The bankruptcy of the film rental company Redbox has led to a rush on the company’s DVDs and kiosks. Some former employees are trying to collect unpaid wages.
Which kiosks are being looted? The red Redbox kiosks have been a common sight in the United States for about 10 years outside many stores like Walmart, Walgreens, or kiosks. By 2024, there are according to Kotaku around 20,000 units with about 600 DVDs inside each – and they are all currently targets of looting.
What exactly did Redbox offer? The company Redbox is bankrupt, as Kotaku reported in the summer of 2024. They had successfully rented out movies on DVDs via kiosks for about 10 years. Imagine them like automatic video stores that dispensed a movie of choice to registered users at the push of a button. A few days later, customers simply returned the movie to the kiosk.
However, revenues have plummeted sharply in recent years. There is likely a connection with streaming services (via Sherwood.news). Especially during the pandemic, revenues fell sharply.
The triumph of streaming services is making business difficult not only for video stores or other rental services for entertainment, but even changing our homes.
Currently, hundreds of posts are accumulating in the Redbox subreddit on the news platform, describing how DVDs and even the kiosks are becoming sought-after looting goods.
Millions of DVDs and sought-after collection kiosks
Primarily, users describe how they can easily extract DVDs from the kiosks of the bankrupt company. The methods vary, but instances where hundreds or more discs are taken at once are not uncommon. Sometimes, users even transport entire kiosks away.
In some cases, they simply buy the devices off the stores, like Reddit user ResaleRabbit. He owns a company that dissolves businesses and simply negotiates what to do with them. He currently has eight kiosks, with at least one containing around 600 DVDs.
Previously, Redbox had contracts with the stores. The legal situation regarding who exactly owns the devices after the bankruptcy is currently unclear. This is a highly debated topic on Reddit.
Why are people taking the DVDs? The individual reasons can vary widely. Aside from greed, collecting passion, adventure spirit, or even criminal energy, financial hardship due to job loss could be a central issue. Because among DVD providers, many of whom can also be found in large numbers on Ebay, there are likely also former employees, as reported by Sherwood.news.
During Redbox’s bankruptcy, they were partly deprived of several months’ wages and their health insurance. Due to the chaotic circumstances, many likely kept their keys for the kiosks.
Some companies create their own competition. This happened at least to internet providers in the northern USA. They could not deliver what a customer needed, leading the customer to take drastic measures: Frustrated with his internet provider, he built his own network – Today, he is a competitor to his former provider
