Postal Service Surcharge Could Slash Netflix Profit

mikesd81 writes "Boston.com reports that Netflix Inc., the largest US mail-order movie-rental service, may suffer a cut in profits if the US Postal Service starts charging extra to manually sort the envelopes that carry its DVDs. An audit prepared by the Postal Service's Inspector General last month recommended charging one unidentified company 17 cents per envelope for labor costs. Citigroup analyst Tony Wible, who said in a note to investors Tuesday that the company is Netflix, estimated the charge might reduce profit per subscriber to $0.35 from $1.05. Wible advises investors to buy Blockbusters shares because their DVD envelopes don't have the problem (floppy edges that jam the USPS's automated sorting machinery). Netflix says the whole thing is no big deal and they will change their envelopes if necessary."

Re:well, there is a simple solution for that

[gEvil (beta)]

They already do have a digital distribution system--the mailman picks up the envelope with his fingers and drops it into my mailbox.

Re:Netflix says they will just change the envelope

[kpainter]

Netflix says the whole thing is no big deal and they will change their envelopes if necessary

Ah ha! And that is when Blockbuster is going to reveal that they have a patent on the "Postal Sorting Machine Non-DVD-Jamming Envelope". I predict a $500 Billion patent infringement lawsuit to follow.

Re:well, there is a simple solution for that

[timster]

And yet I can't get it to work no matter what I do. Though I think it would help if Microsoft released a version of Windows for the PowerPC.

Snarky comment alert!

[UbuntuDupe]

Agreed, They have been evolving their design for some time now

Um, don't you mean they were intelligently designing it?

***

Hey, if it costs the USPS more, maybe they could pay for it from the ill-gotten profits they derive from selling spamming services!

Re:well, there is a simple solution for that

[petermgreen]

Though I think it would help if Microsoft released a version of Windows for the PowerPC.
They already did with NT 3.51 and NT4 though they dropped it again pretty quickly and there are all the issues being a different architecture has on other operating systems to contend with too (i'm not sure if it had an emulation layer for running i386 binaries or not).

IIRC they also produced a version of NT4 for powerpc with updated directx for XBOX 360 developers which they supplied to said developers on powermacs.

Network Neutrality

[Nom du Keyboard]

What we need is Postal Network Neutrality, and we need it now!

Re:well, there is a simple solution for that

[operagost]

Okay, we get it [theonion.com]!

Re:Netflix says they will just change the envelope

[Russ Nelson]

Oh, is THAT how shorting works?!?! No wonder I've always lost money on my short trades! Gosh! The sarcasm is just dripping today! I'm gonna wear out my exclamation mark key!

See the "or" connecting the two concepts? That means that you would do one but probably not the other. Reading lessons on slashdot. What ARE they teaching the victims of government schooling these days?

Re:Netflix says they will just change the envelope

[SendBot]

Oh, is THAT how boolean logic works?!?! No wonder I've always lost bits on my binary relations! Gosh! The sarcasm is just dripping today! I'm gonna wear out my NOT key!

See the "XOR" connecting the two operands? That means that one is true, but not the other. Reading lessons on slashdot. What ARE they teaching the victims of computer science these days?

No malice intended, just trying to be cute :)

Patents strike again?

[giminy]

Unless Blockbuster filed for a patent like, "A method for placing media into solid-cornered transport containers." If this is the case, we're all screwed.

Reid