The video rental market has changed. Traditional video stores like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video are now going out of business. The video rental market has evolved from storefronts to video by mail outlets, like Netflix to an even more efficient phenomenon: Video Rental Kiosks.
These video rental kiosks are essentially vending machines which allow you to use your credit card to rent movies for only $1.00 a night. This business model is by far the most efficient, it can run 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week and can run by itself without any staff onsite. However, there is also a trick to beat this system and actually keep your DVD for only $1.00 without ever having to return it or be charged any additional money.
Getting the Movie for only $1.00
The way these video rental kiosks work is that you select which movie(s) you want to rent. You swipe your credit or debit card in the machine and your movie is given to you and you are billed $1.00 plus tax for one night’s rental. If you don’t return the movie within 24 hours you will be billed an additional $1.00 plus tax for each night you keep the movie. After 25 nights and $25.00 plus tax, the movie is yours to keep and you will no longer be billed.
The Credit Card Transaction Process
When you rent the movie, the video rental kiosk checks your credit or debit card and makes sure that $25 is available on the card. You are initially charged $1.00 plus tax, which turns out to be $1.08 (with tax) in my area, you are not charged anything over this initial $1.00 for 24 hours.
The Trick
If you buy one of those $25 Visa or Amex Gift Cards, you will be able to use this gift card to rent the movie. It will check to see that $25 is available, which it is and then it will charge you an initial $1.08 as a rental fee. Leaving a balance of $23.92 on your gift card. You can take your video and then go spend the rest of the money on the gift card, thus they will not be able to charge you anything additional beyond the initial $1.00 regardless of whether or not you return the movie!
This trick would only allow you to rent one movie using a $25.00 gift card, because after the initial rental, the card no longer has $25 available on it. That’s why I prefer using the $50 gift card, because it allows you to rent multiple movies and still keep $25 available on the card. Using a $50 gift card you can rent 10-12 movies easily and still have over $25 left over.
After you rent the movies using your gift card be sure to spend the remaining balance on your giftcard within 24 hours or you will be billed an additional $1 per movie. I like using gas stations to spend my additional balance because you can buy beer, cigarettes, food, soda and then gasoline. With pumping gas you can spend the remaining balance on your gift card to the penny.
You can easily use the process above to get any movie from the video rental kiosks for only $1.00 plus tax and keep it forever without being charged anything additional!