NetFlix Is Where We Rent From Now On
Written: Jan 21 '02 (Updated Apr 06 '04)
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Update 7/24: Netflix now has regional distribution centers to cut down on the turnover time. Most of my DVDs cycle within 3 days now between the time I send them back and the time I receive the next movie in my rental queue!
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I discovered the site Netflix on one of my rewards sites. I clicked through to it for a while before I finally sat down and explored what it is all about.
The premise is simple. If you own a DVD player, you can sign-up here and for a flat fee each month, have DVDs you select mailed to your house.
Sounds simple? It is. To start, you need to build up at least 10 rentals in your rental queue. The DVDs you choose are then mailed to you. They are not in their complete cases as we see in stores, but in a small envelope with the DVD inside in another protective sleeve. This must be good enough to protect them through the mail since none of the DVDs I've received so far have been damaged.
When you are done, simply insert the DVD back in the sleeve, rip off the outer label of the envelope it came in, and mail it back to Netflix at their expense.
Your rental queue can be any size, and you can change the order as much as you want.
For us, this is great. I can't tell you how many times I brought home movies from Blockbuster and returned them without ever having watched them or else been subjected to late fees. We can keep the movies as long as we want and send them back when we've finally manged to find the time to watch them.
So what's the catch?
The catch is choosing the plan that's right for you. The faster you turn the movies around (get movie, watch it, send it back to Netflix, get next movie), the more bang you're getting for your buck. I have figured approximately a 5 to 7 day turnaround on rentals if I drop it directly at the post office instead of just in the nearest mailbox.
The other point to make is that those 2-DVD sets count as having two discs out at the same time. In other words, if you want to rent Men In Black, as well as the Men In Black Bonus Disc that is part of the two DVD set, it counts as two in your queue, as well as two that you have out at the same time.
Once you get up into the higher volume plans, you would have to stagger your rentals to make them work, so that you're not receiving and sending back all the DVDs on the same day. This is the best way to work it so that at least one DVD is on its way to you and at least one DVD is on its way back to them. Try not to keep more than one or two DVDs at your house for viewing at any one time.
The pricing plans are:
$13.95 PER MONTH
This allows you to have two discs out at the same. The maximum number of movies you can get per month by my estimates is ten. A more realistic number is probably seven or eight if you return them right away. If you hang onto them a bit, five is probably more like it.
$19.95 PER MONTH
This is the pricing plan they push the most, and the one you will automatically get unless you indicate otherwise It's also the one I have. You can have three discs out at one time. The maximum number I can estimate getting is fifteen. Realistically, you're probably looking at ten to twelve. If you don't watch and return right away, eight is probably more like it.
$24.95 PER MONTH
This pricing plan allows any four discs out at one time. I estimate up to twenty rentals per month under this plan, with twelve probably being more realistic (since you won't watch four movies in one night), and ten about right if you hang onto them.
$29.95 PER MONTH
This pricing plan allows five discs out at any time. The most I can estimate is twenty-five discs per month, with sixteen probably more realistic, and twelve about right if you don't turn them around really quick.
$39.95 PER MONTH
This movie plan allows for eight discs out at one time. I can't see any reason for having this many unless you plan to watch more than one DVD per night on a regular basis. Even at one movie per night, every night for a month, the most you can figure on viewing is thirty discs. The only reason would be to have a large volume of DVDs to select from.
© 2002 Patti Aliventi
Recommended:
Yes
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About the Author
Member: Patti Aliventi
Location: Mount Washington Valley, New Hampshire
Reviews written: 2556
Trusted by: 700 members
About Me: Well-behaved women seldom make history ~ Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
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