Red Pyramid

Preamble:

There are times when the ideas that come from WeMailCoconuts could be considered unconsidered, unthoughtful, unkind. There are also times when they are outright immoral and yet contain a certain elegance.

This is not one of those times.

There are times when the writers at WeMailCoconuts are proud of their work, the good they bring to the world.

This is not one of those times either.

Why then, why write it?

Because the bad is there, its not ours to keep from others, bad will out.

plus like Kanye said "how come everything supposed to be bad make me feel so good? How come everything I'm supposed to not do is exactly what I would?"

Take it with as many grains of salt as you can fit in a mouthful - then choke on it.

At the end of 2024 RedBox went kaput. They more than went bankrupt, they sort of disappeared.

That left a shit ton of Redbox DVD Rental Kiosks lying about no longer operational, simply taking up space on sidewalks in front of shitty mega retailers and pharmacies.

As it is 2025 now and there is no single location where one can go to get actual factual useful information, there is very little understood about who is responsible for these super vending machines, who has the right to take them, dispose of them...and what about all those discs inside?

Amble:

Here it is.

Today I can go on eBay and purchase 100 random (unique) DVD titles from a seller for $72, shipping included.

That makes each DVD cost 72 cents apiece.

Pretty sweet deal if you love every title, and don't mind owning duplicates (each seller only verifies uniqueness at the 50 box level, meaning if you wanted 1,000 DVDs, you'd not be able to get there with this method without acquiring tons of dupes.)

A better solution is to "Go-In" with some friends on a larger buy. The first step is finding a seller who has lots larger than 50-100.

Then we pool our funds as a group and buy a lot...Here is where the Pyramid comes in.

How do we decide who gets to pick through the titles first?

Why, the first person who joined gets that right...and on down the line.

1. Start a RedBox Buyers Club web site - password protected (must be invited by an existing member)

2. Add a signup and membership fee (includes 10 DVDs, name on Redbox Ranking and free shipping)

3. Create a database to collect and store Inventory, users, $

4. Build the view inventory/ select titles pages w/ check-out

5. Develop a sell-back model to take back no longer wanted titles

6. Design Redbox Ranking - Available Inventory updates in X-minute increments based on how late you are to joining 

7. Implement Redbox Ranking, load database with existing inventory, Test payment models, figure out media-mail shipping costs for 10 Redbox dvds...

8. Develop a way for people to see their Rank, who is above them, and implement mechanisms for moving people up the ranking...buy up, trade up, participate more

9. Build a way to track the Titles that you've watched as a sort of checklist of every Redbox Title ever put into a machine...it would be like finding a super rare Pokémon to find a game title that had a limited run or broke a lot or was never returned much.

10. Monetize by being the central administrator, inventory holder, shipper - all fees collected as part of Membership Fee - as we're buying in large bulk, we'll hopefully get a substantial discount on the current price. Users will be happy to pay $1.50 per title, or $15 for 10 - leaving the remainder as profit, along with a profit on returns, merchandise, and selling rank on Redbox Ranking

Postamble:

Text the CEO of WMC if DTF.