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The RedBox rental kiosk is located inside Sentry Foods, 1260 W. Main St. For a full list of movies available, check out www.redbox.com.

RedBox movies: a cheap, convenient way to rent

By: Danielle Calkins

Posted: 9/10/08

The popcorn is popped, seating arrangements have been determined and the television has been turned on. Now one thing is left: what to watch.

Instead of purchasing a movie from a limited selection on the Pay-Per-View, or renting one for over $4 at the local video store, a newer way to rent movies is right at your local grocery store.

With a convenient and cheap appeal, RedBox movie rentals are becoming increasingly popular. A movie can be rented for $1 per day at any RedBox location.

The DVD vending machines were introduced in 2002 where they were manufactured and operated at 140 McDonald's restaurants in the Denver test market.

The rental kiosks were also introduced in the Washington DC region where they dispensed every-day necessities such as milk, eggs and sandwiches, according to a Washington Post article from April 2007.

As an afterthought to these mini-grocery stores, DVD rental machines were added to attract customers. Shortly after this introduction, the convenience store vending machines failed, and the RedBox movie rentals were all that remained.

Now with over 3,000 RedBox kiosks across the country, people are catching on to this nifty renting system.

The Whitewater RedBox kiosk can be found in the entrance of Sentry Foods, right after the first set of sliding doors.

There, any movies displayed on the RedBox screen can be rented by using either a credit or debit card. On average, the RedBox contains anywhere from 70-200 titles, which are updated weekly and include most new releases.

Junior Moira Lychwick says she rents movies from the RedBox because of the convenience and price.

"The RedBox is convenient because it is so close to my house," Lychwick said. "They have the new movies I want to see and for only $1 a night, I can rent as many as I want."

Lychwick said some people think the setback to the RedBox is that you only get to keep the movies for one night but says that's all she needs them for.

"I only need to watch the movie once, and if I want to keep them an extra night, all I have to do is pay an extra dollar."

Lychwick not only takes advantage of the cheap prices at the RedBox, but also the ease of returning her movie at any RedBox location.

"The RedBox rentals are easy because if I want to spend the night in Whitewater, I can rent a movie here then return it the next day in Walworth when I go home," Lychwick said.

Lychwick lives in Walworth, where two locally owned video stores recently went out-of-business.

Lychwick said the only way of renting movies in her town now is through the RedBox. The RedBox in Walworth is also located in a Sentry Foods.

RedBox movie rentals recently introduced a newer way of renting movies. By logging onto www.redbox.com, people can reserve the movies they want to rent, and the location they want to pick the movie up at. Online, the movies are categorized by genre and can be sorted by release date or name.

If RedBox movies aren't cheap enough, people can use RedBox promotional codes, which can be found online at www.insideredbox.com. There, a list of promo codes for a free DVD rental and the days they are valid are listed.

Last year, the RedBox was named the fifth-largest DVD rental company in the country by revenue by the Entertainment Merchants Association, according to the Washington Post article from April 2007.

In the same year, RedBox kiosks exceeded Blockbuster Inc. in U.S. locations, according to a Kiosk Marketplace article from November 2007.

In the coming year, the number of RedBox kiosks is estimated to rise to over 9,000 rental locations.

Grocery stores are still prime locations for the movie vending machines because of the heavy foot traffic and constant flow of repeat customers, however, in the future, RedBox hopes to expand to other places such as convenience stores and gyms.