Truth be told, I've been watching the McDonald's-funded Redbox for a couple of years ever since they got onto my radar screen with their innovative kiosk DVD rental systems (see my early article Redbox is the next step in DVD rentals. The timing of their rise is very good too, as the last few months have seen me cancel my Dish Network subscription and my long-time Netflix subscription in the interest of spending my time focusing on my family and friends.

Anyway, back to your question. :-) Turns out that Redbox has a delightfully witty Web site that is an unusual pleasure to read. In their rather snappy FAQ, for example, they answer your exact question with:

"Oh boy. Now you've done it. Just call our Customer Service Group at 1.866.REDBOX3 for instructions to return DVD's without a case. For lost DVD's, your credit or debit card will automatically be charged $25.00 + tax after 25 days. We're all adults here."

A refreshing change from the incredibly complicated legalese of most new online businesses! My favorite answer, to the question of what happens if your credit card is charged incorrectly: "Isn't this really just getting to be a tiresome, repetitive, unimaginative answer on our part? But it's such a good one: Contact our Customer Service Group at 1.866.REDBOX3 for assistance..."

DVDs cost $1.00/night for rentals and you can return them as soon as you've watched them to any of over 3000 conveniently located Kiosks, quite often in local McDonald's restaurants. For me, the closest kiosk is less than two miles away and while they might not have thousands of different titles, the few hundred in the device are often just what I want for a quick evening's entertainment.

They also have a cool feature: you can reserve your DVD rental straight from their Web site too, so if you are dying to watch the comic-gore-fest 300 again, you can ensure that it won't have already been snagged by someone else in your apartment complex before you get through the McShake line. :-) Charge? None. That just starts the rental clock. Better yet, if you forget or just never quite get to it, the max fee is $1.00, and 24 hours later the movie is released for someone else to rent.

Where this is all a big win is when you're traveling: you can rent DVDs from Redbox before you leave, return them to a kiosk in the destination city, grab a few to watch on the journey home, and drop them off at your local Redbox kiosk the next morning. No sweat at all, and, as you imagine, it highlights that you can drop off a rental at any kiosk nationwide.

Well, this is quite a paean to their service considering I don't use it much and have no financial stake in their company. Heck, I don't really even like McDonald's that much, but that's a whole 'nother story. If nothing else, it does supply an answer to your original question, but most of all, I encourage you to check their service out and see how innovative some of these lesser-known companies are getting in the DVD rental space.