Coinstar (NASDAQ:CSTR) is most known for its coin-counting kiosks in grocery stores. A customer dump coins into a coinstar machine and paper money instead. The company typically charges an 8.9% fee on all coins processed. Although coin-counting is Coinstar's most established business, with their first machines installed in 1992, the company generates most of its revenue from its self-service DVD rental businesses. The business is similar to its coin-counting business, in that customers can rent or buy DVDs from DVD kiosk located places like grocery stores. Coinstar also has a smaller money transfer business that it operates in a similar way.

Despite the struggling economy, Coinstar's coin-counting business has remained stable and its DVD business has grown tremendously. In 2009, the company's net sales increased by 50% and it's net income nearly tripled.^[1] However, the DVD rental market is very competitive, especially with the emergence of online streaming rentals. One of the company's competitors, Netflix (NFLX) has as option that allow customers to rent DVDs by streaming it to their computers or TV, something that is more convenient for most people.

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