McMovies

I don't know if it's available in all areas, but there's a new thing around here called Redbox movies. Basically, there's a kiosk outside certain stores that let you rent a movie for 1 buck a night. I've only seen them at McDonalds around here, but I'm sure they're elsewhere too. I was a bit skeptic at first, but then finally gave it a shot after a trip to the video store cost me over 5 bucks recently. Basically, the concept is easy. You pick your movie, insert your credit card, and then it vends the move. You return it to any location you want, and if you keep it an extra night, you pay another buck. If you keep it 25 nights, then you stop being charged and it's yours. Not that it's the easiest or cheapest way to buy a movie.

Anyway, all that setup for this comment. I saw a story on the news the other night that one town is wanting to pass an ordinance to prevent these kiosks from renting R rated movies. The argument was that since there is no attendant, any kid can come up and rent any movie without someone checking ID. I'll ignore that this presupposes that the attendants are really checking ID. Instead, I simply point out that these machines do not take cash. They only take credit card. Last time I checked, you have to be 18 to have one of those. So the only way the kid is going around renting R-rated movies from McDonalds is if you've given him the credit card. Which, you get what you enable there.

I guess the other possibility is that the kid can use a debit card at the machine. But again, if I had a 13 year old kid, there's no way in heck I'd let them roam the streets with a debit card that can drain my bank account.

I just don't see the big deal here. Aren't parents supposed to parent children and not the government? And we law abiding citizens should be able to McRent R-Rated movies instead of limiting us to G and PG ones. What will they restrict next?