul these things away? I'm thinking no. And these machines are all over the place. So... they now loiter about on various commercial properties. Dollar General doesn't even seem to care that they are vampiring off of the electric bill. So, who knows how long these outdated movies will still remain "rentable". ... Another idea hit me to anyone who might find themselves in possession of a former machine: Here's a second life function: Arcade gambling. After all, it already has everything needed to run such an idea. By filling the machine with those plastic sleeves and reformatting how the screen looks, one can put random slips into the plastic sleeves that, when vended, can be redeemed for random prizes. Say, they choose the fiftieth 'Random prize' on the screen and get slip 123. Well, prize 123 could be some $10 plush prize or nearly anything. And nobody knows which virtual button to press for that one out of ______ (Hundreds? Thousand? Just how many movies do these things hold?) that will win that PS5 or other top prize. Only problem I can see is restocking the sleeves when anyone just doesn't bother to redeem for their prize and keeps the sleeve, instead. I suppose there are other recycle ideas available, too. After all... computer/touch screen/card reader/internet. I'm sure that can be given a second life for something else.
In the machines where the credit card authorization is working, it sounds like a two-step settlement process. The first process is to get authorization, which it calls out and gets authorization. I would think that should put a hold on your card for the amount charged, but that may vary from bank-to-bank. The second process is the settlement, where the company sends a settlement record to the bank saying that your charge was valid and they need the money from your account. Until the settlement process completes, no money leaves your account (you may see a hold there, but if there is no settlement activity within about 3-4 days, that will drop off). Since corporate no longer exists, I would say the settlement process isn't working anymore and nobody is getting charged.
On Google Maps there are 7 listings near me. All but 3 say "permanently closed". One of the "open" ones I know is no longer there, it's at my supermarket and I remember them taking it away. I would have to drive about 15 minutes to check the other 2.
Thanks for letting the world know it would take you 15 minutes to drive to the other location. Please be sure to also let the world know what you had for lunch today and whats the plan for dinner. :)
I know there used to be a redbox at my local Kroger store & Thorntons gas station where i live, have no idea if either of the machines are still there or not now lol Update: idk when google maps last updated street view here but as of the most recent update on it the Thorntons one appears to be gone & the Kroger one (2 Redbox machines right next to each other) was still there. Not sure about currently though
I didn't know redbox closed down, man me and my dad would pick up a movie or 2 to watch when we went to the dollar store sometimes. I'm going to miss that. It's one of the few times we actually get to hang out too :/
one still at a dollar general near me too.Also- as a former Blockbuster manager- The "rental" disks don't have fancy menus, DVD 'extras', or anything other than just the movie and credits.
I worked at Hollywood Video when we were going through our final bankruptcy in 2009. We stopped paying for leases on our buildings by using Redbox as a way to break our leases. Our lease agreements said that no other video rental company could be in the same complex as our physical location, which was generally fine. Since Redbox was so easy to install they went up everywhere. Lot of lawsuits got launched but the company managed to go under before any of them could resolve in the favor of the plaintiff as far as I'm aware.
I stole a copy of Black Ops 4 doing that method. I was young and very broke, not the proudest moment but I called Redbox and acted like I originally received it as a paper copy and gave them the barcode number so no one would receive the paper disk.
The redbox kiosks still allow "rentals" because they store customers details locally in case of connection failure then upload the transaction details when the connection is restored (which will never happen). The kiosks store the first 6 and last 4 credit/debit card numbers along with name and zip code and movies rented. the database is encrypted with AES but the decryption code is in the source code!
So you don't actually get charged anymore? Then there's nothing wrong with grabbing all the movies you want from one of these? Or loading the whole machine up and taking it?
bro i got b02 from red box and on the day of returning i gave my mom the empty box kept the cd and took it to ct while i staying for my gpa i bought every dlc maps and the gun camos everything my mom never asked
I have also experienced this policy with games & movies, although differing prices between movies or games discs. After so many days let’s say a month of $2/day the disc is yours to keep
I used to work at a DVD rental store before they all went out of business, Redbox operates under the same license with movie distributors as we did, often times the rental release is negotiated separate from streaming and even the airplane release of movies, so the rental disk is probably to denote that was that specific version so it can’t be resold in theory and can explain if it’s for sale before the dvd would be for sale commercially at stores and such because that usually comes last after any other release type Basically long story short that “Rental” disk is to flag it in case someone tried to resell it before the dvds were meant to be available for sale to the public
from what i remember, the "rental" labeled discs have less features than a regular disc. like instead of 7.2 surround itll be 5.1 or 2.1. some bts features will be missing, some extra languages of subtitles, etc.
My theory is that the outdoor one might not actually be connected to the internet, but might run batches whenever someone decides to do whatever to it during whatever routine it needs to process it.
I work for an Albertsons chain, and my store has 2 of them. One of them is completely dead, but the other you can still see the movie selection screen behind the paper sign saying the kiosk is decommissioned. It's a little creepy that these kiosks are frozen in time, I honestly wonder when they are going to be removed.
Anyone else still have a Redbox kiosk nearby?
Btw, after this video, we went to more Redbox Kiosks... a LOT more. Update video later this week 👀
Ours just closed up 2 days ago. I did manage to steal the big neon sign 😅
Mine closed up but it is still there. Not working.
(Update: it got removed)
Yep and it works
I bought some discs a few days after they went bankrupt
I do
I'm so disconnected from modern news and culture that this is how I found out Redbox went out of business.
Same lol. Hit a few around me the next day and snagged quite a few discs
This is how I found out about Redbox in general lol
this is how I learnt that redbox ever existed and what it is
same
Same. Literally did a double take when I heard they'd gone bankrupt.
RIP redbox. used to rent Wii games at $2 and rip them to a hard drive. play them on my modded wii. kicked ass
Most people who rented video games would just return photocopied labels instead of the actual disc.
Wouldn't that be considered fraudulent? Since, you know, you didn't own the game?
@@ZhadTheRad yep
@@ZhadTheRadI don't think he cares
@@ZhadTheRadoh no!
The death of physical media feels like the beginning of the end for individual ownership.
It is (except for the high seas me matey 🏴☠️)
The only reason it's dying is because people stopped buying. Once it was made convenient to stream physical media had no chance to continue long term.
@@lysergicpillamyd483yes but its getting to the point that its not convenient to stream because every show or movie is on its own separate service
@@lysergicpillamyd483 Except now it isn't convenient to stream at all. Streaming just sucks dick now, with how much shows get removed and shuffled around. It's a waste of money.
It will still be around but prices will keep going up like they are with vinyl. I know so many people who collect music, but look at me crazy when I tell them I collect 4K discs.
2:45 Redbox didn't charge late fees. They'd keep charging the daily rate until you had paid the full value of the movie, then they'd stop charging for it.
fair
That's actually not scummy at all. For once.
shockingly fair
I've bought a few because of this lol not intentionally
Honestly, these seem like great little miniature libraries. In fact if some of the more rural libraries that can't open daily can get ahold of some of these they might make a great addition. Just put in new and high demand discs every so often and they'd be pretty much set. Only thing to figure out would be making it read library cards and eventually it'd need maintenance.
Or they could use it for adult media content. There is no good place to buy it in the store and it seems perfect.
Aw, this is actually a genius idea!
no one uses physical media 😂. get real, what a stupid idea
@@KeanueAnakoni-Aukai ah yes, me and the twenty-so people who’ve I’ve seen at the library every time I go in don’t exist.
(Also physical media is quickly coming back. Did you know there are more cassettes being produced now than ever?)
Guy came into my store asking if we had a Redbox so he could return his. The double take I got when I yelled back they were bankrupt as he walked away was priceless. "What do I do!?" "Guess it's yours now!"
Happened to me back in the day. Rented Desroy all humans on ps2 and the place closed by the time i had to return it. Young me was confused as hell.
@@chuckielover06 happened to me back in the day as well i felt so lucky as a kid when my dad and i showed up and it was closed and my dad just said guess they're yours now got like 3 games that day
Still have some old DVDs from Blockbuster..times gone by
I rented Kid Icarus on NES and the day AFTER I returned it, they closed shop. I asked my mom if it were one day later I guess we'd just have kept it. This realization about how a mere day can alter destiny and fate really hit hard as a child.
@@barrysandcreamI got boxes full of old blockbuster vhs tapes that were sitting outside the place when the landlord cleaned it out.
My theory on why some machines still work is possibly the payment processing service its using is still active but the bank account it uses is gone,frozen or etc so the machine will most likely think its gone through when in reality it never did
That's a pretty good theory but my theory is that the red box is trying to communicate with some server somewhere to verify credit card information and that you're buying / renting the disc but since they shut down I don't think it's reaching to the server telling it the information. That's probably why the first one errored
@@sethmunoz3608wonder why the 2nd one worked
@@sethmunoz3608 I think its a mix of both
The only real way to know is to get access to a machine
Having worked in eCommerce, if it actually worked this way then Redbox's software is pretty bad. The CC processor should be saying "no, merchant account no longer valid" at this point, and if the machine takes that as an indication that the charge went through, some dev did something stupid.
I was a repair tech (FSR 2) for Redbox from 2013-2017.
The blue machines were a Walmart thing (It’s their color) for a short time.
In 2017 we had to upgrade all of them to Windows 10, once Microsoft dropped support for Windows 7.
Game theft was a huge problem. The machines used a low resolution camera to scan the barcodes on the discs, so as long as it could read the barcode it thought it was a good return. People would photo copy and print replacements or just move the stickers to some other junk disc to return them. They didn’t have a way to track who rented them because barcodes were only unique to the disc titles, not the actual discs themselves.
I’m actually surprised they lasted as long as they did.
Sad we can't have nice things without thieves coming out of the woodwork. These machines would only work in countries like Japan.
@@LiquidusSnakeXthieves aren't the reason Redbox is going away in America it's because nobody uses them anymore because of streaming
@@The_MEMEphis Still an example of why we will never get those cool japanese vending machines that make pizza and shit.
Those Redbox games were listed all over marketplace,it was ridiculous how many they stole from the company.
@@The_MEMEphis Streaming is ok, but I'd still prefer a DVD/Blu-Ray service. For example, Netflix DVD before they closed had more titles than the streaming service did. One example is some older TV Shows, Netflix DVD had them, but the streaming services didn't.
I work at my local library where I deal with all the incoming donations we get. People are allowed to donate anything pretty much, so I've seen some wack stuff.
But last month I came in and someone had donated thousands of new movies in their Redbox cases in plain cardboard boxes. I have no idea if the person who donated them was a Redbox employee, or someone who just raided a dying Redbox, or if this was someone's guilty collection acquired over the last decade. The weird thing is, the closest Redbox to the library (literally just down the road) is still there and pretty much operational (haven't tried it in the last few weeks tho, so idk..) so these discs were probably not from there.
I just ended up setting them out for our annual DVD/CD sale last week. A handful of them got bought up, so now they're just randomly floating around my town.
Redbox went into liquidation bankruptcy. It’s parent company sells off the assets. Those stands still make money so they are sold off to whoever buys them and could potentially stay open if whoever buys them decides to keep operating them.
I hope not. I just got like 20 movies and it hasn’t charged my card yet
From what I understand Red Box is pretty much gone and can't even afford to take the machines out themselves. I heard that it's now all up to the stores to remove them
That's not how it works the store they are in their corporate office hires a recycling company to come get them
@@billythekid5196 That's obviously not happening. Pretty much every store in my town still has a redbox except Kroger.
Redbox kiosks were kind of like the last remnant of the old days of video rentals. They kinda felt like the last little glimmer of the Blockbuster experience existing until the 2020s.
red box is the dying breed of last generation. the same for block buster that existed prior to it. I wonder what will take its new place.
2018-19 was the last time I used it. I’ll miss those nights of no internet and movie night.
The Flu 2 big Coofuffle of 2020 killed the last movie rental store in my town.
GameFly is the closest thing now but that’s digital too
@@kasiadinero1695GameFly is staying alive until gaming consoles no longer support physical media. Then they’ll be out existence like the way of the dodo 🦤
This is crazy, the end of an era I'm going to miss these machines because you would randomly see movies you never planned on seeing. Kind of like the old Blockbuster experience
Lol
I found some random anime in one. "The Sky Crawlers". Turned out to be pretty good. They had to 'dial back' the realism of the CGI on the air combat scenes so they wouldn't clash with the regular animation. The sound was done by Skywalker sound.
@@greggv8 Mamoru Oshii directed a lot of anime films and series in that same style, they're all quite good if you liked Sky Crawlers
I miss those old school Blockbusters
Yeah, that’s kind of how those worked. You would always end up checking out something you weren’t planning on getting. 😂
My theory: these machines have some kind of "offline mode" programmed in, where if the machine is not able to access the Internet, it will assume the card is good and dispense the movie, then store a ledger of card numbers and amounts due on an database inside the machine itself to resolve later once the device is re-connected to the Internet (or synchronized in some other way). This would explain why your card was not charged.
Scholastic Book Fairs use a similar system - the machine is often not connected to any Internet or phone line, someone at Scholastic just runs all the cards from the machine once it's shipped back. I suspect they are not the only ones that take this approach.
I suspect you are right. IF I were the creditors, I'd keep the bank account(s) in question open and keep the credit card processing account active as well in case what you describe happens... Somebody gets one re-connected to the internet and suddenly a few hundred bucks comes in. I kinda doubt it though, because for that to happen, I suppose the new "owner" would have to log into whatever computer is inside to connect it to wifi. Though if they connected it to ethernet... maybe... possibly... Might not be worth the time/hassle for either of them.
For the sake of (1) privacy and (2) security, I hope and pray you are wrong. Terrible idea to keep CC info in a sidewalk PC. Especially since these things run Windows.
Are the machines completey offline or are they online but just... there is no master redbox server to talk too. It's possible it can connect to bank to validate the card... but that the only thing that works. Including actual pricing. (I am talking out my butt thou no idea how these kind of systems work)
I work in a restaurant and our POS system has a similar mode where it will store all CC info to be manually re-ran once internet connection is restored.
you're correct thats why its limited to 3 disks. Redbox will only spit out 3 disks a transaction when offline.
I'm glad people are taking the initiative to preserve these. Such a shame redbox went out of business but it was only a matter of time
All retailers with RedBox units were asked to unplug the machines and place an out of order sign on them. As it turns out, very few followed the request.
The DVD's that say RENTAL on them contain the movie only. There are no special features on the disc.
Also don't get the full-quality audio and video.
They also used to be more expensive to adquire. Besides the disc itself, you were buying the license to rent it.
@ColouredColor Thickness of the disk shouldn't vary. It ceases to BE a DVD or BluRay if the thickness deviates from the specification, and they legally cannot use those trademarks.
It also has no impact on the recorded bitrate and codec.
@ColouredColor are you sure you are not buying DVD-R/BD-R’s?
@ColouredColor That's kind of it.
That’s the Wall-E of redboxes. A relentless little worker.
I went to a Walgreen's and the Redbox was still operational, just a hunch, but I think almost every Redbox at a Walgreen's is in operation.
@@180fJCVery possible, the one at the Walgreens in my town worked just fine despite the out of service sign they put in. 😆
@@180fJCunfortunately, mine just has a permanent message that says it's out of order.
Wall-(E) and Redbox are in my viewpoint serene cubes :)
월(E)과 레드박스는 제 관점에서 고요한 큐브에 있습니다 :)
God I feel so old, but I remember when these were new. Redbox was a really good service in rural areas. We always got to see a new movie every weekend because of one of these before we had a a decent internet connection. I'm not surprised that Redbox is gone, I'm just disappointed by what its bankruptcy means. Just another reason to be bitter towards streaming services, I guess.
Netflix has been going downhill for a long time, but 2020 was the death nail for streaming IMO. Every company came out with their own service and pulled their content from everywhere else. Now there's like 2 or 3 decent things to watch at best on any one service. It's not worth paying for more than 1 month of any service to watch what you want and then switch to something else and do the same thing
@@jarrodm9010 yeah I can't believe these companies that make content want to make money from it it's such a crazy concept
A Dollar General down my street still has a RedBox, and for whatever reason is still being updated. I wonder how they're keeping it up to date.
@@jarrodm9010 yeah, if it weren't for this I'd be at least paying for 1 or 2 streaming sites. now i just (allegedly) pirate everything, because it's too much of a hassle to get it normally.
I remember I was at a sleepover with a bunch of my friends, we brought over 2 Xbox 360s and I forgot to bring my copy of call of duty, my friends dad noticed and he took all 9 of us to go get the game at red box and got all of us snacks, soda and pizza. His dad was such a chill dude lol
I still buy disks from mine. Just got Bloody Hell a few days ago. Enjoyed it. Just checked and your right, never got charged.
This is how i learn Redbox went bankrupt and the issue wasnt just my local Walmart skimping out on maintenance.
A store doesn't maintain another business' machine.
One of the first special Redbox Rental DVDs was "Up!". It had the menu removed and no subtitles, not even closed captions. It also had a bunch of ads for other Disney stuff, which could not be fast forwarded or skipped. At the end of the movie it would automatically restart the ads so it would play them and the movie in an infinite loop.
But the chapter markers were left in so if you wanted to rewatch it without seeing all the ads you could go to chapter 1 before it hit the end of the credits and returned to the start of the loop.
Disney figured out a way to make a DVD worse than a tape. When I found it had no subtitles or closed captions, I figured parents of deaf children would be really pissed off, a quick google showed that yes, they were. If there wasn't a theater showing with subtitles, the only way their deaf kid could enjoy the movie was to buy a full retail copy.
No closed captions! And I may not be deaf but that seems like it would be essential to any film that they rent. Especially the kids movie. Shameful.
These have become Zombox kiosks. There are a handful of them still running, but there is no payment processor to charge you even though the machine is able to validate your card. The company is dissolved, and all staff were laid off. Only a few contractors remain tasked with dismantling the remaining locations and liquidating the disc inventory.
Yeah, my store has had the machine sitting there for a few months now untouched. Recently had a manager unplug it.
That’s completely lazy
...and the cost of removing THOUSANDS of these kiosks (many embedded in concrete!) is estimated to be millions $$$
It was an option to buy the kiosk, lol
Man this is way sadder than I thought it would be. My childhood was going up to our cabin every few weeks or so and every single time without fail my Dad and I would stop at a Redbox and pick out 3 movies to watch over the weekend together. It was always such a quick way to find new movies and I’m sad to see that era die.
That makes me feel old because I had a similar experience, but it was with Family Video or Entertainment Tonight. Redbox could never replace Video Stores.
5:38 The last time anyone would get the chance to play Redbox Roulette and your rando pick was Beauty and the Beast LOL Honestly that seems so perfect somehow...
part of the reason that the redboxes are still there is many outdoor kiosks are cemented into the ground so it costs a lot to take out. also the kiosks cost like $35 a month in power alone.
They cost significantly less than that. Walgreens is full of shit when they said that to the court.
Yeah, they are also hard-wired into the electrical, so they have to pay an electrician to disconnect it from their wiring safely. (No plugs into the wall, just cable straight to the breaker box..) I seriously doubt $35/month though. It's a low-power computer and a few low-amp motors getting very little use. I'd be surprised if more than $10/month
@@marks47 This is why all of the screens are turned as far down as possible as well.
@@marks47 Some of the outdoor kiosks have built in refrigeration systems to keep the insides cool, which would increase the power consumption quite a bit.
@@jandajanda2242 It can cost considerably more than that, and here’s the math: an indoor Redbox unit operates at 7 amps on 120v DC power. (An outdoor unit needs 14-17 amps to operate, so your costs could more than double). That makes the wattage 840 watt for JUST an indoor unit. 1680 to 2040 watts for an outdoor unit.
Here is the formula to calculate energy costs - power usage (kW) x time (hours) x power company rate (kW h). We are running .84 kW for 730 hours (hours in a month) at a rate of 15 cents per kilowatt hour (energy cost in my state).
That’s $91 to run an indoor unit for a month or $182-$223.38 for an outdoor unit.
We can assume the price would be lower than that because every component won’t be drawing power constantly (outdoor units have climate control that WILL be drawing constant power), but I promise, you’re going to be spending more than $35 a month on that. I would estimate with consistent usage, you’d spend $45-50 on an indoor unit and well over $100 on an outdoor unit.
I bought some movies from my local Redbox the other day, at a Food Lion too. Just did it for posterity and to have a few more.
Looking at my CC statement, it did not charge me for them lol
Wow. The CC processor's API is almost certainly returning an error, but whoever programmed the kiosk did such a bad job that a response they weren't anticipating ("Error, Merchant RedBox no longer exists") is being interpreted as success.
It'd be hilarious if I hadn't run into that exact situation in one of the codebases I inherited and had to fix... Ended up giving away free comics to all shoppers for a week because the java-wrapped-in-perl-wrapped-in-php CC processor module took silence (e.g. when the java module was outright deleted) as success...
"File not found? I guess everything worked! Here ya go!"
@@oasnteti took a class in highschool and could barely wrap my head around simple java codes, but this is so hilarious and interesting to me nonetheless
Me too bought two back in july
@oasntet the Redbox software has an offline mode, so it's storing the payment info while the network connection is reestablished. Since the network connection is dead, it's permanently in offline mode
@@LouisSubearth I'm amazed they didn't suffer a lot of thefts, then; all you'd have to do is jam some tinfoil in the right spot to block cell phone reception and use a card that validates but isn't actually connected to an account (even use an ancient magstrip writer to do so) and poof, free DVDs/BluRays.
I guess the main reason they didn't is that anybody inclined to steal movies was already doing so far more efficiently via bittorrent or usenet...
I got a free disc from one outside a Dollar General. It went through all the usual motions using my card, but never saw charges to my card.
Yeah there's no bank account to put the money into so it just verifies that the card is bot expired and calls it good
Moved from NC to CA... Seeing Harris Teeter and Food Lion in this video is nostalgic.
Me and my dad would always stop by at a redbox kiosk before or after getting groceries. When we're done using it, we return it at a nearby kiosk at a CVS store. Sad to see them go away slowly throughout the years.
8:19 you’re gonna give your steam deck dysphoria.
0:34 this error code is because the card reader is unplugged. I’m not sure why
hi janda
When you look at the terms of operation, they should state that late fees are basically treated as a purchase of the movie. So... there should be no daily rental accumulation deals. So... no. No $5,000 late fees should happen for one movie.
why this is working is there is no internet so it going into a offline mode. of course normaly it would charge you when internet was restored. sense thats never going to happen and even it did it would be trying to connect to a bank that no longer there. i think the walmart one use the stores wifi so still connect to the internet.
@@gogereaver349 If I were them or their creditors, they'd want to keep the bank account open. Probably wouldn't cost much to do that in order to collect funds coming in anytime someone fooled with it enough to get it connected It might do its "phone home" call and maybe process the transactions. Whether it goes through the old redbox servers to do that, or just goes straight to the CC servers would be interesting to know. I think I'll go get a prepaid CC and see how many discs I can get out for $4 purchase. I imagine it won't actually do anything to the card...
I’m actually currently working on cleaning out their headquarters and flagship warehouse right now. I’ve been finding some cool stuff. All the office spaces where left completely untouched with everything still there
Also funny that you mention that trick. I was cleaning out the fraud detection heads office and found a box full of fraudulent disks. Found everything from mixtape cds to demo cds from rappers that never took off.
3:20 I rented a few Redbox titles where all I received was the photocopied front of the disc. I had to call Redbox and explain what popped out of the machine. The third time it happened and I called, the representative didn't believe me. I said "I can text you a photo RIGHT NOW and she actually gave me a number and I texted a photo of the case within five minutes after I rented the title- there was no time for me to go somewhere and make a photo copy of the front of the disc to take the photo in a few short minutes.
Did they solve your issue after that?
blows my mind people went to lengths to print a fake cutout but not just rip the disc
Some would just unglue the original and stick it to the inside of the empty case. I rented an empty disc box once and that’s how I discovered it. Redbox just gave a code for a free rental and told me to simply return the empty box as normal 😂
Because it's easier to just photocopy the disc labels and put the cutout photocopies in the machine.
This was done mostly to video games that’s why
this is OOOLLLDDD! people were doing this in 2012 but the difference is now there's no company to catch them and pursue legal action
@@aaronlane8276 No. It is easier to put the disc in and rip it. Then you have a perfect copy of the ISO forever. You literally just have to press "OK" and wait a few minutes without doing anything. Stealing the actual disc is a lamer move.
redbox seeing a transaction after going bankrupt:
rip redbox
The only thing now that rents DVDs is your local library
And a couple online services
Yeah, Netflix even shut down their DVD by mail service last year.
And mom and pop rental stores. My wife and I just opened one this year and business has been steady!
@@YogiTheBearMan What are they?
@@lysergicpillamyd483 That's awesome!
4:06 I'm sure someone likely already said this but the “rental” version does not have any bonus content and some special features are locked.
Never forget renting Metal Gear Rising and Resident Evil 6 at RedBox. Already so nostalgic feeling. 2012 mannnnn
Back when Netflix was only DVD by mail rentals you could have out up to 4 movies and you had to return them if you wanted more. I really liked Princess Mononoke so I kept it around while using the other 3 slots for rentals. They said "no late fees" but after a couple of months I got a $20 charge on my bill for the movie. So I still have it today.
If I remember right
after 15 or 20 days or no return redbox just assumed you were not gonna return it
so you were charged 20 bucks for 20 days worth of rentals
@@Michael-sb8jf Redbox or Netflix?
@@3DJapan
Redbox
You could indefinitely keep a Netflix disc as long you were were current on your membership fee
And it was 25 days
I dropped everything and went to my local Redbox, it was outside of a CVS. Got the Barbie movie on blu-ray!
My condolenses, maybe one day you'll get a good movie.
Gay
@@three3days4grace5 that’s a girl, how is it gay
@@Kaw4ii.gvtzzzI was just thinking that 😂😂😂
Truly a masterpiece of the Hispanic culture, boys and girls would watch Barbie movies at an early age ❤
If I remember correctly, after so long, redbox would just charge your card the amount to replace it
I doubt it would do that now as they shut everything down
@@Cheezus I actually have a "late" DVD from when I was a kid, and I don't think my parents got charged for it?? we rented 2 different movies that night and when we tried returning them, only one was returned and we got stuck with the other one since then. And we had done Redbox on and off for years while in possession of the late DVD. It never once charged them for it??
After 30 days, I believe
There were no late fees. Rather, the discs were rented on a daily basis. If you kept a disc longer than the maximum rental period, you already more than paid for the disc with the daily rental fees.
Remember the summer for 2016 going with my parents every weekend to find a movie for us to watch. I hope DVD movies never die since it’s a way to get movies without paying for a subscription.
And this is why I download movies or buy them and keep them forever
In the late 1980's, years before DVD's were released and the technology of kiosks for them was available, I worked with a guy in the US Navy who had a business plan to turn those small shed photo drop of points into drive through movie rental huts with a single person working inside and 50 to 100 copies of the top 100 movies at the time. Like a mini drive up Blockbuster.
It seemed feasible a the time, but DVD's would have meant more movies could be stored in the tiny spaces.
The biggest issue he saw was licensing of the movies to rent.
I've often wondered if he had anything to do with the technology behind Redbox or Netflix (which got it's start as a subscription service of renting DVD's by mail with a plan to eventually switch to streaming the films).
7:23 it would be cool to acquire a Redbox kiosk and watch a movie or play a game with the actual kiosk.
I would get one and use it as a DVD /Bluray catalog system.
I put doom on mine
@@ki5aokthats what i did
Bringus video coming soon (probably)
There was a press release yesterday. The kiosks are free for the taking.
I havent used a Redbox in years, brings back good memories though, my dad passed away almost 3 years ago from Alzheimer’s. I used to get him movies al the time from Redbox, i remember going all over the area to get whatever new movie he wanted, using the app to locate it, etc.
I am sorry for your loss...
Sometimes you can also find Redbox movies repackaged in the case at Dollar General, they usually mark them as “previously viewed”
I recently bought a Blu-Ray copy of the live action Ghost in the Shell movie from Dollar General that was precisely that, a former RedBox disc still with Redbox label on it and everything in a case marked Previously Viewed.
@@aaronlane8276ah man I sorta want one of those
That first map is in the part of Idaho that I live in, but then the Harris Teeter and Food Lions are all on the east coast? I'm so confused! Were you guys just on an epic cross-country road trip?
Some of my best childhood memories was standing beside a redbox and my mom asking us what movies we wanted to watch. We didnt have much growing up, but redbox was a good memory
Please either install the Red Box OS on a steam deck just to see how broken it would run, or try and get one, personally would love to see what you could get running (Maybe Doom) or see if you could add your own disks.
this isn't bringus
@@Kyermike Give that idea to Bringus, like he did on the Sonic one
bringus will buy a redbox and game on it
Bringus would do the opposite(Install SteamOS on a redbox kiosk)
I'd imagine it won't do much. Would be surprised if the "main" interface even came up. I'm not a Redbox tech, but I'd imagine it would start polling for hardware unique to redboxes. Stuff like the little robot "arm" and the disc storage carousel through limit switches and rotary encoders. When it doesn't "see" them attached it'll know they're disconnected or it is somehow out of order. Now I'm curious to see if I'm right, though, so go for it! lol.
At the Walmart I work at the kiosk has a paper that says, "We're Sorry, but Redbox services have been discontinued at this location."
But does it have power? The machine I found had a sign too but it was still on 😁
My local Walmart did to but over the weekend it finally got removed.
@@E4S65 No. It's shut off.
Bankruptcy doesn't necessarily mean shut down. There are still assets and liabilities to be allocated and serviced according to whoever owns them now. Somebody on the receiver list might end up getting your rental and/or late fees.
Alternate theory: Redbox owes their CC processor a bunch of money, but there are others higher up on the list. So the CC processor deliberately flipped the account into a "test mode" that approves all transactions without actually charging them, thus getting a little revenge on some private equity firm by ensuring they have far less stock to liquidate for cash...
so those nonfunctional kiosks could work again?
Also depending on how the bankruptcy procedures go, who gets what assets and what they decide to do with them, it's possible that the service could be restored to operation. Redbox's rental model was solid, the company went bankrupt for other reasons, so someone might think it's worth reviving if they don't have to be saddled with the debts.
@@asteroidrules If they restructured a bit to reduce overhead as much as possible (using local wifi instead of paying for a cell phone number for each kiosk) it might still survive another few years. But optical media is done, outside of a population of collectors who aren't going to be interested in renting anything. For better or worse, streaming has won...
Chapter 7 bankruptcy now, they're being liquidated. Its apparently up to the retailers to choose what to do with them.
I went to a Redbox kiosk and rented a movie, not realizing they were bankrupt and forgot my car was paused, but it "processed the payment" as if the card wasn't paused...
i remember when these first came out we never actually rented a movie from there but me and my brother would always mess around with the machine and check out what they had one time when we went over to a friend's house their dad did go out and rented a redbox dvd i don't remember what it was but i vividly remember him walking in with it and us getting excited its also really interesting that this vid popped up in my feed because just like a week or 2 ago me and my dad went to walgreens and walking out we saw a redbox i had no idea they had been bankrupt but i just asked my dad "you remember when these first came" and he said yes and we just chuckled because they are so obsolete nowadays but we had no idea they filed for bankruptcy i was shocked to even see one still
Man I wish they still have games and some of the locations. But yeah from what I've heard that before they even went bankrupt they weren't paying the fees to the movie studios. Also people that worked for Redbox they go to like the doctor or something like that for healthcare and then we'll find out that their insurance wasn't covered because it wasn't active cuz Redbox was not paying insurance for the company.
I heard about that! And worse yet, they were getting the insurance premiums taken out of their paychecks. So, allegedly RedBox was committing fraud against their employees.
yeah there's even Redbox machines still working at some Walgreens but I mostly just end up buying the movies on there than renting
There's two by me that are functional but only to purchase discs. Most of them are 2-3 dollars.
My Walmart and Walgreens still have theres, I should see if I can get my hands on some dvds and games.
Thing is those vending machines could be bought and with just a little code changes we as owners could franchise the machines to be rentals far past Redbox being involved…. It’s just a matter of setting up a small online database, and a payment account to direct to.
I would totally buy a kiosk and set it up in our small town and just have it link to a local lan server to administer it so I could rent out movies in our very tiny town…. I mean I have tons of DVDs in my collection…. And I already lend out to my local friends…. This would just be awesome if they will let us take it…. Lol. I could totally just put it on my porch. Hahaha
It’s an interesting idea, but it would require a lot of legal nonsense, especially with the card reader
There are still a few around me, I didn't even know they shut down!
yea kinda out of nowhere to.
Redbox stores transaction data locally in case of an internet outage. Once it reconnects to the internet, the payment is processed. But there's no company and I'm assuming their servers are permanently offline. Also, everyone who used that particular machine has their card info on the hard drive. Someone would just have to decrypt it.
I've been wondering if these could be refurbished for private use. Like how anyone can own a food or drink vending Machine and make money with it. Seeing as how they are basically abandoned, and businesses are trying to get rid of them, I would offer to take one and set it up somewhere for local rentals myself. If I had a way to easily reprogram it to send money to my own account and not rely on redox servers to process everything.
Those are now your DVDs. Nobody left to ask for them back.
I work at a Food Lion that also still has a working machine. A customer just asked me tonight if it was still actually working and I told them I'm pretty sure it is. I low key want to try to get something out of it, albeit very few of the movies in it interest me.
The rental DVDs usually don't have special features, and they're marked as 'rental' to try to prevent people from reselling them on eBay.
In a lot of countries the rental mark also mean that the copy comes with a license to rent out the film, which a regular copy doesn't have.
I’m so confused. This was clearly shot on the east coast cause of the food lion and Harris Teeter but the picture of google maps shows a shot of Meridian/Boise Idaho.
i’m from nampa idaho and im so confused on where the HECK is that food lion and harris teeter anywhere in the treasure valley area (where he showed the maps 0:37). Anyone else?
i was thinking the same thing i thought i was going crazy i was like wtf huh
My guess is that Redbox didn't collect the Kiosks, or perhaps the owners of the place bought them when it went out of business.
I also suspect that those that still had rented movies out with no way to return them, that the bankruptcy court thought it wasn't worth the cost to go around to each house and collect the movies. I know that they turned it over to collection agency, when another movie rental company, Hollywood Video collapsed many years ago and that lead to a big attorney general investigation over the practices. Maybe as the result, Redbox and the bankruptcy court didn't want to risk something similar. After all losing a few used DVD or Blu-Ray discs isn't that expensive of a loss to take. I bet it would cost more to pursue collections and spend time to track down the renters or get search warrants.
I suspect the one that the cards still work on may have been using someone else's internet (perhaps the store provided it) and that the payment processor is still running but Redbox may not have an account anymore. It could also be malfunctioning too.
As to the dark screen, I wonder if the LCD backlight failed sometime between when you took out the movie and when you returned it.
According to the Redbox subreddit payment processing stopped working on all Redbox machines around mid July for new transactions as it seems like the central server shut down, likely either broke or the server host realized they weren’t getting paid and shut it down. Unfortunately if you were renting during that period you were charged the full amount as if you never returned even if you did so it doesn’t seem to be the payment processor locked them out, just the server that handles returns and rentals shut down.
Try and ask the store owner if you can own the kiosk just to see what happens
Soooooo I was told by someone that ummmm you can get these movies and about 95% of the time it DOES NOT CHARGE YOU …… I was told this ….. just like you said at 2:20 right after I made this comment 🤣
It’s impossible for them to charge you right now. None of these kiosks can connect to the Internet
Are the red boxes in my area still work too. And the rental disks don't have the same special features that the normal DVDs do.
rented a redbox for a day the shutdown the next day and needed to drive out of the city to return it lol
Red Box the times when you went to the grocery store with your family and couldn’t wait to go because you were so excited to pick out a movie/game. If you had the chance to experience this you had a badass childhood 👍 it’s a very strong core memory not just for me but I hope to think thousands of kids that did the same thing when they went to the grocery store with there parents
I’m glad you and your generation got to experience this and it gives you happy memories…..but….what you guys missed was the real, full-force aspect of movie and game rental in the 80’s before even Blockbuster existed.
Even a small town would have a good number of privately owned ‘mom and pop’ rental stores.
So whilst you experienced getting groceries and a recent movie, those before you experienced getting groceries and getting a recent or old movie only from Blockbuster…..my generation experienced going out expressly to go to a few or handful of rental shops to get new or older or much, much older movies.
We’d often come home with a movie or two from two to four different places in the mid80’s ! It was an experience all by itself own self! Heheh 🙂
@@machfront I also experienced Blockbuster as a kid in the early 2000s but don't really remember much I was to young but remember walking the aisles to see every single movie on display.
...I remember when some grocery stores had a little video game rental counter where you could get actual cartridges, for SNES or Genesis.
@@machfrontI was born in the mid 1980s and our town had a small movie rental store called Real to Reel. The sign is still up on the building.
Here is the most important question of them all.
*How do functional machines interact with your credit card information?*
I *think* when they can't reach their homebase directly, they internally store that data until they get their next connection. So, if someone unauthorized gets their hands on a machine you used, can they decrypt your information? Or is your card going to get charged for use at any point???
I actually do not know what happens at this point. But I know of at least three (last I knew) kiosks that are still up and running. A fourth machine is permanently on that 'Out of order' screen and the fifth Wal-Mart machine has its plug pulled. A sixth machine has just been taken away. But was fully functional up to that point.
I should take a photo of this one machine. It is so poorly maintained that it would fit in at a haunted house. I mean the spiders have decorated it *that much* and the red is extremely solarized. It stands as an abandoned relic, already.
*To anyone brave enough to use one of these...* let's say zombie machines... I'd recommend checking your card's usage records regularly. Best results is that any rental/purchases just never show up. Wouldn't want someone to try and rent the machine clean and then get $25 'late fees' show up for thousands, one day. Or, worse of worse, the new owner misusing your credit card number(s). What I am thinking is that all of the employees who remotely serviced these machines have been fired months ago. So, is there anyone even left to come haul these things away? I'm thinking no. And these machines are all over the place. So... they now loiter about on various commercial properties. Dollar General doesn't even seem to care that they are vampiring off of the electric bill. So, who knows how long these outdated movies will still remain "rentable".
...
Another idea hit me to anyone who might find themselves in possession of a former machine: Here's a second life function: Arcade gambling. After all, it already has everything needed to run such an idea. By filling the machine with those plastic sleeves and reformatting how the screen looks, one can put random slips into the plastic sleeves that, when vended, can be redeemed for random prizes. Say, they choose the fiftieth 'Random prize' on the screen and get slip 123. Well, prize 123 could be some $10 plush prize or nearly anything. And nobody knows which virtual button to press for that one out of ______ (Hundreds? Thousand? Just how many movies do these things hold?) that will win that PS5 or other top prize. Only problem I can see is restocking the sleeves when anyone just doesn't bother to redeem for their prize and keeps the sleeve, instead. I suppose there are other recycle ideas available, too. After all... computer/touch screen/card reader/internet. I'm sure that can be given a second life for something else.
In the machines where the credit card authorization is working, it sounds like a two-step settlement process. The first process is to get authorization, which it calls out and gets authorization. I would think that should put a hold on your card for the amount charged, but that may vary from bank-to-bank. The second process is the settlement, where the company sends a settlement record to the bank saying that your charge was valid and they need the money from your account. Until the settlement process completes, no money leaves your account (you may see a hold there, but if there is no settlement activity within about 3-4 days, that will drop off). Since corporate no longer exists, I would say the settlement process isn't working anymore and nobody is getting charged.
If I tried to rent a movie, to be in the safe side, I’d probably get a Visa or Mastercard gift card.
My local dg has one still, latest movie was the barbie movie
@Badviboh really look at that you are wrong 😂
@@Badvibestv i care
That’s pretty much the last time I’ve seen them promoting Redbox tbf
9:47 They have top men working on it right now.
This makes me wonder, would any of those stores say no if you asked for the machine?
On Google Maps there are 7 listings near me. All but 3 say "permanently closed". One of the "open" ones I know is no longer there, it's at my supermarket and I remember them taking it away. I would have to drive about 15 minutes to check the other 2.
Thanks for letting the world know it would take you 15 minutes to drive to the other location. Please be sure to also let the world know what you had for lunch today and whats the plan for dinner. :)
I know there used to be a redbox at my local Kroger store & Thorntons gas station where i live, have no idea if either of the machines are still there or not now lol
Update: idk when google maps last updated street view here but as of the most recent update on it the Thorntons one appears to be gone & the Kroger one (2 Redbox machines right next to each other) was still there. Not sure about currently though
I didn't know redbox closed down, man me and my dad would pick up a movie or 2 to watch when we went to the dollar store sometimes. I'm going to miss that. It's one of the few times we actually get to hang out too :/
one still at a dollar general near me too.Also- as a former Blockbuster manager- The "rental" disks don't have fancy menus, DVD 'extras', or anything other than just the movie and credits.
I worked at Hollywood Video when we were going through our final bankruptcy in 2009. We stopped paying for leases on our buildings by using Redbox as a way to break our leases. Our lease agreements said that no other video rental company could be in the same complex as our physical location, which was generally fine. Since Redbox was so easy to install they went up everywhere. Lot of lawsuits got launched but the company managed to go under before any of them could resolve in the favor of the plaintiff as far as I'm aware.
I remember when you would rent video games from Redbox and when you opened it up all you got was a piece of paper!
Lol
I stole a copy of Black Ops 4 doing that method. I was young and very broke, not the proudest moment but I called Redbox and acted like I originally received it as a paper copy and gave them the barcode number so no one would receive the paper disk.
I’m surprised the stores haven’t taken the movies out and put them on clearance yet
Also that food lion was extreme nostalgia
The best thing to do?
-Rent at Redbox
- rip DVD
-test MP4 rip
-return to Redbox.
Or rent it, then wait for Redbox to become bankrupt then keep the disc
YES! My mother would always make a copy. Makes me wonder if that's part of why they went...
@@someguystudios23don’t go around saying that. It’s illegal and comes with a hefty fine of 250k
Or return a photocopied label of the disc.
@@ChadAV69 don't care
It really sucks that disks and video stores died as a whole, damn you streaming services!
The redbox kiosks still allow "rentals" because they store customers details locally in case of connection failure then upload the transaction details when the connection is restored (which will never happen). The kiosks store the first 6 and last 4 credit/debit card numbers along with name and zip code and movies rented. the database is encrypted with AES but the decryption code is in the source code!
So you don't actually get charged anymore? Then there's nothing wrong with grabbing all the movies you want from one of these? Or loading the whole machine up and taking it?
Be curious to see if you could return to the machines that couldnt give a disk
2:49 Redbox had a max fee. Like 60$ or sth. Then the disk was yours.
bro i got b02 from red box and on the day of returning i gave my mom the empty box kept the cd and took it to ct while i staying for my gpa i bought every dlc maps and the gun camos everything my mom never asked
until they called her and told her she for 68 dollars for game i had for 7 months at the time
I have also experienced this policy with games & movies, although differing prices between movies or games discs. After so many days let’s say a month of $2/day the disc is yours to keep
I used to work at a DVD rental store before they all went out of business, Redbox operates under the same license with movie distributors as we did, often times the rental release is negotiated separate from streaming and even the airplane release of movies, so the rental disk is probably to denote that was that specific version so it can’t be resold in theory and can explain if it’s for sale before the dvd would be for sale commercially at stores and such because that usually comes last after any other release type
Basically long story short that “Rental” disk is to flag it in case someone tried to resell it before the dvds were meant to be available for sale to the public
from what i remember, the "rental" labeled discs have less features than a regular disc. like instead of 7.2 surround itll be 5.1 or 2.1. some bts features will be missing, some extra languages of subtitles, etc.
So just, get as many discs as we can before the kiosks are taken? hehe
The nostalgia I get whenever I see a redbox machine. It's sad it went bankrupt.
Damn, i remember renting movies with friends with lunch money back then and staying up until the next day watching them and eating junkfood
My theory is that the outdoor one might not actually be connected to the internet, but might run batches whenever someone decides to do whatever to it during whatever routine it needs to process it.
So fun fact: You can swipe credit card numbers off those Red Box kiosks. So now they are a black box of client info! Yaaaay security!
PLEASE make a video installing Redbox OS on a Steam Deck!!!
are you around the north carolina area? I've only seen harris teeter in north carolina
We've also got Harris Teeter and Food Lion in Maryland.
There's at least one in Georgia
This is Fuquay-Varina's Harris Teeter.
They're in South Carolina as well. I forget off-hand how far their territory is, especially since Kroger bought the company.
As you said it is hilarious that the people are taking it to the streets and taking over the RedBoxes 😂
The final death of dvd rental?
Remember when all the Blockbusters closed?
Who remembers when Netflix was only through the mail?
I work for an Albertsons chain, and my store has 2 of them. One of them is completely dead, but the other you can still see the movie selection screen behind the paper sign saying the kiosk is decommissioned. It's a little creepy that these kiosks are frozen in time, I honestly wonder when they are going to be removed.