Outerwall, which owns Redbox, today announced it will be raising the prices on all movie rentals on December 2. The rental of DVDs will move from the current rate of $1.20 to $1.50, and Blu-rays will make their way from $1.50 to $2 even. The company will let gamers have one last ride at current rates for the holidays, however, announcing games will make a full dollar jump from $2 to $3, starting January 6.
The company was quick to remind its loyal renters (and impulse shoppers) that Redbox has only previously raised its prices for DVDs once in 12 years, as well as the fact that it still creams VOD (video on demand) services from cable or satellite providers and other online retailers when it comes to the highest movie rentals. Outerwall also stressed that the higher pricing will allow Redbox to make “investments to enhance the customer experience.”
Those investments could include a new user recommendation engine similar to what Netflix uses, according to a report by Engadget. However, the company did not mention details about the new service in its press release. We’ve reached out to Outerwall for more details, but the company said it could not comment further on the report at this time.
Outerwall did claim that it expects new “network optimization initiatives” will help offset the higher pricing, though it does expect the higher prices to hit its bottom line, claiming more details will be offered in its fourth quarter revenue reports as it looks forward to 2015.
For now, if you’re more of a rental enthusiast than an investor, all this really means is you might want to get your rental on now, before the new tax hits your wallet over the December holidays.
Updated 11/24/2014: The original post cited Redbox as claiming it hadn’t changed prices in 12 years, when in fact the company stated it has only changed prices once in 12 years. The post has been updated to correct the error.
