[limacharliewhiskey]

Rented another movie from The New Release machine, and I ran across a problem that I didn't anticipate, nor had I expected to, since any other DVD rental service wouldn't have the same problem: waiting to return a DVD when other people are using the machine.

The machine in my local Ralphs grocery store had rarely been busy in the past, so when I tried to return a DVD over the weekend when it was busy, I didn't realize how agonizing and painful it could be to return a DVD to this machine.

There were 2 groups of people waiting to use the machine, while one other family was already using it and slowly browsing through the display to figure out what they wanted to pick. Took them about 5 minutes to pick something, and then the next family took another 5 minutes to do their selection.

It was painfully agonizing to wait 10 minutes just to return my DVD, while other people were taking forever to pick a movie.

I did finally ask one couple if I could just return my movie, which is a 1 minute process to return the disc into the slot and have the machine recognize it, assuring them that I wouldn't be picking up another movie.

With any other rental store, they have a drop-off box/basket with no waiting, and with online places like Netflix or Blockbuster, you can drop off the disc in the mailbox. With these rental kiosks, the return slot is the same as for those picking up new movies, and this can be a painful waiting process if this rental kiosk is popular.

After going through this over the weekend, just to return a movie, I discovered the one major negative that left me thinking of this as a bad experience, and I don't know how often I would use it again in the future.

The rental box at my local Vons has disappeared when I last visited. I don't know which rental company it was, but they've moved on.