Yeah, online rental places have pretty much made the locals fade away. The one in my local area requires a "deposit" worth the full sales price which makes it out of the reach of anyone but those well off.
We used to joke about the B&H rental by taking full advantage of the 30-day return policy. Even Amazon's return policy qualifies now. You just need to the up front funds available and hope that wear&tear is not noticeable to make the return acceptable. It's hard for local shops to keep up with that.
