Redbox: A New Way to Rent DVDs

Several months ago I was at my local Stop & Shop when I noticed this large red thing next to the Coinstar machine. I was on my way out of the store, but I stopped for a closer look. It said "Redbox". It also said that you could rent videos for $1 a night.

That sounded pretty cool.

The machine had all of the latest movie titles that would have cost me more at another rental store. I pressed a button to see what movies they had in stock. They had a lot of choices, but one of the movies I had wanted to see was "Rent" and they had that also. So I chose "Rent".

With the swipe of my credit card, the movie was mine. The catch? You need to return the movie by seven the next evening or they will charge your credit card another dollar. If you lose the DVD your credit card will be charged $25.00 after twenty five days according to www.redbox.com. If you lose the case the DVD comes in, you just call customer service for assistance.

I have found Redbox to be very convenient. It is right in the grocery store and they always have the latest movies. Sometimes they are out of a popular movie, but that is just the same as the local video store being out of a popular movie. I think the only drawback to Redbox is you can't rent classic movies or older titles with this service - at least the way it is set up now. You also have to get the movie back to the machine by the next evening or they are going to charge you again. But that doesn't seem too hard a task to accomplish - well, most of the time!

Redbox gets new releases every Tuesday. The outside of the Redbox machine lists when to expect new releases to come in, so you can expect your favorites to be waiting for you. There is always something new to watch.

They have added a new feature where you can rent movies online. You rent the movie online and then you pick it up at the Redbox location of your choice. I haven't used this feature yet, but it sounds great and easy to use.

According to Redbox they have locations in grocery stores and also in McDonalds. They have a search feature at their website that you can use to find a Redbox location near you by zipcode or by state.

This is a great way to rent movies and especially a great way to catch up on all of the latest releases - in a very inexpensive way. Now it only takes a dollar to go to the movies!