One Year Later, USPS Looks Into Gamefly Complaint

Last April, we discussed news that video game rental service GameFly had complained to the USPS that a large quantity of their game discs were broken in transit, accusing the postal service of giving preferential treatment to more traditional DVD rental companies like Netflix. Now, just over a year later, an anonymous reader sends word that the USPS has responded with a detailed inquiry into GameFly's situation (PDF). The inquiry's 46 questions (many of which are multi-part) cover just about everything you could imagine concerning GameFly's distribution methods. Most of them are simple, yet painstaking, in a way only government agencies can manage. Here are a few of them: "What threshold does GameFly consider to be an acceptable loss/theft rate? Please provide the research that determined this rate. ... What is the transportation cost incurred by GameFly to transport its mail from each GameFly distribution center to the postal facility used by that distribution center? ... Please describe the total cost that GameFly would incur if it expanded its distribution network to sixty or one hundred twenty locations. In your answer, please itemize costs separately. ... Does the age of a gaming DVD or the number of times played have more effect on the average life cycle of a gaming DVD?"

Comments

Is it me?

[topham]

Is it me, or is GameFly being dicked around?

Some of the questions look valid, but others are completely obtuse and look like they are designed to waste GameFly's time and resources, not resolve the problem.

Re:Is it me?

[91degrees]

Given that Gamefly is losing millions here, relatively speaking, it's not going to be a major pain for them to answer these questions. It makes sense to be thorough.

Re:Is it me?

[iamhassi]

"Is it me, or is GameFly being dicked around?"

Without a doubt. GameFly basically said last year "Look dude, you keep breaking my shit and you handle my competitors shit with silk gloves. WTF?"

USPS responses a year later with "We don't know what you're talking about. We want copies of all research on all mailer designs you've tested, including the results of each test and what advantages or disadvantages were found and the research used to determine these advantages or disadvantages."

USPS even accused GameFly of stealing their own games:
"Please describe any measures GameFly undertakes to manage or limit theft. In your answer please include the anti-theft procedures utilized in GameFly’s own plants and during transit of GameFly mail to and from postal facilities."

W...T....F.... USPS are you serious? So, if I call you and say "hey my mail keeps disappearing" are you going to tell me "what are YOU doing to stop it?"

And like the article says, some of these questions are just ridiculous, like: "USPS/GFL-28. Please describe the total cost that GameFly would incur if it expanded its distribution network to sixty or one hundred twenty locations. In your answer, please itemize costs separately."

So USPS wants them to just figure out how much it would cost to expand to 60 or 120 locations, and then give them a itemized cost of doing so? That alone could, if done realistically, take hundreds of man hours, to determine where these 60 or 120 locations would be best located and the cost opening up a new facility in each of those areas.

USPS even wants GameFly to analyze the material DVDs are made of:
"USPS/GFL-30. Has GameFly conducted any testing related to materials used in the DVDs it distributes or that it is aware respective manufacturers have undertaken? In your answer please describe the tests and any results from the tests, including breakage rates for the materials tested."

This is a giant middle finger from USPS to GameFly if I've ever seen one.

USPS, you didn't have to be such an ass, a simple "Ok we'll give you the same treatment as Netflix and Blockbuster" would have been the right thing to do.

Re:Is it me?

[Hurricane78]

Sounds like the definition of a government agency to me. ;)

Re:Is it me?

[Dishevel]

why the fuck would you suggest a solution that requires one to go out and get something out of a PO box when the service he is using is there so he doesn't have to go out and rent a DVD?

Re:Is it me?

[DavidTC]

Dude, just making stuff up doesn't make it true.

A drop box is a public or semi-public send-only mailbox that anyone can put stuff in.

It has nothing to do with how you get your mail, you idjit. You can use a drop box and have a PO box, you can use one and have a normal mailbox (I do this, especially with sending checks, if I'm going to town anyway. A dropbox at a mall is much safer than leaving it in your mailbox with a flag up.), you can use one and collect at general delivery, you can use one without any ability to be mailed back at all. (I wonder what you put on the return address if so?)

Now, if you have a PO box, you don't have a private sending box, so you essentially either have to use a public dropbox (Probably the one right at the post office.), or hand it in to a person at the post office, or catch a mailman walking by.

But the fact that people with PO boxes tend to use dropboxes doesn't mean they are, in the slightest way, related, and dropboxes certainly aren't a form of PO box.

Re:Is it me?

[Dishevel]

Thanks for calling me an illiterate fuck. The really special thing about that insult is the part where you prove that you did not comprehend the very post you were replying to.

Awesome. Can you do some more please?

netflix vs gamefly

[steppin_razor_LA]

funny since gamefly's disks are wrapped in rigid cardboard and much more secure than netflix...

Did they try to work it out or just FILE FILE FILE

[Alpha232]

Alot of the questions go to what effort did GameFly invest into research, planning and execution, of the shipping and return process.
Things from the material the mailer is produced from to simply how the dvd is secured inside the envelope to prevent shifting through the sorting process.

And the really big question, are you sure they really were "stolen" and not just kept.

I think pretty much all of the questions are valid and while written in legaleze, quite understandable given the severity of the complaint. If GameFly worked with the USPS in planning the mailing portion of their service and co-operated in tracking down these "thefts" before filing this case, then they should have no problems answering every one of them honestly and fully.