I dont understand why this hasent been a problem or like you said, its been a problem but their just finally done with dealing with it now?

either way, this dosent sound good for Netflix.

what about FedEx or UPS?

It’s not saying they make $1.05 per dvd mailed, it’s saying the make $1.05 per person per month currently. With the additional postage, they will end up making only 35 cents per person.

I’m sure it won’t be too hard for them to make an envelope that can get through whatever machines the post office use to sort mail. Not like this is rocket science or anything.

Audit results from the Postal IG are recommendations that Postal management can disagree with and not implement if they articulate a reason. The IG routinely has audit findings that are not acted upon. The USPS loves the revenue Netflix provides even at the current rate, so it surely will not spring a surprise rate increase.

Sucky timing considering that Netflix lowered the typical subscription rate by $2-$3 per month per customer. That isn’t helping the profit margin any either.
As far as the mailer goes, drop the size to that used by AOL when we all would get four of those damn CDs every month. Those seemed to process through the mail just fine (though I often wished mine would get lost in transit). Using a square envelope just a bit larger than than the DVD would adequately protect it and they would also likely save on cost of mailer on the supply side of things.

Blockbuster could burn down Netflix – after them ‘lying’ about their ‘no late fees’ BS, I won’t bother with them now.

They told me at the store they are not ‘late fees’, but ‘restocking fees’. So I asked them – why am I being charged a ‘restocking’ fee. He said – “well, the movie wasn’t returned on time”.

So I told him – call it what you want, it’s a fee for the movie being late, so it’s a late fee in the customer’s eyes.

I didn’t care so much about paying a late fee, I just expected honesty. But, obviously; that’s too much to expect from business anymore.

I am a mailman. We have to seperate all the Netflix from all the other outgoing mail we bring back from the street. Saying there is a lot is by far an understatement. I have over 300 deliveries on my route. I have over 40 Netflix customers. I have 3 Blockbuster customers. It’s hard to believe Netflix is in trouble.

Netflix’ envelopes have evolved quite radically over time and can evolve again. You yourself pointed out that Blockbuster has an acceptable version. Demand creates its own supply; necessity is the mother of invention.

Incidentally, who is more dependent on whom — Netflix or USPS? One can easily argue the Postal Service needs Netflix more than Nextflix needs the Postal Service.

What’s more interesting is that Netflix’ chairman, Reed Hastings, has himself predicted the quick demise of Netflix’ mailer business model with the inevitable rise of VOD.

Is it any wonder that Netflix is offering complementary VOD with its mailer subscriptions?

I doubt redesigning an envelope is rocket science and I doubt Blockbuster has some secret formula, so why would Netflix license the envelope design? Seems like some simple thinking could resolve the problem.

Did everyone forget that the USPS was privatized? They are regulated and they have a legalized monopoly on mail delivery, but they are responsible for their own profit/loss and are not funded by the US government and haven’t been since the 19080’s.

If the NetFlix mailers require extra processing, they should charge NetFlix more. If it destroys the NetFlix profit margin, so what?

The USPS doesn’t exist to subsidize *anybody*, even IF people ignorantly still think of the USPS as some sort of government handout.

to the Fish:

Suppose that USPS rates for bulk mail are artificially low because the bulk of USPS mail *is* bulk mail (hence the work ‘bulk’) and they *need* that business. The USPS P&L depends on it, even though if you carved it out specifically, it is not profitable.

The difference is actually made up by the suckers who pay 1st class rates (who have no choice)

Now, assume the monopoly was lifted. Who would deliver bulk mail *under* their cost like the USPS does? Nobody. So that business dries up. One might think “Whew, now my 1st class mail will be cheaper because I’m not subsidizing the bulk mail!” Wrong. The net cost of 1st class mail would go up because of the change. In Fact, you can look at the postal rates now and see that the advent of email (which reduces the amount of real mail no matter how you look at it) is causing the net cost per parcel to INCREASE not decrease. the USPS has used this very argument in asking for postal rate increases.

If the monopoly were lifted, and *anybody* could deliver the mail to your mailbox, then the *only* people who would do so would be the ones who could do it at a profit. Maybe bulk mail would disappear? Who knows?… I’m just saying it isn’t as simple as you make it out to be. A monopoly doesn’t automatically increase prices for everybody. This monopoly creates a subsidized rate for bulk mail, the price you pay for 1st class mail is subsidizing the bulk mailers, who would probably disappear if every type of mail (even bulk) had to be profitable to deliver. Then the whole cost model changes drastically and unpredictably.

Get it yet?

The USPS has a manual with standards for sizes, weights and everything required for the mail to be machineable. If NetFlix followed those guidelines in creating their packets, then the USPS should have to eat the cost of new or modified machinery.

My company created brochures and followed the guidelines, and even used a standard envelope, a few years ago. A lot of them came back for the same reason, yet most made it through. I think the problem is some sorting facilities have outdated or poorly maintained equipment and the USPS wants the sender to pay for it.

I have had several occasions where the mailers were ripped, the sticker was falling off and sticking to stuff, the flap not properly aplied.

And on at least 3 occasions I have apperently returned my movies without even receivng them.

Some is messed up!

Okay, this is getting stupid. I work in a jewelry store, and my relatives live in different states. My store sends most mail because it is cheaper. I can send a package to Alaska or Hawaii (outside the continental U.S.), with insurance, signature delivery, garuanteed three-day service for fifteen bucks. UPS charges me fifteen bucks to send a five-ounce box back to Texas (I’m in Oklahoma.) in five days. Maybe. If they don’t lose it. Which they have done before. Furthermore, UPS and Fedex have never had a problem delivering to my work or my home, despite the fact that they can’t use the tiny mailbox in front of my house. They just walk a few steps. My newspaper is delvered to a newspaper box, however, put there just for that reason. And if I want to put a box in my yard that says ‘UPS & Fedex Deliveries’, no one can stop me. So please tell me more about your monopoly… Because popularity is not a monopoly.