Analysis of Netflix's DVD Allocation System 521
dvd_rent_test writes "Netflix uses the number of movies you have previously rented to determine your priority in getting movies. The more movies you rented during your last billing cycle, the less chance you have of receiving a movie versus an individual who has rented fewer movies. This is why new users have great success getting their movies and older or heavy users have a difficult time getting some movies."
Easy solution (Score:2, Funny)
What will the MPAA say? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What will the MPAA say? (Score:2, Interesting)
Worse... (Score:5, Funny)
Rich
So I wondered.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:So I wondered.. (Score:4, Interesting)
What does Netflix do when the USPS loses a DVD? I know that they lost one of mine and I used the Netflix page to mark it as missing, with no effect on my account. But it also says that if you have an abnormal amount of lost DVDs, they will notice. Did they do anything to you?
Re:So I wondered.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:So I wondered.. (Score:5, Informative)
As for how easy is it to tell an "inbound" from an "outbound" Netflix movie; very easy. Inbound to the subscriber are almost entirely red on the outside and are addressed to the subscriber. Outbound movies going back to Netflix have their address on them and are white on one side.
And since they have opened new service centers (relevant to me, first in Georgia and then in Ft. Lauderdale) the shipping times have been great.
Re:So I wondered.. (Score:3, Interesting)
-Sean
Paranoid about Netflx? (Score:3, Informative)
Of course if the USPS were losing the movies one could expect losses in both directions. I asked a one-time ex-deputy Director of the FBI about such shenanigans (ooh, my mighty network) and he said that US Postal inspectors would LOVE to hear about such "losses" and to investigate such a matter.
Being a good and right consumer, I decided it wasn't worth the hassle and settled with cancelling my subscription. I was paranoid/concerned that Netflix was purposely "losing" (read "not processing") my returned DV
Re:Paranoid about Netflx? (Score:3, Informative)
I have a friend who works in loss/fraud prevention who would love to hear your story. If you let them know that you're losing quite a number of your movies, there will be investigation.
He has some great stories about DVD loss, and fraud. My favorite was the hotel that had three or four netflix accounts so they could 'rent' movies to their customers (which, if you've read the FBI warning at the beginning of any DVD lately, you'd know that's not allowed). There are also stories of postal workers stealing the
Re:So I wondered.. (Score:3, Funny)
Empty envelopes (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't believe the post office is stealing these.
That explains some things (Score:2, Interesting)
interesting (Score:5, Insightful)
Hmmm... I'm not sure that anyone really has a reason to complain to loudly about this. No-one is being ripped off. Still, I'm not sure I understand their logic in implementing this way. In the end I'm not sure it is in their interest to give preference to either group: the frequent users or those who pay and don't play.
Re:interesting (Score:2)
No, apparently they lose money on their most active customers. For instance, I think if you get the "3 out at a time" subscription, I've seen it stated that if you get more than 5 movies in a month, they lose money on you.
Also, if you have a "Long Wait" movie at the top of your queue, you can expect that a new movie doesn't go out to you as quickly as if you have a "Now" movie in t
Re:interesting (Score:5, Insightful)
Think again. As long as people don't really notice then they can keep a higher subscription rate with this system.
The active people, those who like and use the system often, are less likely to give it up over longer wait times. Those people probably have more movies they want to watch, so they can pick those with the lower wait times.
The inactive folks, those who rarely use the system, must be provided low wait times in order to keep them subscribed. The Surest way to make them leave is to tell them they have a long wait for the one thing they wanted.
This system seems designed to maintain the highest subscription rate, which is exactly what I would expect.
Seems fair.. (Score:2)
It does seem fair as there are only a certain number of physical DVDs to send around. That said, they should buy more of popular titles to keep the waits to a minimum for long time, and presumably good, customers.
This is a manufactured problem (Score:5, Insightful)
I notice blockbuster charges ~$3.90 for all DVDs now, "because the cost of replacement for damaged DVDs is so much higher than VHS". Sha, right, why blockbuster's don't all have DVD burners in the back room is purely a testament to bad/non-existant negotiations between Blockbuster and the movie companies.
Re:This is a manufactured problem (Score:5, Informative)
The DVD burners currently available can't copy a full-length movie. You have to rip the original movie, and increase the compression (slightly lower the quality) to fit it onto a single disc. You can also slice the movie in half, and use two discs.
Re:This is a manufactured problem (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:This is a manufactured problem (Score:3, Insightful)
"If we increase service, we'll increase demand at least proportionally..."
However, this assertion is typically just flat wrong. Any business person worth their salt whose goal is to maximize profit will use the route that is most likely to give them the highest margin. If service dropped below a threshold, yes - people wouldn't use the service anymore. However, as long as the service is "good enough" people will continue to use it.
In other words, if they increased service, they w
Re:This is a manufactured problem (Score:5, Funny)
Provide easy access to commercial-grade dupe equipment to thousands of teens around the US making minimum wage working in a store full of source material.
Hmmmm... I wonder why they haven't done this yet?
Re:This is a manufactured problem (Score:3, Informative)
Check it out: Look carefully at the Netflix discs you get in the mail from now on. Every now and again, you'll get one that has just the title of the film printed in a weird font (kind of Art Deco) and no graphics. Actually, the text isn't printed
how many tricks do they have up their sleeves? (Score:5, Interesting)
When I went to kill my membership, they offered me the same membership for less money, what was 3 DVD's for $20 a month, was now two or three bucks less. And the savings could be had on all there other plans, if agreed to use their services for a year or so.
Seems like they've got some pretty "creative" ways of handling their customers. I'm content buying DVDs off of eBay.
Anybody else think they're a little "funny"?
Re:how many tricks do they have up their sleeves? (Score:5, Insightful)
This is standard operating procedure for almost any subscription service. Newspapers, magazines, cable companies, mobile phone companies, all do this.
It all comes down to the cost of acquiring a new customer vs. keeping an old one. But, of course, it would be suicide to offer such a discount to everyone without their asking.
Can't We Just Blame Microsoft or Something? (Score:5, Funny)
And, of course, the account B was the new one that was having an easier rental time. So it must be that Netflix gives better rental times to people who use Internet Explorer! Microsoft owns everything!
Re:Can't We Just Blame Microsoft or Something? (Score:2)
Just to explain it to everyone else, it was probably because of the cookies Netflix uses to track users. You probably can't use the same browser to have multiple simultaneous sessions.
Not as bad as it seems (Score:2)
Well done... (Score:5, Insightful)
Allocation strategies always involve prioritizing one type of customer over another - in Netflix's case, this current strategy would seem to make sense while they are trying to grow the business and rake in new customers. Assuming that there aren't significant supply chain issues that are getting in the way of prompt availability for all customers, like a larger number of people than expected not returning DVD's in a timely fashion, Netflix will need to revisit this at some point before they screw their loyal customers one too many times.
Re:Well done... (Score:2)
This sort of thing is probably at the heart of their entire business model, information I doubt they want the masses to have. If so, I'd be very afraid of their reactions, given the current corporation vs. consumer attitudes out there today.
Re:trade secret (Score:3, Informative)
Besides the fact that despite the analysis he could still be WRONG. It is only conjecture based on the set of evidence that's been compiled.
It's your browser (Score:3, Funny)
This is another example of the Microsoft's strategy for world domination. NetFlix gives preference to customers using IE over Netscape/Mozilla.
Creates a potential problem (Score:3, Interesting)
(insert sig here)
I remember (Score:5, Informative)
1. Send out unlimited DVD's for 10 bucks a month and let the user keep 4 at any time -- for any length of time (pick up all shipping costs).
2. ???
3. Profit
I was burned that the price kept going up -- and I don't take nicely to automated withdrawls from my accounts going up anytime the source decides to reinvent their business logic. I should either have to sign up again at the higher price, or sign a document authorizing the higher price.
Re:I remember (Score:5, Interesting)
Just call up your credit card company and ask for a chargeback. Tell them you didn't authorize that amount of debit. Merchants hate that. It costs them money, and if it happens enough they can get investigated for fraud. If more people did it, Netflix would think twice before trying crap like that again.
This actually seems fair.... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not a perfect system, but given limited resources, it's the fairest thing they can do and still keep prices reasonble.
HTF is this fair.... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:HTF is this fair.... (Score:5, Insightful)
What would you rather them do--make all new people wait the longest? Great business plan.
I don't have a problem with a company showing customer's loyalty, but you can't expect them to have a DVDfairy hanging out in their office crapping out DVDs on demand--there's a limited number, and this looks like the most reasonable way of distributing them fairly. You get a good month, then you get a not-so good month.
Re:This actually seems fair.... (Score:3, Informative)
Not so. I will still get (and watch) the same number of movies in a bad month, but the movies sent to me will be those lower down in my queue.
So a bad month gives me just as many movies, but I don't get the benefit of either seeing the movies I really want or getting a higher priority the next month.
This would only be fair if I were to cut back on the number of rentals when they reduce m
Similar Experience (Score:5, Interesting)
Normal Business Plan (Score:2)
And hopefully you won't notice this since your first couple weeks of subscription, you had excellent response times.
Business Models. (Score:5, Insightful)
1) They are "punishing" the people that make the most use of their service, rewarding those that make the least use. Considering they charge the same amount of money either way, it sounds like a good idea to me.
2) They are catering to two entirely different clientel: Set A) that watch a ton of movies, Set B) That watch only a few movies. Set A pays the same as set B but gets more quantity at the cost of less quality.
Either way, it sounds like a GOOD, FAIR, business plan to me.
Re:Business Models. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Business Models. (Score:3, Interesting)
I made a graph of the average availability score vs. the $/rental for each period, and got a nice,clean inversely proportional graph. That is, the higher you pay per rental (e.g. his mom was paying $10/movie during one period), the better your availability score. Where some of the data didn't *quite* fit (but was pretty close) was where the author (A) had rented fewer movies on his
Get 'em at the Library (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Get 'em at the Library (Score:2)
However, your quote, "the bulk of what you get on Netflix and on most of the cable channels anyway." is a little off. The reason I picked Netflix is because they have an absolutely humongous selection of DVDs. Much larger than any video store. Certainly
Re:Get 'em at the Library (Score:4, Interesting)
I can access the card catalog system for my county-wide library system online (via telnet [lib.or.us] or the web [lib.or.us]), peruse their selection at my leisure (including DVDs and videos from every public library in the county, not just the one 2 blocks from my house - and including items that are currently checked out and not sitting on the shelf), and place a hold on it. If it's available, it will probably be delivered to my local library within 2-3 days; if it's something very popular like a new release on DVD it could take a couple months. I can check the status of a hold, and it'll tell me my position in the queue (I'm in 59th place out of 148 current holds for My Big Fat Greek Wedding on DVD, which I requested about a month and a half ago). When an item is ready, I just walk in, hand them my library card, they hand me my movies, and I get to keep them for 3 or 7 days (depending on the policy of the library the item belongs to, which varies somewhat, and how popular the item is - new releases are generally 3 days). If I return it late, the fine is between $0.10 to $0.25 per day (again depending on the library it belongs to), which they're not picky about if I haven't got any change with me.
The disadvantage of using the library compared to Blockbuster or Hollywood Video is, unless the movie I want is available and sitting on the shelf (not very likely), I can't watch it today. The advantage is that it's free, and the late fees are trivial.
The only disadvantages of using the library compared to NetFlix that I can think of are, instead of delivering to my mailbox, I have to walk two blocks (or the library will mail it to me for a $2.00 charge if I want), and I can only keep it for 3-7 days before returning it (I can afford the overdue fines, but I don't like to deprive others who are waiting). The advantage, again, is that it's free (aside from fines mentioned above).
Does your local library kick this much ass? Maybe not, but give it a try, you might be surprised.
discrimination? (Score:5, Funny)
I, for one, thing it is *appalling* that NetFlix would discriminate against the elderly and the fat-assed.
m.
IE vs. Nustcrape - not a troll (Score:2)
The Evil new account is in an IE browser, and the poor abused old account is in a NN window.
Re:IE vs. Nustcrape - not a troll (Score:3, Funny)
IE browser == in stock, shipping ASAP
You've just unlocked the real secret to Netflix
It's Their Business Model (Score:5, Informative)
In other words, as long as your account is 5 or less and you are profitable for them, you will get movies quickly. If you are renting more than 5, it seems they slow you down in an effort to limit you to the 5 through delay tactics.. rather than just saying "up to 5"
Kinda sneaky to pitch unlimited rentals and then use false availability numbers to limit your customers to a preset amount.
I think I will just stick with the local video store. I can rent 4 or 5 movies there for 20 bucks a month without the waiting time OR lies about availability.
Re:It's Their Business Model (Score:4, Insightful)
They don't really "slow you down," as you are still able to rent other movies. It's just that some movies become less available than others.
You make it seem like, if it says a movie is a Very Long Wait, you won't get any movie. But, if you keep your rental queue filled (mine has 33 movies; I have been as high as 70. Only 3 are unavailable now), you will always get a movie in your queue, perhaps just not the exact one you wanted.
To me, it's not that big a deal, because Netflix's biggest advantage over local video stores is selection. If they don't have one particular movie, pick another one.
Algorithm needs to be normalized (Score:2, Interesting)
It seems that a better algorithm would normalize the number of movies rented in each billing cycle by the number paid to be rented at one time.
I noticed this as well. (Score:5, Informative)
When I joined Netflix, I got my shipments in two days from the Santa Ana facility, and I almost always got the top three on my list. Now it seems like they take three days at least. (Get shipping email on Monday, DVD arrives on Thursday.)
Now that I've been a member for six months or so, the top of my list has aggegated together about six movies that are all "Very Long Wait" and to be quite honest, I've never seen them anything other than that. I don't think I will ever get them.
FWIW, I do beleive the article is essentially correct and various service levels with Netflix decrease over time.
It also would not surprise me in the least if they analyze your viewing habits to determine if you are likely to stop using the Netflix service. It would probably be called the Geek Regression.
And just for kicks, the list of movies I will never see from Netflix: Solaris (Original 1970's version), Trees Lounge, Raging Bull, 24 Disc 1, Sopranos Disc 1. Has anyone gotten these?
My shipping is pretty fast... (Score:3, Interesting)
I just checked and I have 59 movies in my rental queue, and every single one of them is listed as "Now" availability. Granted, most of them are uncommon foreign and indie films so I'm not in competition with all those folks trying to get the latest "Austin Powers" mo
For people in the UK (Score:2, Interesting)
I know this may be slightly off topic but there is a company in the UK which runs a similar service to NetFlix, called dvdsontap.com [dvdsontap.com] I;ve used them for about 6 moths and they have been very good, including not giving me any hastle when a dvd they said the had send did not turn up.
Alos as far as I am aware the dvd queues are the same for all users, so you may wait a bit for new relases but most other stuff comes as soon as it gets to the head of your rental queue.
You buy DVDs, be careful.. (Score:4, Funny)
Does Queue size affect availability (Score:2, Insightful)
Like an OS scheduler (Score:2)
that most need it. They typically keep a "score"
of the CPU a process has received an reward those
needing more.
Not True in My Experience (Score:5, Informative)
For the most part we get everything that we ask for amazingly fast. It's very rare that anything hangs up on the queue with a long wait. Even highly popular and newly released items arrive quickly. And since we are in the Bay Area not far from Netflix central the turnaround time is often just two or three days.
I'm very happy with Netflix. In a good month we'll easily get 20 or more DVDs for an average rental price of under $1.50 delivered right to our door.
getting movies quickly (Score:3, Informative)
Netflix loses money on postage (Score:5, Informative)
"It's so convenient that the average Netflix customer watches five movies a month. Some subscribers rent twenty or more. (Which is a problem: Netflix loses money on postage for households that rent more than five a month.)"
So, if this is true (and hopefully Wired has become more trustworth as a "news source" in recent years...), then obviously they want to discourage people from renting more than 5 per month.
The method above seems like a pretty good way to do it!
A wait can be a good thing (Score:5, Funny)
As a prize, I got "I'm gonna git you, sucka!" nice and early.
Matches My Experience (Score:4, Interesting)
I was a Netflix subscriber for a few months. My experience matches the study - there was a slow buildup of "long waits" in my queue. Eventually, when all the movies I wanted to see were "long waits", I cancelled.
In general, I find that I'm getting a lot more aggressive with cancelling subscriptions or services, especially if these services involve new technology. Cancellation is the only message that is received - all others fall on deaf ears. Sprint PCS, for example, has an customer service voice recognition system that will route you to a service agent if you say "I want to cancel". Any other message is handled by an automated, worthless system. I was able to negotiate a much better rate with them by using those four magic words.
Full disclosure (Score:3, Insightful)
However, what's upsetting about this is that it's not made public by NetFlix. They advertise "unlimited rentals," but penalize you for renting a lot. They encourage you to keep a large buffer of movies so that if your first choice isn't avaliable, you'll get a second, third, fourth, or lower choice, but they don't tell you that this will decrease your priority. That second point, in particular, is rather infuriating, because they're telling you to do something that is directly against your best interest if you want that first choice movie at some point!
If NetFlix can't make money from people who rent 20 movies a month, they need to set an upper limit, or charge a per movie cost. If the business model of a mail order rental place is inherently unsustainable, then they need to admit that, liquidate their company, and cash out. Being deceptive about the priority in which movies are rented is simply unacceptable.
Solution to problem: (Score:4, Informative)
1. $20 a month for 3 movies out at a time, unlimited rentals
2. $30 a month for 5 movies out at a time, unlimited rentals
3. $40 a month for 8 movies at a time, unlimited rentals
4. $14 a month for 4 rentals a month
So if you want extra special "I always get the movies first on my list" account, get 2 $20 a month accounts and let one lie fallow (i.e. don't use it) every other month. You'll always get the exact movies you want, and you'll also be able to keep 6 out at a time. Depending on how many you watch in a month, you possibly could get by with two $14 a month accounts.
source: http://netflix.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/netflix.cfg/p
Netflix are spammers (Score:3, Interesting)
Remind me again, why would I do business with Netflix?
This system is great! (Score:3, Insightful)
People like me, who hold a disk for a long time because they like to intone every scene into memory (or are just lazy), aren't going to get more than one or two chances per month to get that must-have film. To keep it fair, and to keep the probability that either me or my diligent friend will get the movie about equal odds, you've got to weight my chances.
Yeah, it's partly to increase the probability that people who are thinking of quitting will stay on, but even so it's the only way to make things statistically fair.
Bait and Switch with a side of Spam? (Score:3, Interesting)
I was a netflix customer early on, when you paid per movie and had just a week to watch them. Good service, and living in San Jose right near their headquarters ( the only shiping point at the time ) meant I could sometimes order a movie on the weekend and have it arrive Monday.
Then they paid spammers to increase their "market share". Not "opt-in" list guys, but the ones who sent to anyname@domain.com. I complained, they replied that they only dealt with opt-in spammers. I told them that I'd have remembered if I'd ever created an account with the email address "HowieIsAGayFuck@mydomain.com". They replied that out millions of spams sent, I was the only one who complained. No apology, never mentioned they'd stop dealing with the offending spam flingers.
So after 2 or 3 years with them I did the only thing in my power, I walked. I'd been getting DVDs every month, told all my friends, heck, even was in on a couple customer focus groups at their offices.
Me, I'm hoping blockbuster and Walmart with their new DVD by mail services squash them like a bug. The idea of a company doing well based on vile spam doesnt' sit well with me.
If anyone from Netflix is listening!? Open Letter! (Score:5, Insightful)
Why do you keep sending me "Free Trial" offers on the inside flap of each envelope? Why do you keep preaching to the choir?
Even if I had 100 friends, they'd be so sick of me handing them "Free Trial" coupons that they'd stop talking to me. Why not subsidize some of MY rental fee or the number of movies I can rent by offering your PREMIUM advertising space to companies like Best Buy or Circuit City. Or, let the advertisers offset the cost of purchasing a larger quantity of DVDs and remove LONG and SHORT waits altogether.
It seems so obvious to me that the envelop flap should be used for advertising - ANYTHING OTHER THAN A NETFLIX product. I would love to see a coupon for $2.00 off any DVD with the purchase of any other. How about $2.00 off a pizza? How about $2.00 off a movie ticket? Why not co-op the envelope space and sell to local area grocery stores or whatever? Use your imagination!
Use the back of the envelop flap for something that is going to benefit the CUSTOMER. Advertisers are constantly looking for new places to advertise. Here you go, a perfect space.
And when you're all done absorbing this idea, you can send me a check or a job offer. I'm a simple man.
Sincerely,
Andrew
may be right (Score:3, Interesting)
I've been a member since 2/2000 when it was 4-out for $15. They grandfathered me for many months but finally raised my price to $20, but still 4-out.
In this time I've rotated movies very quickly and only seen any kind of wait time just once or twice.
I did notice that following 9-11 the deliveries slowed to a crawl. Suddenly, the deliveries came the next day...and I noticed the return address very close to home. Now days, it's never more than 3 days turn-around to swap one movie for another.
But, here's the thing that might save me from the long waits. Possibly they use algorithms such as described, and possibly the algorithms don't affect me because of this... of our 4-out I only rotate 3 quickly. The other 1 is always something my wife wants to see, and she'll be busy and not get around to seeing it for a month or two. That one might throw off their trick.
Whatever... anything is better than Blockbuster...
So here's the key.... (Score:4, Informative)
So here is the key.
Open two accounts. One for you, one for your friend down the street. Then take turns getting "big months" and "bad months" and you'll get all of the movies you want and you'll get to watch them with a friend.
Of course this costs you twice as much, so its not like you are stealing... you are just manipulating the system.
What about their rating system? (Score:3, Interesting)
For example: I rent a lot of horror movies. One day, while browsing through the new releases, up popped a little box asking me whether I would like to participate in a little survey about a film currently in production. The film in question turned out to be "Freddy vs. Jason," and they wanted advice on what kind of movie it should be (should it be gory? Funny? Full of kung fu action? Etc.)
But be clear now -- they did not say what movie they were talking about before I agreed to participate in the survey. Was it a coincidence that I was asked about an upcoming horror movie? I hardly think so.
Data should be taken in context (Score:3, Insightful)
The key part of the article [dreamhost.com] is this quote:
Note that he specifically selected movies that weren't available. That does not mean that all movies are unavailable. Nor does it mean that popular movies are unavailable. If you look at the list of the top rentals of the past week [imdb.com] and compare the list to the movies he checked, you'll notice very few movies that are in both lists.By focusing on unavailable movies, the author was able to hypothesize the criteria used by Netflix to determine who should get the next copy of a movie. However, some /.ers are extrapolating that data to mean that long time subscribers never get the movie they want to see, as if a person wanted to rent Harry Potter [imdb.com], but is stuck watching Manos, the Hands of Fate [imdb.com] (the worst movie of all-time, according to IMDB). That is not the case, if your top movie is unavailable, the next movie in your queue, a movie you specifically picked as being one you want to watch, is sent to you.
Re:make sense (Score:2)
Re:make sense (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:make sense (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:make sense (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:make sense (Score:2, Funny)
Re:make sense (Score:2, Informative)
at anyrate, there's another service that uses a pay per movie, and you get it for a week or so. don't have the name off hand, but i've used it and wasn't too bad. they had the same setup where they sent you the return envelop, you just had to have it back in the mail within the 10 days. plenty of time to rip the vob's...
Re:make sense (Score:3, Interesting)
Besides if you want to watch movies that bad, go out and buy them. Most movies are available at below cost the first days after release.
Re:make sense (Score:3, Informative)
I am of course only refering to the stores cost, not the movie studios cost to manufacture.
Note: I am an employee of CC
Re:make sense (Score:5, Insightful)
I think it has more to do with the fact that people who are renting a lot are obviously watching more movies. Therefore, the chances that they'll find another movie that they like if the one they REALLY want is not available are pretty good. However, if you only rent sporadically, then the chances that you are going to get frustrated and terminate your service if the movies you want aren't available are pretty good.
My first reaction to this article was that Netflix was way off the mark. However, if you really look at it it makes sense. They are keeping the people who are most at risk for cancelling the happiest. Those people who rent a lot of movies no matter what are less of a cancel-risk, so Netflix isn't as vigilant about making sure they get their first choices right away.
Re:make sense (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:make sense (Score:5, Interesting)
During the trial period, you have an empty history. Therefore, you get every movie you want (almost) immediately. After you do this and start thinking the service is so awesome in terms of title availability, you continue and, as long as you are trying to use the service to get movies you want (as opposed to being a dormant subscriber who pays but never gets anything), you get screwed because you'll continue to get punished for wanting to take maximum advantage of the money you're spending.
Re:make sense (Score:4, Interesting)
Exactly (Score:5, Interesting)
My wife and I used to rent 10+ movies a month on the standard 3-out plan. But then we got busier and started watching less and less. Lately we've been lucky to watch 2 or 3 movies in a month, and a few recent months have only seen one. We switched to the 2-out plan sometime last year to save money. I later realized that this plan is not normally offered - our account got flagged and we were offered the plan based on our rental history. Netflix kept a customer and we stayed happy by paying less.
My sister-in-law's story is even more phenomenal. Her financial situation dictated that she cancel completely, which she did. Netflix came begging to get her back, and ultimately agreed to keep her on for a mere $7/month! (I thought it was $7 for 6 months, but this sounds more likely) She's a damn good haggler, so I don't know if this would be common at all; I imagine if they did it too much, they would lose money.
I've always been impressed by the fact that we've been able to get just released movies very quickly. I suppose maybe that's one reason we haven't canceled despite not getting as much out of the service lately. When we do use it, it's always top notch, so Netflix still gets our money. I don't recall having major problems even when we were renting a lot more, but I suppose Netflix has grown considerably since then. I always assumed they kept the service good by expanding to meet customer demand. It'll be interesting to read more comments and see how other people's experiences relate to the study's results. I'd love to see the same thing conducted again with a larger sample size.
Re:make sense (Score:5, Insightful)
Look at this example:
Lets say in January, Joe rents 10 movies, but Mary only rents 1. During the next month more movies will be available to Mary because she rented less.
So in February Mary rents 10 (because more were available) but Joe only gets 1 (because less were available).
Now over the two month period both paid $19.95 per month, and both AVERAGED 5.5 rentals per month. So it comes out fair for both parties. When you look at it this way it seems totally fair and justified. Although a little strange I'll admit.
Re:make sense (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:make sense (Score:4, Funny)
You can fight back, though. Tell the waiter you want the meaty ribs, dammit! He'll bring them to you because he wants to get a tip.
Mmmm... ribs...
What were we talking about again?
Re:My analysis (Score:2, Insightful)
Thats not quite true. Someone took the time to study this. They posted it here... so someone cares, just not you.
Re:This is normal (Score:2)
Just another example of the squeaky wheel getting the grease ...
Re:Correction? (Score:2)
You even quoted it yourself. The rental plan he's referring to is whether you are PAYING for 5 discs. He's saying that it has no effect on the results whether you use 1 movie and pay for 1 movie, or use 1 movie and pay for 5 movies, it will have the same effect on their allocation scheme.
Re:Correction? (Score:2)
Both people have the same chance of getting hard to get movies, even though the person with the 6-subscription is paying more and not getting as full of u
Re:Correction? (Score:2)
Re:How many 'really' subscribe to Netflix? (Score:2)
I rent maybe one DVD a weekend. Figure that out, probably about the same cost of Netflix. With Netflix, I need to figure out a week in advance what I want to watch next weekend, so it gets shipped to me in time. For me, it's not practical at all. For some movie buffs, who rent for the sake of renting, it's probably a Good Thing (tm).
In light of this info, the movie buff who rents becau
Re:How many 'really' subscribe to Netflix? (Score:4, Interesting)
Plus they actually have NC-17 stuff. Most Hollywood and Blockbusters won't rent those, or carry only censored versions. Personally, I prefer to be treated like an adult.
Re:How many 'really' subscribe to Netflix? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Cost Control Measures... (Score:3, Informative)
That's not how Netflix works. As long as you have 1 movie in your queue with an availability of Now, they will send it. The article talks about specific movies being unavailable, not movies in general. You'll still get a movie, just not the one on the top of your list.