I love renting movies through Netflix. (Too bad I don’t own stock in it anymore, drats.) It’s so easy to select a movie online and instantly download it, or queue it up to be mailed to me. No driving to a video store, no late fees because I forgot I had the movie in the back seat of my car. Downloaded movies are included in all of Netflix’s subscription packages, I don’t even think they have a maximum amount that limit’s your download. For the DVD’s that I have shipped directly to me, I simply seal the movie in its self addressed stamped envelope when I’m finished, and stick it in my mail box, which is right outside my front door. So easy!

RedBox DVD rentals

However, there is now another new, high-tech way to rent movies. I don’t want to sound like a traitor to my trusty old Netflix subscription, and I’m not completely sold on this new contraption. But something new just popped up in front of my corner 7-11, It’s called RedBox. It’s a self-service DVD rental machine. You simply select which movie you want to watch from it’s touch-screen monitor, swipe your credit card so that it can charge you the $1.00 per day for the rental, and type in your zip code. RedBox takes the information from your credit card and keeps it on file incase you forget to return the DVD. Each day the movie is out, they charge you the daily rental fee. (This is not a completely new idea. Years ago another vendor tried something similar, but there were too many malfunctions and no one there to help resolve them.)

This seemed like a great new option for renting movies the night my husband picked up the newly released Star Trek, a movie that wasn’t yet available for instant download from Netflix, and we had forgotten to queue it up in time to get it on the day it was released. It took him a total of 3 minutes to rent the film.

However, the night we went to return our RedBox DVD to the automated machine, someone had accidentally incorrectly stuck another DVD in the return feed, and it jammed the system. Apparently, you must place your DVD back in it’s case in a particular way and feed it in correctly, or the whole system will go wonky. One glaring downfall on this new approach to renting movies. My husband called the number on the container and they gave him codes for two free movies and told him to return our movie the next day.

I think RedBox has some potential. The biggest problem I foresee, and my one experience backs this up, is technical malfunctions. Without an attendant there to help new users or resolve computer errors, users may become discourage if these kinds of problems are frequent. Perhaps they will com up with a solution to this problem. Time will tell, if RedBox remains on my corner over the next year, I think it will prosper in other areas later on.

We've been Netflix users for almost as long as the company has been around.

My husband and I own a TV, yet it’s sitting in our armoire in the bedroom collecting dust. We keep it only because, well…., actually I’m not really sure why we still have it. But that’s not to say we don’t watch anything and we’re completely in the dark on television shows or movies. Well, okay, we’re clueless to any new commercials,  I haven’t seen a commercial in years. However we do keep entertained through Netflix, whether it’s on demand or DVD’s that get mailed directly to us. Our office is set up to watch DVD’s through our computer, and since our office is our living room, after a days work, we sit back, relax and watch whatever movie was shipped to us or my husband queued up.

I don’t mind going to a movie theater on occasion, however my husband has always had a severe aversion to movie theaters. Most of his reasons are valid ones: the floor is sticky, he can’t drink a beer while watching a movie, the audience is too noisy, he can’t pause the movie to use the restroom, etc. I clearly see where he’s coming from, I too don’t like a sticky floor and usually have to use the restroom half-way through the film. Yet, there is something nostalgic about going to a theater. When I was little, my father use to take me quite often. The air conditioning on a humid summer day was a great way to get relief from the sweltering heat. My dad still loves going to the theater, he goes every other day, by himself, or with a family member. When we visit each other, whether I go to New York to see him, or he comes to visit me, we usually go to the movies at least once during our visit.

Since I’m okay with not going to the theater on a daily basis or as frequently as my father, I am content with viewing movies through Netflix. Usually my husband and I find independent gems this way and often avoid the blockbuster hits of the summer. The actors in independents are usually much more talented, in our opinion. When I do go to the movie theater, I see it as a treat.

Netflix also offers many monthly plan options and for a while, when we were downloading movies frequently, we were able to spend less than $10 a month on our entertainment. This is way less than cable or going to a theater. We’ve recently upped our plan with Netflix, yet it’s still under $30. Had my husband and I been in a better financial situtation 5 years ago, we would have invested in Netflix, it was under $13 per share. We feel we’ve missed the boat on this stock, however, it’s now over $45. But for some lucky investors, they made a little bit of money on a hugely popular idea.