The New Release

I was at the neighborhood grocery store this morning and noticed they had a DVD rental kiosk. I read about these things a few years back when McDonald's announced its Red Box DVD program. At the time I thought it was a ridiculous idea, but today I realized my error in judgment. For a grocery store this is a perfect concept. There is always something people need from the grocery store, so if they have to come back to the store to return the DVD then chances are they will use that return trip to make some kind of purchase.

I haven't been keeping up on the weekly DVD schedules but I noticed this particular kiosk had Apocalypto and Dreamgirls, both of which are pretty recent DVD release. The store is the D&W on Breton and Burton, and the DVD service is TheNewRelease.com. The way the program works is that you go through the touch screen like a jukebox and select the movie you want to rent. Add up to three movies and then swipe your credit card. You get charged $1 for each movie, billed to your credit card at midnight every night. If you don't return the movie within 14 days of your rental your credit card is charged $35.00 for each movie (on top of the $14 you already owe).

The really nice thing about it, in my opinion, is that it gives you a nice middle of the road option between Netflix and Blockbuster for renting movies. You don't have to commit $14 a month and deal with the queues and mailing ordeal of Netflix, which isn't bad but it is a commitment. You also don't have to pay the $3-$4 Blockbuster charges for new release rentals, which really hurts if you rent one and find out it sucks.

That made my morning. So keep an eye out at your local grocer. If regular shoppers are as happy with this service as I am it should take off in a hurry (if it hasn't already).