It started with a Saturday night trip to the grocery store. Yes, I know you all envy my social life.

It was 9:20pm and I knew that when I arrived home with bags of food there would be a bottle of wine to open and kids in bed. But I also knew there was nothing on the TiVo and though I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the DVDs of Arrested Development, I was in the mood for something different.

Behold, the Redbox. Initially I thought renting movies from a kiosk at McDonalds or a grocery story like Cub Foods was odd. Then I rented the Bee Movie and best picture, best director-winning No Country for Old Men for $1 each plus tax. Two new movies in my hands for cheap with only the punch of a few buttons? This is a fabulous invention.

Sure, the selection isn’t massive, but that means no aimless wandering through rows of DVDs or scrolling through pages on Netflix.

One drawback is being charged on a daily basis. I think many consumers have gotten used to ordering a pile of DVDs and hanging onto them for a longer time period without extra charge. But even if it does take you a couple of days to watch the movies, it’s only $1 for each extra day. And you can return them at any Redbox location.

My favorite place to rent non-new releases or movies for kids is the library. And if you have a free moment, many libraries allow you to request a spot on the waiting list for movies that are still in theaters.

But for those of you who are wedded to watching new releases, but not enough of them to justify a Netflix or Blockbuster membership, there’s Redbox. Its web site allows you to reserve movies for pick-up. Or be spontaneous and grab a flick after you finish your fries. You can even try it for free. Sign up online.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 24th, 2008 at 11:44 am and is filed under deal of the week. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.