Friday, September 26, 2008

All You Kiosk Owners, Sign In and Let Everyone Know Where you are

So many of you have been in touch with me that I can't even keep up anymore. Why not just quickly sign in below to show everyone where you are: Also, sign in under "followers"

Mike Weiland
http://readydvd.com

56 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi,

My name is Rich Petty my fiance, Kim and I own Video Express Services in Bozeman MT. We are currently operating 2 DVDNow kiosks here and we are so glad that we now have the ability to talk with other operators. It will be so nice to have others to start bouncing ideas off of! I can be reached at muveemachine.com I look forward to hearing from all of you!

Anonymous said...

Hi Mike
I'm from Suffolk County New York on Long Island. My first kiosk will be up and running next Thursday. Question: How many movies did everyone start with the first day.

Mike at ReadyDVD said...

I started with about 60.
Mike

Anonymous said...

Hi Mike,

My name is Gautam Talluri from Dallas, TX. I am going to start with 2 DVDNow kiosks. Mike I am really grateful to you for providing this platform for all the DVD kiosk entrepreneurs. Its a great resource. My 2 cents worth, how about putting a sign-up sheet for the customers(in the store or on the kiosk itself) with all the upcoming movies and buy them based on the feedback?

Anonymous said...

Hi All,
My name is Pat Busbee and my wife and I have 2 DVDNow kiosks in Austin Tx, our company name is " PJ's Vending" (we also have bulk candy machines)our kiosks will have been active one year the first of this November. I let VPD write my first orders and they also chose 60 DVDs per machine and then we just bought the new releases each week to gradually fill up the kiosks.
Good luck on your new venture Joe.

Movie Night In said...

Hey Everyone,
We are Movie Night In, my wife Emily and Me Deion own our little growing company and live just north of Seattle, WA and own 6 DVD kiosks. We have been in business for about 4 months now and we are growing each month. We currently have two grocery stores and one gas station and two at a large University in Seattle. I'm really happy to see so many people interested in the business and I'm enjoying reading everyones post and especally like to thank Mike for sharing his info with me. Well if you need anything from us let us know you can vist us on the web at www.movienightin.com
or just call 206-853-9435

chuck newton said...

My name is Chuck Newton and the name of our company is DVD Rentals, LLC. We have eight machines currently in operation with six more to deploy. Our machines are located in WI, IL and VA. The machines are located in a large grocery store chain in WI and IL and in a convenience store chain in VA. We use Ingram to purchase the DVDs as they are less expensive than VPD. Also, they are going to begin putting on the RFID tags and load stickers for us. I would love any pearls of wisdom you have regarding advertising as we are struggling with that part.

Mike at ReadyDVD said...

Chuck, about how much money are you saving on DVD's from Ingram. Also, how much would you be paying them for their RFID tags? Are they going to be charging for them to be put on the DVD's for you? Do you have access to a newsletter that you can set up for your customers? We have also recently received a contract with Universal Studios that they want us to sign. Did you get that?

Great stuff Chuck,

Sincerely,

Mike
http://readydvd.com

Speedy DVD said...

Hi Mike,

My name is Daniel Sanchez and I own SpeedyDVD in Roseville, Ca. I have (1)DVDNOW kiosk and in the market for another one. I have been in business since the begining of the yesr. I look forward to talking with other owners and sharing ideas. Also does anyone have the phone number to Roy Neese at First Data.

Mike at ReadyDVD said...

First Data Commercial Services
Office - 406-259-2503
Fax - 954-509-9281
E-mail: roy.neese@firstdata.com

You Must Use Code:
"DVDFIRSTDATAMT"

Mike and Kristi Smith said...

Hi,

My name is Kristi my husband and I just went live with our first DVD Kiosk last Wednesday! Mike I am so glad this blog is here thank you so much. I have so many questions to ask.

In advance thank you everyone for all your help!

Mike and Kristi Smith

Dustin said...

Hi,

My name is Dustin. I am in Phoenix AZ. I just received my welcome packet and I am trying to figure out how to go about self locating for my first Kiosk. Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you
Dustin

MissWright said...

Hello All,
I'm Brandi. My husband Jason and I, along with my parents have purchased our first kiosk. We are very excited about this business venture but have not placed our kiosk yet! We have been working with a locator (that DVDNow suggested) but no luck! Any advice would be helpful. By the way we are in Kansas. We are looking forward to getting to know everyone and see what each of us can do for the other!

Mike at ReadyDVD said...

Great to hear from you guys! Make sure you put yourself in the "followers" section that I just added. My folks live in Topeka KS.. I've never been a fan of the locaters. I've heard nothing but horror stories from bloggers. Some of you guys that have stories, please let us hear from you. I've personally done all of my locations myself. I've also had locations that failed. I have some of my experiences located in this blog.
If anyone has had a great experience with a locater please let all of us know who it was.

Sincerely,
Mike Weiland
http://readydvd.com

Kyle B. said...

Hi,

My name is Kyle Bolivar and I am in Lafayette, La. I purchased two DVDNow kiosks and they just went online on last tues. night. I am excited about them and I look forward to sharing experiences and getting other great ideas from you all.

be HAPPY,and be REAL said...

Good day,My name is Gordon Atwell,and I am Senior Acct. Representative for DVDNow Kiosks, Inc.the only Company that is properly registered with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)to sell DVD rental Kiosks to the private sector.We have already successfully put hundreds of distributors into business, who now successfully own and operate their own DVD rental Kiosk business. For further detailed information(location acquisition; revenue streams; research reports from Bank of America; CoinStar ( a NASDAQ public company;advertising revenue; the ability to put you in touch with other bona-fied DVDNow distributors; put a Corporate Business, and our FTC Legal disclosure in your hands (required by FTC Statute)for 10 business days before any agreement can be consummated; and much more information. Please touch base with me,and I will address much more 'target specific'information. You may reach me 'GORDON ATWELL; Email:gatwell@dvdnowkiosks.com or:
PHONE: Toll free: 1-877-849-4372, ext. 706,9 AM - 7 PM Eastern Time) and I will address of your initial questions;and then have the authority to put in actual touch with other DVN0w Kiosks distributors.

chuck newton said...

I have had great success using Arin Kirch as my locator. He has placed all eight of my machines and I would recommend him. He is a hard worker.

chuck newton said...

Mike,

Sorry for the delayed response but I wanted to make sure it was ok to talk about my deal with Ingram. Anyway, the pricing is not significantly less although every little bit helps. With VPD we were paying an average of $19.07 and with Ingram we are paying an average of $18.50 or so. Since we have machines in WI and IL, the biggest savings for us is having Ingram put on the RFID tags and load stickers. They are charging approx $0.30 per DVD but we are saving $60.00 per week in shipping costs. If you order more than $25.00 per week, Ingram waives the shipping charges and since they are now shipping the DVD direct to the WI and IL locations, we do not incur the additional shipping charges. So for us, it makes sense. Ingram does not currently have a newsletter but I have mentioned it to them and they are looking into it. Let me know if you have any additional questions.

Mike at ReadyDVD said...

Hi Chuck,
Where can we get in touch with them? I like the free shipping. That's getting pretty expensive with VPD. Also, do they have all the movies that VPD does? How much do they charge for the RFID tag on the movie?

Sincerely,
Mike Weiland
http://readydvd.com

Chris and Jerrae said...

The pricing I got from Ingram was pretty high. Can't remember exactly but it was significantly higher than VPD. Not sure if it's my volume of business vs. that of others.

My name is Chris and my wife and I are putting in kiosk in the Gilbert area of Arizona. Our company is DVD Express and we've had success with getting signed up to advertise on the kiosk before they go into a location.

Does anyone have any input on the types of TV's that work best on the kiosks?

Mike at ReadyDVD said...

I bought 5 20" Emerson Flat Screens. They are just 480i but work well. I think it's mainly the angle you face the T.V.. It needs to point down a little so you don't get the black screen when you are up close. Most people look at the small screen up close anyway. The larger screen just captures peoples attention a distance away. The quality also depends on how good your upload is.


Thanks for Checking into Ingram for us.

Sincerely,
Mike Weiland
http:/readydvd.com

chuck newton said...

Mike and Chris,

Ok, have just gotten the approval to announce the following:

-- Ingram is ready, willing and able to put the RFID and load stickers on DVDs purchased from them for $0.29 cents per DVD. You need to provide the RFIDs and Load Stickers.

-- The pricing they have me loaded at is "Margin plus 5%". As an example, pre-order for Dark Knight was $18.92, Hancock was $19.26 and Wall-E was $18.94.

-- You can call Bill Watson, Ingram Sales Manager at 301 490-1166 and he will refer you to your local Ingram rep or if you already know who your local rep is have them mirror my account set up (DVD Rentals, LLC). They are going to treat us a buying group.

Let me know if you have any questions.

iCinema DVD said...

Hi all, my name is Cedric Morris out here in Los Angeles California. Me and my wife just purchased our first machine and are looking forward to interacting with those of you on this blog spot. So far, I have had a lot of my questions answered just by reading the blogs on this excellent site. Good work getting this started Mike. I'll be talking to you all soon.
Thanks,
Cedric and Tracy morris
iCinema DVD

Curtis said...

Hello, Curtis Packer Ogden, UT 2 kiosks so far
just joined, and started reading, looks like some great ideas. I really need some help, I think I have found it. Contact Curtis.packer@quickpickdvd.com
www.quickpickdvd.com

Mike at ReadyDVD said...

Welcome Curtis! Love to hear from you anytime..

cddiller said...

Hi All,

Chris Diller with Movies on the Go, LLC in Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN. I have 1 kiosk in operation at this time in a 500 unit apartment complex. I'm not sure it's the ideal location, but traffic is growing slowly and I'm starting work on a plan to get advertising partners. I've been pestering you all with questions for the past couple weeks, but hadn't yet introduced myself on here. I hope to be able to gain some more insight from all of you and hopefully provide some on occasion as well.

-Chris Diller
Movies on the Go, LLC

Rich said...

Hi All,

My name is Rich Comeaux with DVDpremier in Washington state. We have three kiosks and have been in operation just over a year. I'm horrible at answering emails so please call if you want a quick response. This blog is great ... we can only benefit from sharing information.

Rich Comeaux
(509) 764-5437
richcomeaux@yahoo.com

iCinema DVD said...

cddiller,
I'm also in a large apartment complex, I'd love to share ideas with you. You can reach me at 818-292-2881 or 310-390-2236 or cedric.morris@gmail.com (Cedric Morris). I've been in there for 2 weeks, still showing growth, but probably have the same feelings as you do.

Anonymous said...

It has been a while since I've posted anything on this blog but I wanted to up date everyone. It's offical, we will be placing our kiosk next Thurday Dec. 18! Our location is in the local University. We are very excited about this location because it will reach lots of people in our town and it is on the opposite side of town from our Wal-Mart which does have a RedBox! I had some questions for Mike or anyone else that wants to answer. How many movie titles did you open your kiosk with? How are you placing Universal titles in your machine when you can not buy them from VPD? If you have a screen ontop of your kiosk, is it just a monitor or an actual TV? What size is it? Well that's all I have for now. We are very excited about our kiosk and will let everyone know how it goes. And I'm sure I will have more questions in the future! Thanks!

Brandi Wright
Emporia, KS

Mike at ReadyDVD said...

We opened with the machine Half Full. We get the Universal title sent to our location from Amazon.com. The screen on top of the machine is a 20" screen. SEE THE BOTTOM OF THE BLOG. There's been tons and tons of information posted on this blog since you were on last. Read, Read, Read. All the guys and gals have lots of great information for all of us. I can't do all this without them. Good lick to you guys Brandi! Sounds like you found a good spot.

Sincerely,
Mike Weiland
http://readydvd.com

Anonymous said...

My name is Ryan Leonard, and I am from New Orleans, Louisiana. I hope to have my first Kiosk deployed of Fed. 1. Has anyone made their own instructional video on how to rent a movie from your kiosk? I think that would be a good thing t play, so customers can easily learn.

Mike at ReadyDVD said...

Hi Ryan,
Excellent Question. If you call Mark Rudolph from DVDNow, he may have a way of getting something to you. I know he sent me the Flash Version of the Kiosk being used. I think you could probably convert the Flash Video to mpeg. Oh, leave us your info. in the top left side of the blog under "sign up Follower" It's easy for us to get back to you via e-mail that way.
Nice to have you on board.

Mike Weiland
http://readydvd.com

Anonymous said...

Hi mike, I want to send you a picture of our kiosk at the university of central florida student union in orlando florida. Can I email it to you? Please give me your email address.

Thanks, Diane

Mike at ReadyDVD said...

service123@readydvd.com Diane,
make sure you take out the 123 though or it won't get to me. I am doing this so I don't get some e-mail harvester sending me a buch of SPAM.

I look forward to seeing it!

Thanks,
Mike Weiland

Anonymous said...

Hi Mike, I sent you the pics of my new kiosk at UCF. Looking forward to seeing them on the blog. My company name by the way is Freedom's Door. diane

Mike at ReadyDVD said...

I have your Kiosks uploaded below. Just click on the Kiosk Showing.

Mike Weiland
http://readydvd.com

Anonymous said...

Hola DVD Now Community!

This Blog seems to be a great resource for collaborative minds - sharing ideas, outside the box creativity, business strategies, operational management and marketing channels.

I'm a new owner of the DVD Kiosk with a large vision, but I'm not wet behind the ears either -LOL.

If anyone in Texas wants to increase marketshare then it may be worth discussing how to make it happen.

Willing to share, help and believe in paying it forward!

Todd in Texas

Kim w/ Express DVD Rentals said...

Hi! My name is Kim and my business name is Express DVD Rentals. I have purchased, but not yet placed, 6 machines in the Panama City, FL area. Very excited and plan to have them all placed by the first week of March.

Karen Showtogo said...

Hi!
My name is Karen, my business name is Showtogo. I have 2 kiosks in Central Alberta. They where installed in Sept. I was excited when I came across this blog last night. It is great to read all the different ideas out there.

Anonymous said...

Hi!!!!
My name is Vincent and i'm about to start my kiosk business and i have so many questions and no answers, i hope this blog can help me to clear my thoughts, i've read many comments and it seems that base upon how good is your location is how much you will make, is that correct?....what's the range profit of one kiosk?..(montly-yeaar)when i get my kiosk everything is handle through my computer, right?...what do i need to do once i get my kiosk?..do i need to open an account?...how do i link the kiosk terminal to my bank account?.....is that something i do or when i open my bank account they do that for me?...do i need to get some kind of "chip" to set on my dvd's?.. how do i control my dvd's? retunr wise, know that it is indeed my and the case is not empty? or with a diferent DVD?...please, HELP ME!!!! i have more questions but i just can't think right now, please RICH PETTY or MIKE WEILAND, anyone, help me please!!!
Vincent Solo

Mike at ReadyDVD said...

The range can be anywhere Vincent. I do roughly around $1,000 a month on mine. I hate to put that number out there because I know there are people that do better than that.. I also know there are people that don't do that. Location is key and staying in touch with your store manager and his employees is everything too. If they are excited about it, it will work. Right now, I am running promos with my host locations. $2.00 off a pizza with rental. It boosts my business and theirs as well. This is fun Adventure and I think you'll do fine. Yes, you an control most everything with your computer. . By the way, sign up on the top left section of this blog. And! Get in touch with Roy Neese and have him explain the Merchant Account stuff with you too. Very important. Again, look on the top left section of this blog. You'll find him there.

WELCOME ABOARD!

sincerely,
Mike Weiland
http://readydvd.com

Vince said...

Hello Mike,
Vincent again, thought i post something a few days ago i guess it didn't went throu, anyway,i have contacted Roy, thanks for the info, now, you mention you make about 1000 per month, i understand it depends on location mostlikely, but, how to know what to rent the DVD's for?... i know it's up to me(i guess) i just need a hint, u know?
Look forward to hear from you, thanks in advance.
Vince.

Mike at ReadyDVD said...

Hi Vince,
I am not sure if I missed you last post? Anyway, read "How Much and What We Put In" I put no more than $400 a month in videos in and I get only the best titles for the month. VPD has a list of how much they make at the box office. action and comedy are my best. I try to stay away from kids movies because kids tend to damage my movies.
Mike Weiland
http://readydvd.com

utchuckd said...

Hello all,

Donnie Harris in Knoxville, TN. I started with 3 machines last September, just moved one, looking to move a second, and maybe the third too! Oh well, at least I feel I know what to look for in a location now. :) Great blog, great ideas! Hope to contribute.

Z-Machine said...

Hi,

Zack Stubbs with Z-Machine DVD here in Destin, FL. I started with my 1st machine this month. Started slow but with some promotion it is starting to pick up. I have another machine I am waiting to find a location for, hopefully it will be up soon. Thanks to everybody, I have gained soooo much valuable info from you guys!

Anonymous said...

Hi Everyone! My name is Kim and my husband Pat and I are in the "due diligence" stage of purchasing a kiosk. We are in Central California, and, as far as we can tell, there are no DVD Now kiosks anywhere near us. (There are DVD Express and Redbox machines here, though.) Is there anyone out there following this blog who is operating in Central California with a kiosk? We'd be curious to know what your experience has been like. Thanks a bunch.

vegasone said...

Hello All
My name is Dennis Ardine and I am here in Las Vegas NV and I am getting ready to launch a dvd now kiosk or 2 I really enjoy your site and would love to hear from some other newbies
renewedhope@msn.com

love this blog it really does answer so many questions. I have a few names and phone numbers that bob had given me yesterday and will be in touch with some of you.
good luck and good sales all
Dennis

Unknown said...

Jessica and John. We have 4 machines in West Central WI. We have one doing very well in a small town convenience store and 2 others doing pretty well in grocery stores in larger towns, but we have one that we can't seem to find a good location for. We have an interested mall. Anyone in a mall? We're just not sure about it as a location. Would love some feedback.
Also looking for a good strategy for choosing movies when there are no obvious big renters on the list.

Anonymous said...

Hey Mike,

Found out about DVDNow while doing a little research on Redbox. I was curious to see if Redbox was a franchiser and eventually found you guys and your blog.

I have a couple of questions when you get the time. I own a couple other businesses already and I'm very interested in this business model but 2 things concern me. How big a competitor is Netflix to a model like DVDNow? I would imagine the DVDNow people had some type of data about this? Also, with the impending probability of movie downloads direct to home pcs, how do you see that affecting your business in the future?

I know of a couple of locations that would seem to be very good fits for a kiosk if I decided to do it. I guess the cautious side of me is coming up with questions I hadn't seen addressed here yet. I'm a salesman like you with a accountant wife so she always goes the opposite way of me when I find a potential business opportunity until I can put her concerns to rest.

Thanks in adavance!

Chris

Mike at ReadyDVD said...

There are always concerns about every business. My wife is devil's advocate too. Good for you for having one that's like that. Why don't you give me a call when I go home. I am always leaving work at around 5:00 P.M. Mountain time.

Sincerely,
Mike Weiland
http://readydvd.com

ncdvd said...

Just found this blog.
I'm ready to invest in one machine within weeks....kinda scary but a thrill as well for it's the 1st step away from my current job that I would like to leave in the near future.
Would love to hear from current owners.
Tried to find anything bad about this company and found only one complaint in 36 months in Canada
for dvdnow kiosks.
They seem like a very good company.

Jusitn said...

My name is Justin, my wife and are are in the process of starting up a dvd kiosk business of our own and was very glad to see a support blog like this one. We wanted to see if we could get some feedback from some of your current owners to see what your experiences have been. Be honest and do tell all!

Mike at ReadyDVD said...

Justin,
Join the googlegroups page at the left of this screen.. Our group is 800+ strong now. Also, use http://readydvdblog.com as your startup page for all of our informative sites.

Mike Weiland

Jusitn said...

Thanks Mike!

Sammy said...

Gautam,
Di you still own the kiosk? How many to this date?

Mike at ReadyDVD said...

Yes, I still own them. All plus a 250 model..Still running excellent.