My husband and I recently discoverd RedBox. This is a vending machine with movies for rent. It is ridiculously affordable at $1.99 a movie (or something like that). But is this a good thing? This vending machine has singlehandedly put the Blockbuster in my neighborhood out of business (maybe; I have no facts). That Blockbuster probably had at least, I dunno, ten to fifteen employees. And now what? Did they get transfered? Maybe. Doubtful. Even still if they did it is only a matter of time until a RedBox moves in.
So what is the problem? Well, I like cheap shit as much as the next schmuk, but I am really not into seeing the businesses in my community going down. And where I live, we cannot afford anymore businesses to go down. Now, am I going to pay twice the amount to rent a movie just to make sure my local Blockbuster doesn't go out of business? Probably actually. But it is too late. This, I suppose, begs for a different question, because ultimately I want there to be a giant need for people to move to my city (we have a lot of foreclosures); will Redbox bring people in more so than a Blockbuster? Clearly I am too lazy to do any kind of research on the matter, but what do you think?
Maybe it is more important for consumers to pay more for their crap in order to keep their local economy strong... OK this is not a maybe this is a fact. So, is it that most people don't know that or is it that most people are more interested in spending less?
I mean, I'm broke as shit right now and think RedBox is genius. But don't we (especially as Californians) need to be more what-is-best-for-my-economy-conscience? Or is that not our problem? Maybe?
"Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country" Right? I really don't see anyone in the media or in general government saying, " Spend People Spend!!!" Why? Because they know we're all jobless and broke (I exagerate, deal with it) and they don't want to seem unsensitive? Or because they know that the majority of people are intrisically selfish?
People seem so against outsourcing but don't think twice about giving the jobs of say ten to fifteen employees away for a cheep vending machine
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Maybe, not a good idea?
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