On a late Thursday night, all I really want to do is watch a movie.

I hop into my car, clad in pajamas, to grab a movie. I drive less than a mile, park and walk over to the Redbox.

I then begin to touch the screen till my desired movie comes up. I swipe my card, grab the movie and get back in my car.

This process was fast, easy, and very convenient; everything our society wants.

Ryan Burton, in an article on helium.com, explains how he got hooked on Redbox.

He states some limitations that come with Redbox, but he ultimately concludes that the benefits, price and convenience of Redbox outweigh the negatives.

That is exactly why the Redbox vending machines have been popping up around the U. Central Florida area and the country.

Redbox originated with the McDonald’s Ventures LLC as a way to promote more customers into McDonald restaurants.

The first Redbox was in the Denver area in 2004. After much success, they expanded to now more than 20,000 kiosks nationwide, with each kiosk holding more than 600 DVDs.

The kiosks can be found in McDonald’s, grocery stores and convenience stores.

Perhaps the best characteristic of the Redbox, especially for a college student in this economy, is the price. It only costs $1 to rent a DVD of your choice. The dollar-a-day late charge is not that bad, either.

Compared to renting a movie at Blockbuster and even Netflix, this is a pretty enticing deal.

A movie at Blockbuster is around $5 across the country, and at Netflix you pay a monthly fee depending on the type of plan.

A year of a Netflix subscription might not seem like a lot, you would spend about $90 for the most limited plan.

If you were going to rent a movie at Blockbuster, you might as well buy the movie. If you want a movie at Netflix, you better be an avid movie-watcher, because you are paying a monthly fee.

Blockbuster is trying to follow Redbox success by minimizing the number of stores they have and installing their own kiosks in stores.

But they still charge more than Redbox, and therefore have yet to have as much success with the venture.

I, like most of my society, am cheap. How can you not be during this economy? I don’t want to rent a movie that I could buy and get my money’s worth if I simply watched it twice.

My wallet is extra light these days, and so were my movie renting experiences, until Redbox entered my life.

Not only am I cheap, I am also impatient. No one wants to wait for a movie. I had a friend that waited for a movie to come in the mail, while I went down the street to pick it up.

I never plan to watch a movie, I just randomly get in the mood, which is probably true for most people. My society is impatient; it wants what it wants when it wants it. If people want a movie now, they don’t want to wait. And because of Redbox, they don’t have to.

I live right next to campus and within half of a mile, there are three Redboxes. You could literally walk across the street and be at two of them. These machines are convenient to go to if you live by a Walgreens or grocery store.

Redboxes are also technologically easy to use. It is amazing how technologically advanced our society has become.

Who knew we were going to be vending for movies from a computer? The system is easy to operate and needs no explanation.

You read the screen and touch the movie you want to rent. The longest part of the process of renting a movie at a Redbox is waiting for the person in front of you to choose a movie.

If you are that impatient, which at times I am, then you can go to the other locations nearby.

Redbox suits our community perfectly; it is convenient and cheap.