Yep, I’d bet Redbox knows exactly where and how many of these machines to place. In fact some of these “locations” have 2 units side-by-side and I’d say most of side-by-side units I have seen are in nicer neighborhoods.
Poor people don’t care for their own property half the time.
This is why we can’t have nice things!
Um…I live in a pretty decent neighborhood. Middle class/upper middle class. And this shit still happens. I’m wondering if there aren’t people who do this on purpose. Being a prick knows no economic level.
We get Netflix DVDs that look like they were used as coasters or dessert plates. Sticky. Really? They’re scratched too of course, possibly forks marks.
Maybe, but I think it’s fallacious to assume that. While I don’t doubt that they research locations carefully, it doesn’t really matter whether one box gets more action than another box (heh) as long as they are all profitable enough to justify the expense of installation and maintenance. And I really do believe the ones in poor neighborhoods are getting more action overall. Plus, there’s still the possibility that both factors - rental frequency and socioeconomic status of renters - contribute to the average level of wear and tear observed.
From what I’ve seen many people actually handle their own DVDs and CDs like crap. They leave in piles on top of the TV or in random locations. DVDs should only be in two places: in the DVD player or in the sleeve.
I agree that the DVDs at the library are in the worst shape.
The Netflix advice to wash the DVDs with soap and water often does work.
Belt sander, eh? I was just assuming people were taking a scrubbing pad to them.
Has anyone ever seen a Redbox getting stocked? My theory, the Kiebler elves have branched out…
I live in an overall low-income area, and the Redbox I use at the corner 7-11 often has a *line *to rent and return. At the same time, I’ve never had an issue with the discs I get from it, but I do tend to be only renting brand new movies, not ones that likely have been in the machine for months.
So anecdotally, I guess I can say that low-income-area Redboxes do get lots of use, but can’t objectively speak to the wear and tear on them.
The place I rent from has one of those cleaning/resurfacing machines. They know my face there and will often check the discs as I rent them and clean as needed.
The DVDs from rental places are never rewound properly either!
I didn’t do it when he was little and I’m not about to start now, I’m trying to get him to stop doing it to his kid 
and also it’s one of those cases of en el pecado lleva la penitencia, “his sin is its own punishment”: it’s his disks that get scratched, since our side of the family won’t let him get within five yards of ours.
People who handle CDs and DVDs like Edward Scissorhanded gorillas did not receive the proper training that comes only with having had your own record collection. Those lessons are ingrained, I tells ya INGRAINED…AND get off my lawn. You’ll scratch it.
Sure seems that way; ever noticed that the grocery stores in poorer areas seem like they’ve been invaded by an angry mob, and the ones in nicer areas are much cleaner, the stuff is on the shelves in order, etc…
And it’s not Joe’s Poor-Guy Grocery vs. Sir. Pilkington’s Snoot-o-Mart either; I’m talking about different locations of regional or national chains like Kroger, HEB or Tom Thumb.
Without fail, in my experience, the stores located in the poorer areas are messier, with stuff out of place, and generally beat to shit in a way that the stores in more affluent areas are not.
Scratches aside, I’m often horrified to receive discs that look like someone ate their chicken dinner off of them. God only knows what unholy biological films I’m wiping off .
To update my 2cents. I noticed the OP’s “phenomenon” before Netflix and Redbox existed. There were only two outlets to rent from: Blockbuster and Hollywood Video. Discs in the less affluent neighborhoods looked like shit.
Buying a previously viewed DVD in those stores was fruitless; I’d return 9 out of 10 of them because they were scratched to hell. Never had that problem in the stores located in the nicer neighborhoods.
It’s the same people who lay CDs/DVDs on the floor in Ebay auction photos.
So I just got a DVD last week that I’d been eagerly awaiting forever (not really – I added it to my Netflix queue then forgot about it, but still!) and when it finally arrived, it wouldn’t play because someone had apparently tried to clean the disk with sandpaper. People, please, DVD maintenance is not that hard!
No kidding. I’ve been trying to watch The Tudors via DVDs from the library, but whoever had the disks before me scratched the fuck out of them to the point that the first episode of season 2 won’t play, period. I assume that this is the same person who decided to take out all 4 seasons at once, despite the lending period on DVD sets only being 14 days…
Oh well, I asked for a Roku for Christmas and just got Amazon Prime - which has The Tudors as prime instant videos - so I guess I can wait another 4 weeks to watch the rest of the episodes.