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Netflix Reduces Physical-Disc Processing, Keeps Prices the Same
Nom du Keyboard writes: After seeing a drop in my DVD service from Netflix I got a customer service representative tonight to confirm that Netflix has ceased processing DVD returns on Saturdays nationwide. And that they did this without notifying their customers, or reducing prices to compensate for the reduced service. Given that the DVD selection still far outstrips their streaming selection, this may be news to others like myself who don't find streaming an adequate replacement for plastic discs. My experience up until recently, unlike Netflix's promise of a 1-3 day turnaround at their end which gives them lots of wiggle room to degrade service even further, had been of mailing in a DVD on day one, having them receive it and mail out my next selection on day two, and receiving it on day three. Now with them only working 5 days and many U.S. Post Office holidays, they're still getting the same money for significantly less.
The Netflix shipping FAQ confirms the change, and a spokesperson said, "Saturdays have been low volume ship days for us."
Time will tell, if customers really care.
what u gonna do about it?
Alternately, you could claim that they cut Saturday processing instead of raising prices. I'm hardly outraged about this.
So slashdot has officially just become a general complaint department then?
While I'd also probably be pissed at this, I'd also have to check the agreement and there I'd more than likely find NO GUARANTEE of the turnaround times this fellow is complaining about.
Most of the Netflix subscribers I know (including myself) are paying that monthly fee mainly for the privilege of having that red mailer sit on the shelf next to the TV and gather dust.
In any case, I doubt the typical Netflix subscriber will think this change impacts them in any significant way.
#DeleteChrome
The streaming service from Netflix has at terrible list of movies. Ok for TV and their series.
There aren't enough movies worth watching anyway I suppose...
For something that is after all, only data? Why would anybody want to wait for a day or two for a piece of plastic when they can access the data instantly online?
It seems like they are still operating within the agreed terms. Quit complaining.
Red box
*narf!*
We should all cancel our subscriptions and switch to the competition! *raises fist*
The Post Office is also thinking about dropping Saturdays. I can't really begrudge people from having normal hours.
Related: http://popcrush.com/weird-al-y...
My experience up until recently, unlike Netflix's promise of a 1-3 day turnaround at their end which gives them lots of wiggle room to degrade service even further, had been of mailing in a DVD on day one, having them receive it and mail out my next selection on day two, and receiving it on day three.
I have no doubt.
When a business first starts out, they are on their best behavior. Then they start to cheapen, cut costs, etc ....
Especailly if they are a publically traded company - gotta keep Wall Street happy with "growth".
Its also to get market share. Kia, Ryobi, PetsMart, .... all started out really good and a great value. Then they turned to shit.
Ryobi power tools were a good value and when they got the market share, they turned to crap.
PetsMart was great when the first arrived - plenty of service, great prices, etc ... until they killed all the mom& pop local pet stores. Now on Saturdays, they have one register open and a huge line. Sucks when you want to buy frozen fish food. Also, your dog bouncing up and down on me is NOT funny or cute - nuzzle my balls and I punch it in the head - and then sue. Your ugly, noisy, shit eating dog is ingredients to my stir fry.
netflix listened to customer feedback when they tried to spin off their disc rentals to another company. so call them and give them feedback. they are easy to reach by phone. if you dont complain to them please dont whine on slashdot
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Summary doesn't make sense to me.
Is the submitter saying that even though they stopped processing disks on Saturday they are still within their defined window of 1-3 days processing?
If so, then what are you complaining about? They promised something and they are still delivering. Maybe they started with Saturday processing just to keep the service level and now the number of disks is not so overwhelming anymore that they are able to cut that day while still meeting their promise.
Netflix is probably trying to save money by cutting costs. It kinds of sort of sucks but life goes on. Compared to some of the other antics large companies are up to, I have a hard time getting worked up about this.
Quite the pet lover I see. Perhaps some fish filet is in order after the stir fry.
Netflix: "I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further."
So a business found a way to cut costs and thereby increase profits? For shame!
So slashdot has officially just become a general complaint department then?
You must be new here...
1st world problems.
I used to have Netflix and their 3-dvd with streaming subscription until they almost doubled the cost a couple years ago. I called customer service and they didn't care if I left. Dropped my service the next day and signed up for Hulu Plus. Netflix's DVD service was a better option than going to Family Video and allowed me to still give to the movie industry without illegally streaming it. Netflix's excuse/reason was that the movie industry was charging them more and postage went up (2 cents or something like that). I'm not surprised they are scaling back their dvd service delivery. Like someone else said, it was probably that or raise prices again.
Yes, I know having Hulu Plus still gives to the movie industry (despite the lack to current movies on Hulu) but I felt I needed to stick it more to Netflix.
"Now with them only working 5 days and many U.S. Post Office holidays, they're still getting the same money for significantly less."
Depends on your definition of the term "significantly less". If peoples' lives were hanging in the balance based on the arrival time of your DVDs, then yes, service is significantly less. If your income relied on Netflix DVD arrival times, then yes, "significantly less". But if the only value coming from the DVDs arriving per the previous expected schedule is that you can get through the entire Gossip Girls collection in 6 fewer days, then no, service is not "significantly less."
Sure you could make an argument for the raw percentage increase in time between DVDs, but without the context of the value of the product delivered, you really can't argue much about service. In the world of complex economics, we tend to term this issue as "not a big freakin' deal, man".
Sometimes service decreases and the cost to the user stays the same. It's a strategic move in contrast of charging everyone more to keep service levels the same after a market as changed. That's business. Don't like it? Try one of the Netflix wanna-be companies and compare the per-dollar value.
Pay by the hour and you get lazy workers, pay for work done and you get busy workers.
Same with Netflix: pay a monthly amount and you get poor service, pay per DVD and you get quick service.
that people still prefer a physical disk!
I pray every night that god will smite the physical disk huggers... so that Netflix can shift their business to all streaming and actually improve the availability of streaming titles. It hasn't happened yet, but I keep praying.
OP is probably still pissed about the loss of his local Blockbuster Video too.
Which has more power: the hammer, or the anvil?
Streaming Sucks and streaming content is so limited.
It's a waste of bandwidth.
And, Yes. I do have great internet connection.
Netflix was good, especially when it was reasonable to have both streaming and discs - but when the price went up dramatically to have both, it became less and less appealing. I finally ended disc service because my queue was loaded up with discs that showed "short wait", then "long wait", then "unavailable" without ever becoming available. Things were disappearing completely from the queue as well. Having only streaming became less and less worth it because when they did their purges in the past, I always had some discs in the queue to keep me reasonably satisfied. But having only streaming made the purges too painful to keep giving them money.
-a.e.mossberg
Kind of surprised to not see anyone at all here blaming Comcast, Verizon, and the other extortion artists trying to get an extra buck out for Netflix' rising costs and ever decreasing service level. This is the very start of what we all predicted with the decline of Net Neutrality, no?
Restating the obvious since nineteen aught five.
For something that is after all, only data? Why would anybody want to wait for a day or two for a piece of plastic when they can access the data instantly online?
Because some things aren't available online (legally).
Because you don't have enough bandwidth to get it online.
Because you lack the equipment to stream movies to your TV
Because some DVDs have features not available to streaming versions.
Because you may not have an internet connection at point of viewing
Because Netflix's streaming catalog has more holes than shotgunned swiss cheese.
They may not apply to you but there are reasons why someone might prefer a DVD in some cases.
This is clearly a cost reduction move on Netflix's part, but that doesn't mean they can pass along the reduction. This reduction may better serve to counter increases in cost elsewhere in the chain, preventing them from having to raise the subscription fee. Manufacturers and service providers can't increases costs constantly, so they have to off-set occasional spikes with reductions. Sounds perfectly reasonable to me.
I wouldn't live in a place with inadequate bandwidth for a simple video stream.
I think that is the very definition of a First World Problem.
I agreed with the company split they tried to implement before.
For all the people who never or barely use the mail side, there are also tens of thousands of rural low-bandwidth customers. Virtually everyone I visit around my in-laws (rural South Dakota, only internet access is via cellular or satellite, either way capped at 3-5GB/month) gets red envelopes.
Still leaving only 1 day gaps in shipping.
I don't have any issue with this. Netflix did the smart thing and under promised and over delivered. They said it would be between 1 and 3 days and strived to always be 1 day. Now, there will be a limited time when it will be more than 1 day (really, this only affects if they get a disc on Saturday as they would have went out on Monday and now will go out on Tuesday). This is still within the limits they promised. Sure, it's not ideal, but I just don't see any reason to get outraged over a change that will only affect 1 day out of 6 and still keeps them within their promised timelines.
"Information wants to be expensive" - Stewart Brand, the same guy who said "Information wants to be free"
Instead of raising prices they just water down your beer and step on your drugs.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
They should treat packages shipped on different days all the same.
By doing this they are basically throttling how many DVD's I'm able to watch. http://netflix.frogcircus.org/
They're trying to force me to watch their own streaming content rather than the DVD's I actually want to watch! They are trying to remove competition for their own content.
They should be open an Neutral about when they process shipments. They should "arrive" when they actually arrive at their facility, irrelevant of the content of the DVD or the date it arrived in their facility. We need Shipping Neutrality from Netflix!
Ok, jokes aside, this is fairly ironic.
and asked for their DVD's back.
With Cable caps, Mobile Data caps and a diminishing interest in Suffering through Movie Corral Hoodie Hangouts called Theaters.
I am just about done with commerical entertainment.
I watch about 1 to 2 DVDs per month via NetFlix via the mail.. and its the content from the Producers that has gone down hill in a hurry.. and lots of recycled teenie bopper rehashing of the same threee stories.. Werewolf falls in Love with Vampire, but Romeo loves Juliet.. bleh bleh bleh
TV is a overly stuff advertisement commercial fest for more of the Theatre recycle of TV stories.
It all just pushed out into the streets.. I joined a gym lost 80 lbs and put on a lot of muscle.
I cannot imagine ever going back to that crazy life style.. those that don't escape are going to die a quick obese diabetic death.. darwinism at work.
In the 70s Canada's federal government would send out kid's games, printed documents, tax forms on paper, you name it. All this is gone, taxes are the same. Wonder where the savings went?
The sad part being that many non first-world countries still have better internet service than our so-called first-world countries...
...and that GOAL is to MAKE MONEY!
:)
If you as a customer keeps purchasing their products, why should they bother to lower their prices? If they increase their prices - and you STILL keep buying, they WILL INCREASE THE PRICE until customers is starting to fall off the bandwagon.
Here's a fine example from Sweden. Our government dropped the VAT tax on restaurant food/Service to 1/2. This essentially means that the food should be cheaper for the customers, bring more customers AND more importantly - get them to HIRE MORE STAFF.
Can you guess what happened? The prices stayed the same, no one extra was hired.
I asked my local restaurant owner why she didn't lower the prices, she got VERY OFFENDED and the GREED almost radiated from her when she excused everything with food costs going up etc. so she couldn't lower her prices etc, not hire any new staff etc.
But the numbers don't lie - no one got hired - and their net earnings went up, extra money in the owners pockets, thank you SUCKERS!
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
OMG -- what as first world problem, STFU.
The is the great thing about corporations; greed has no limit. Take the soft drink manufacturers; sugar is dirt cheap, but not cheap enough so they go for high-fructose corn juice and even that is not enough profits so they try to find the absolute cheapest crapola high-fructose garbage they can.
21 century, meet OP. He desperately needs your help.
What is this "disk" you speak of?
Instead of announcing they will stop processing on saturday to increase profits. they would have announce it as, "here at netflix we love our employees so starting now we will be giving all of them saturdays off. It's because netflix is an honest company that loves it's employees."
We all know it's as far from the truth as possible, but it's all fluffy and feely that makes people smile..
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Did you check Pirate Bay? Their prices are better too.
Statutory damages of up to $150,000 per work isn't "better".
That.
Give... you... money?? Why would they do a silly thing like that when they could just.... keep it?
should i put off fixing my flat tire until theres peace in the mideast?
Unless the movie you wanted wasn't available on the streaming service, ONLY on a physical disc.
What do you do if the movie you want to watch hasn't been released on DVD either? Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night (1987) and Little Men (1998) are among them.
Besides, if I'm not in a huge hurry to watch something, with a disk I can get extras easily
Studios have been providing bare-bones editions to rental stores, where selecting anything from the extras menu instead shows an error message that the rental disc contains only the main feature, along with an ad for buying the full version.
If USPS delivers mail monday through friday and packages monday through saturday, why would they bother doing dvd processing on Saturday? They can't mail anything out... there's no point...
I feel the same way you do, Nom du Keyboard. My biggest complaint about Netflix streaming is that they don't have what I want to see. Now I admit that my tastes are not typical, so I get that if I want to see some Japanese sword fighting film from the 1970s, I'm probably going to have to get a DVD. But when I actually want to see a Hollywood movie, I am always finding that I can't stream it from Netflix. If they stopped their disc service, I might as well stop being a customer at that point. Other than 2 TV shows from a few years ago that I missed when they were on, I've found Netflix's streaming offers to be very poor. I would like to know what people watch who love the streaming from Netflix because there sure are plenty of them.
So, the Evil Corporation decides to not make its employees work Saturdays?
And you're complaining about this?
I gather that this means that it's only evil if a corporation makes YOU work Saturdays, but if they make the people who provide you services work Saturdays, that's just fine?
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
It's $8 a month for those two movies. That's $4 a movie. How much did blockbuster charge?
They went out of business for a reason.
How much more time was it to go to blockbuster and back home?
The vast majority of people had one on or near their commute route, so the answer is no time at all.
It seems we keep wanting more and more for our dollar.
As efficiencies skyrocket while wages are stagnant and inflation keeps on marching, you are god damn right.
Most of the time we get it, but then later when we fall a little short of more and more we're annoyed.
You mean we get annoyed at slowly worsening service, slowly inflating fees? Has anyone ever enjoyed that?
Goes to show that you give someone a much better value and they adapt and take it for granted, then reduce their value by a little bit and it's the sky falling.
That is called bait-and-switch. In civilized countries it is a crime.
I thought slashdot's tag line was "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters". I would not count this as news or anything that really matters.
Sent from my TARDIS
It's only been the last couple of years that NF has been doing processing on Saturday anyway, and they didn't increase pricing when they started doing it.
I'll miss it a little, but really it's not a big deal.
The US Postal Service has been trying to cut losses by ending Saturday delivery of ALL mail for years. I used to be a Netflix DVD subscriber and am admittedly streaming-only now (DVDs are hard to squeeze through my VPN - I live in Germany now), but I fail to see the big deal. Feel fortunate you still receive Saturday delivery of junk mail and bills.
The only people affected by this probably eat food out of a bucket. Find a real problem to complain about. Please.
I don't understand the outrage over Netflix changing the terms of the deal. Let's face it, this happens all the time. Sometimes it's good for a given customer, sometimes it's bad. Businesses that stand still don't survive. In this case you get your disk a little slower in some cases. Previously, they added a bunch of original content (Orange Is the New Black anyone?).
When the deal changes in such a way you don't think you are getting your money's worth, don't buy it anymore
Given that there are large araes of the country with only slow DSL or no broadband at all, DVD/Bluray delivery is still important. The fact is, as well, we dont have the internet infrastructure to deliver massive HD streams to everyone over the internet. Even FIOS would be totally overwhelmed by this. From a technical position, its also fairly inefficient use of resources since if you have 20 people in the same block watching the same channel, the channel has to be broadcast 20 seperate times over the local capacity, slowing things down for everyone else. Your also just not going to get the same perfect HD picture quality from some jerky streaming service that you can get from a Bluray disk. The picture and sound from bluray is second to none. Bluray delivery is very efficient because it prevents us from loading video watching on already overtaxed telecommunications lines and it helps keep the postal workers employed.
I wouldn't watch a movie I thought I might enjoy in standard def... I realize you're in a bit of a bind when netflix doesn't have rights to stream a movie you want to watch but I would seek out other sources (apple, vudu). It isn't necessarily "ethical" but perhaps do a search for couchpotato howto. Doesn't justify it but the more content is pirated the more content providers should feel pressured to make their stuff available in a method consumers want.
netflix has a fit when an internet provider throttles or discriminates against traffic to subscribers of their streaming services........
while they do the same fucking thing to their own subscribers on the postal service side..
fuck you, netflix. FUCK YOU.
Netflix is not in business to provide movie streaming or DVD delivery service. They are in business for one thing and one thing only: Separate the punter (you) from his money. And like every other capitalist, they do it by providing the worst, most expensive service they possibly can. Simply put, profit = what you pay - what you get, and the more you get, the less profit they make.
You must be new here.
People don't just add seasons of shows they want to watch to the torrent queue and invest a tiny bit of money into an htpc instead of all that waste in mailing optical discs...
Strop the presses: Comp[any improves profit by reducing serves.
I think we pay about $14 for 2 movies at a time. That's probably about $1.50 each. I don't know how they keep it so cheap. And I can see virtually any movie in circulation. The streaming selection is very limited, so if Netflix ever drops disks I'll drop Netflix. I don't want to see TV shows, and if I want to see old or mediocre movies I can get those at the library. I happily pay for Netflix disks because I can see all of the "arthouse" movies shortly after they come out. There are only a handful of theaters around (in Boston) where I can see those movies, and only one or two of those are civilized enough not to force me to see ads after paying $12 to see a movie. So if Netflix needs to close on Saturdays to make it work, that's fine with me. (I have to wonder how many people complaining about Netflix routinely and irrationally waste $2 on a plain bottle of water or $4 on a coffee at Starbucks that they could have made better at home.)
I agree that most people won't notice or care.
I only have so much time to watch movies in the first place. An extra day to get one returned isn't going to impact my life in any significant way. If I'm THAT desperate to receive a movie for ASAP viewing, I probably better just go out and buy the thing locally.
I never expected Netflix to process discs on a Saturday and was surprised they even bothered. On a separate note, I have gotten 2 discs at a time, several times now, even though I only pay for 1. They have been doing a great job with identifying when something in Very Log Wait status becomes available and just have it mailed to me when it does. If you don't like Netflix you can always try GamezNFlix if they're still around. LOL.
So if you don't like it, find another company to give your business to.
Physical media is going away and Netflix is focused on improving streaming business. Expect mailing service to deteriorate and eventually go away. Realistically the future is pirate bay, but I can imagine especially scrupulous individuals setting up a non-profit DVD trading service.
Speaking of a US Expat living in Canuckistan right now who likes good movies... most of the Netflix subscribers I know either use paid VPN services to stream US Netflix or are content with the frankly shameful selection (easily 1/20th) of the US licensing agreements. And Canada has it very, very good compared to almost all of the rest of the streaming world.
Speaking as a US Expat who also makes his living in the film industry, the idea that distribution rights should exist based on an arbitrary company's ability to distribute *cellulose* is positively quaint and ripe for disruption the same way LA (RIP) was. Past tense, mind. Because pretty much nothing except the financing & parties are actually made in LA anymore.
The industry will take note or die. Neither quick enough for my tastes.
I stick with the DVD plan, because it gives me access to the whole library of movies and TV shows. The tiny fraction of that library available for streaming is a joke. Netflix keeps wanting more people to stream, but this problem is the major inhibitor.
What I would like to see Apple do with its immense cash hoard is to buy Hollywood. Not the whole thing, of course, because we would just be swapping one monopoly for another, but a substantial vertical slice of it. As soon as consumers are able to get current TV shows as well as movies on a low-cost subscription model without all the silly rules and restrictions, the rest of the entertainment industry will see the light and set up a similar system. Netflix streaming could be a major beneficiary of this process.
Seriously, this is a big deal? They committed to a 1-3 day turnaround, and this falls under that time frame. Have you absolutely nothing else to do when your DVD delivery is "interrupted"?
Where else can you get 8 movie rentals for $8? If I watch everything as soon as I get it, I could cycle through eight flicks a month. But even when I'm slow and lazy I probably get in 4 movies a month, or $2 a rental.