Redbox raising daily DVD rental fees by 20%
Self-service movie rental company RedBox will raise its rates starting Monday. (Credit: www.redbox.com)
First it was Netflix and now its Redbox’s turn to raise movie rental rates. The self-service kiosk operator will raise daily rental charges on DVD’s by 20 percent, to $1.20, from the current $1, effective Monday.
“The price change is due to rising operating expenses, including new increases in debit card fees,” Redbox officials said in an email sent to customers Thursday. ““This marks our first price change in more than eight years as we work hard to keep prices low for our customers.”
Daily rental charges of $1.50 Blu-ray discs and $2 for video games will not change.
Redbox officials said it chose to raise daily rates by 20 cents “to best offset expenses, while keeping our value commitment to customers. We conducted several months of testing and with careful consideration, decided the 20-cent adjustment would work best to keep prices as low as possible.”
Redbox has agreements in Puerto Rico with Walgreens and Walmart, where it has installed its familiar red kiosks both inside and outside their premises.
Earlier this year, Netflix announced a radical price change that called for splitting its DVD rentals from its online streaming services, charging separately for each. The move has apparently backfired, as the company has lost some 800,000 customers in the past six months.
