One Less Stupid Tax to Pay - Netflix.com UPDATED!
Written: Apr 21 '02 (Updated Jun 05 '02)
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Late fees for overdue DVD rentals from Blockbuster are a "stupid tax", one of the many little hidden taxes in our economy designed to suck money from the wallets of those of us too stupid to get life's details right. I'm not opposed to stupid taxes; they seem fair to me. Stupid people pay more so smart people can pay less. This tax money adds lubricant to keep the wheels of commerce going, transferring cash straight from the hands of the stupid people into the hands of the smart ones, you know, the smart people who thought up yet another way to tax stupid people.
Personally, I'm an expert in this area, paying enough stupid taxes to support all the smart people in a midsize state -- late fees at Blockbuster, interest on credit cards, late payment charges on bills, extra at the supermarket because I forgot my bonus card, yada yada. I can't recount the entire list because I'm too stupid to even keep track of all the times I pay a stupid tax.
Netflix entire sales pitch is aimed at stupid people. Never pay late fees again! Rent as many movies as you want, 3 at a time, $20 a month, return them whenever you like. I may be stupid, but I'm not dumb. This is a service I had to try.
How Netflix works
Works pretty well, thank you. They've got it set so that even a stupid person can't pay more than she planned on.
I make a list of the DVDs I want to see. For the basic membership fee, Netflix sends me the top 3 DVDs on my list, via US mail, nicely packaged in cute little mailers.
The DVDs arrive at my house. I watch them when I want to, and return them individually at my leisure. Return mailer and postage is included. When Netflix receives my return, they email me letting me know they've gotten it and immediately send me the next DVD on my list. (When I say immediately, I mean immediately. These people aren't stupid; they're smart and fast.)
More is more and less is less
Netflix offers five different plans. The more money you pay each month, the more movies you are allowed to have out at one time, the more likely it is that you'll always have a couple of movies at your house ready for you to watch.
I'm on the Netflix basic plan, three movies at a time. This weekend, I have three DVDs in my house. Two were new arrivals, which I watched yesterday. One is a movie that I keep meaning to watch but I've not been in the mood for.
I'll return the two I watched on Monday, and possibly the third one watched or unwatched because I'm tired of it hanging around. By the time the three DVDs hit Netflix, they send me my next DVDs and they arrive, next weekend will have come and gone. On the three DVD plan, I often have DVDless weekends.
The maximum Netflix plan, eight DVDs at a time, is ideal. That's enough to have several DVDs in transit, several DVDs just arrived and several DVDs hanging around, waiting for the mood to watch them to strike. The maximum plan is also $40 per month, more than I'm willing to pay. I spend too much money on other stupid taxes to be able to fork 40 bucks over every month. Price of being stupid.
Ready to give Netflix a try and avoid the stupid tax?
A new user should be prepared to spend a good chunk of time on the site first go round.
1) Sign up for the trial run using one of the many offers for two free weeks floating around the net.
2) Rate movies (optional). I spent a good hour on my first visit rating movies I'd already seen so that Netflix could make intelligent suggestions for rentals for me. People like you like (fill in the blank) Their suggestions are good but not great; reading Epinions of your favorite writers is probably a better way to pick which movies to see.
3) Prepare your rental queue. The queue is the list of DVDs that you've said you want to rent, in order of priority. This can take quite a while if you want to set up a list of 20 or so, as I did. You can change your queue a thousand times, so don't fret about getting the list perfect first time out.
That's it. They'll send your first three movies out within a day.
A word about the US Mail
I was expecting the US Mail to kill the convenience of this service. Netflix is on the West Coast, I'm on the East Coast. I figured it would take 6 or 7 days for movies to get to me and 6 or 7 days for my returns to reach them.
I'm shocked to report that the average travel time for a DVD is 3 days. I don't know who they are bribing at the post office to get the mail to run so quickly, but I couldn't be happier. Okay, I could be happier. I'd be in heaven if they had an East Coast distribution center and we were just one mail day apart.
Update 6/5/02: Netflix opened a center in Flushing, NY! I'm now in heaven. One to two mail days from Netflix! (Funny, I didn't think heaven looked like South Jersey.)
Is Netflix the perfect way to rent DVDs?
Nope. We still use Blockbuster, although not as much.
If my dear husband gets a hankering to have a movie weekend one Friday night, he'll take a trip to Blockbuster and come back with three or four Guy Flicks, none of which seem to have made it to my rental queue at Netflix. I've suggested he sit down at the computer and add movies he wants to my queue, but he's not interested in planning in advance. Netflix can't provide the immediate gratification that walking around Blockbuster and loading up can.
Damaged DVDs are another issue. I've twice now gotten DVDs from Netflix which were damaged at the end of the DVD. Reporting a damaged DVD is easy - just go to your account and click on the DVD as damaged. They send a new one out instantly. "Instant" is all fine and good, but, I'm three mail days away, you know? Kinda frustrating to have to wait that long to see the last 10 minutes of a movie.
After 6 months of using the service, Netflix has worked out to be a perfect compliment to our other DVD rental habits. I use Netflix to rent DVDs primarily for me - Chick Flicks, foreign films, independent fare. Dear husband still uses Blockbuster for Guy Flicks, new releases and kiddie stuff.
All and all this is good for the American economy. I pay my monthly Netflix fee and we're still paying the occasional stupid tax to Blockbuster for hubby's rentals. Breathe easy smart people, my money is still flowing.
Overall recommendation
Netflix is a new concept in DVD rental that may work out very well for your family. You could find it so convenient you'll never rent movies another way again, or you could find, as I did, it makes a good compliment to what you're doing already. You might find you don't care for it at all, but the worst you'll be out is a month's fee, unless you are smart enough to cancel during the two-week free trial.
Try Netflix, really. You'd be stupid not to.
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Update - 5.04.02
I just took the plunge and upgraded my NetFlix account to 5-at-a-time, for $29.95 a month.
Our family has digital cable and we've been paying a ridiculous amount of money for the super-de-duper movie package only to find "557 channels and nothing on". Apologies to Bruce.
In any event, I asked hubby to cut off everything but the basic cable and HBO. I'd rather give NetFlix my money and be able to watch what I want, when I want.
See, I'm getting smarter every day.
Recommended:
Yes
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About the Author
Member: Andrea Barton Gurney
Location: Almost Philadelphia
Reviews written: 74
Trusted by: 290 members
About Me: Gone fishing for awhile.
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