Do you have blockbuster or netflix? Do you like it? Is it worth the $5, $10, and $20/month? Do you watch enough movies a month to make it worthwhile?
I’ve found that we don’t watch a lot of movies. Our best bet for movie rentals is Redbox, other than the library of course. It’s usually found in supermarkets or McDonalds. You are able to rent a movie for $1/night. Every night you keep it is $1, until you’ve kept it for 25 days in which case you own the movie.
I guess the thing is when we’re ready to watch a movie, such as Juno last night, we want to a movie that day. We don’t typically hold onto movies 2-3 days, but instead we stop and see if there’s something we want to catch. Our neighbors participate in netflix. But I wonder if it’s really cheaper than using Redbox?
On average we watch 1-3 movies a month. And we always have the latest movies. If a movie comes out on Tuesday, we can see which locations nearby our house has it, and we can even reserve it online and pick it up later. Within a 5 mile radius there are 6 locations near our house most within 2 miles. So the convience and ease of picking up the movies is great.
Of course redbox only carries new releases. So if we want an old movie we’d have to borrow it from the library, blockbuster, or other video store.
So my reccomendation? Use redbox. I can’t imagine there is any netflix or blockbuster plan which allows you to watch as many movies as redbox. Assuming you watched a movie everyday, you could spend $30/month to watch 30 movies. But if you watch even 10 movies a month, mostly weekends, you’d only pay $10/month instead of $20/month for the subscription plans offered.
So what do others have?
14 responses so far ↓
1 Nick // Apr 21, 2008 at 10:59 pm
I agree. This is what I do. I recently canceled cable and now watch more movies, from Redbox, than I ever have.
It is also sweeter if you have a handful of promo codes.
2 LivingAlmostLarge // Apr 21, 2008 at 11:35 pm
Yep I’ve used some cheap promo codes.
3 Kati // Apr 22, 2008 at 2:55 am
I live in Florida and we don’t have redboxes here. Although even if we did, i don’t think id use them. I have Netflix and i do get my moneys worth out of it. I also don’t mind paying for the convenience of having it delivered to my house, if i had to go out to get it i would watch a lot less movies, if any.
4 L@SpillingBuckets // Apr 22, 2008 at 11:29 am
I haven’t used RedBox yet, I like the convience of just putting the movie in the mailbox and not having to go somewhere to get it. We normally watch a movie a week, so 4 a month? I guess we could save $2 if we switched to Redbox, but again, the convenience of mailing, and having every movie ever created (practically) available is nice. (There is a redbox close to us, probably 1/2 mile, but it still requires driving to the grocery store…)
5 JB // Apr 22, 2008 at 12:32 pm
I never heard of RedBox until this post - so thanks a lot!
We just signed up for Netflix and I’m actually really suprised at how many movies we do watch now - I think we do save money. We watch about 3 or 4 per week… so if we used RedBox that’d only be $12.
However, you do have to keep in mind that you have to go and pick RedBox movies up and return them… not so with Netflix… there right in your mailbox when you get home. That’s the only bad thing I could find with RedBox.
6 Barb1954 // Apr 22, 2008 at 2:01 pm
We love the convenience of Netflix, too, as well as the vast selection of movies. We used to go out to the movies about every other week. Add in snacks and having a drink afterward and that was $60 a pop. Paying $18/month for as many movies as we feel like watching is great. I’ve also rented disk of some of my favorite TV series to rewatch from the beginning.
7 Z // Apr 22, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Netflix wins hands down — returning movies to RedBox the next day would be a major inconvenience to me. We’d probably end up spending $3-$5 on each movie with the delay in returning.
I also like the “surprise” factor with Netflix. We tend to fill the queue up with 30 or so movies and don’t monitor it closely. It’s great to get a surprise in the mail and say, “oh yeah, I really wanted to see that!” We wouldn’t watch nearly as many if we had to search for something that looked good every evening.
8 Barb1954 // Apr 22, 2008 at 6:21 pm
One other advantage with Netflix is if you’re not in the mood to watch a movie after all, you can just hold onto it for another night or weekend with no late fees. We’ve had some movies for more than a month with no extra fee (we had to work ourselves up to watching “The Last King of Scotland,” for example).
Right now we have 99 movies in our queue. Depending on whether we’re in the mood for a comedy or drama or action film next, I’ll move the movies up to the top of our queue or down.
9 Livingalmostlarge // Apr 22, 2008 at 7:07 pm
I can see how netflix works for many. But if you keep it for a week then you are paying how much for 4 movies a month? $19.99? Or are you on a lower plan?
Typically I walk to the store (great exercise) on a Saturday or bike, then return it when I shop on Sundays. That’s if we even want to see something.
I’ve tried blockbuster, when we have movies we tend to watch them occasionally. Our neighbors have netflix and every monday 2 movies go out. So they pay for 8 movies a month, which they likely watch Friday and Saturday nights. Which would be $8 at redbox and $19.99 at netflix.
But it’s convient. I think of redbox as being for decisive people. You want to watch a movie and you want to watch it now. Not maybe if we’re in the mood. It’s more like “it’s saturday night and we’re doing nothing, let’s watch a movie.” Not as a second resort.
But hopefully with summer coming we will instead be doing fun stuff! Less movie watching!
10 L@SpillingBuckets // Apr 23, 2008 at 12:38 pm
I am on the Blockbuster $10.49/mo plan. So, at 4 movies a month it comes out to about 2.65/movie.
I like to keep them more than 1 day, and sometimes watch them more than once.
Also - if we do want a movie “right here right now” then I can walk to the store and get an “in store exchange,” swapping the mailed movie for one there. I do that twice a month usually, so 4 mailed to me and 2 swapped.
I like blockbuster for the combination of mail and decisiveness options.
I calculated it out, and for us at least the price difference is negligable.
11 LivingAlmostLarge // Apr 24, 2008 at 2:48 pm
That’s not bad $10.49/month. Guess if I watch 4 movies a month, not typical at all. Mostly because there’s a lot of crap out.
Also consider renting movies from the library. They get a lot of new releases in. I will often browse on the weekends and see what’s available.
12 Kati // Apr 24, 2008 at 2:52 pm
“But if you keep it for a week then you are paying how much for 4 movies a month? $19.99?”
I know occasionally keep movies for a week, but i don’t do it with every movie i get. i would think this is how it works out for most people. So your still getting plenty of movies in that month but no late fees if your life gets too busy to watch them right away. And i pay $15 a month.
13 Anne Marie // Apr 24, 2008 at 3:32 pm
I cancelled my cable and this is what I do:
I have the cheapest net flix account….. This gives me access to the website for watching on-demand movies on my computer. For instance, this week I’ve watched three movies on the computer.
I use the mail-in program and plan ahead for a “special” movie nights. (i.e., classic movies)
I also Red Box for watching new releases (i.e., I watched Juno last night).
Sure I miss having Showtime, HBO and Encore, not to mention the “on-demand” digital service… but I’m less of a couch potato and the savings are substantial.
If I want to watch a popular tv program, I do that online too - most networks have on-demand programs through the website…. plus there is Hulu, Veoh and fear network.
The only thing I miss really is the nightly news, CNBC, MSNBC and CNN. But, for a $100 p/mo savings its worth it.
14 aj // Apr 25, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Anne Marie - this exactly what we began! I was so excited to cancel our dish network! I just can’t justify spending $65 month on TV and we really don’t have time to watch if we wanted to…it was the toughest on my 11 y/o dd as she had become a TV Zombie, where anytime the tube was on she was in some kind of trance. So we canceled it, and joined Netflix where we have 3 out at a time. We have several movies come in that maybe just my husband wants to watch. He will watch immediately and return. Then there are times we hold onto one to wait for a family movie night to happen. there are 5 of us and everyone gets to pick out something. Plus we like the movies on demand. I look at it as a very cheap alternative to the cable/dish and it is easier to control how much TV your kids are actually watching (and less/no commercials!)
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