Netflix ending DVD service in September

[Ziggy]

So today was the last day of NetFlix DVD

They posted a really awesome farewell video here: https://dvd.netflix.com/ThanksForWatching

I've been getting emails from NetFlix since the original announcement. They clearly care about their loyal DVD customers. One neat thing is offering to send up to 10 DVDs from your queue on the final day. But you have no way of knowing if you'll get any at all. And after today, you get to keep any DVDs you have at home.

I've rented a couple of DVDs from my local library in the last couple of months. Sure, it's free (or, you know, my taxes) but it's sometimes a pain in the ass for me to go to the library. Nothing will beat coming home from work and finding a red envelope in my mailbox. It wasn't just the convenience, it was a nice little treat. A pick-me-up, if you will. I am sad to see the service shut down, but that's life.



You can download your history, by the way. They offer it in CSV and PDF format. The PDF is very nicely made. It's a nice memento. The CSV I might turn into an Excel sheet that I can access from the cloud, so I can still add movies to my "queue" from the computer or cell , and then rent them at the local library.

Farewell, NetFlix DVD service! Thank you for all the happy memories!

[Limewater]

775 total rentals

[Ziggy]

Mine is 697. Would have been more but over the 16 years I was a member, I had long stretches here and there that I didn't send back movies. Apparently I'm a top 20% renter though. My most active month was March 2009, 18 movies shipped. That must have been when I was doing 3 at a time. I've had 2 at a time for the longest while now. And during the pandemic the mail was SO slow. I would have been able to burn through my queue really fast in 2020 and 2021 if it wasn't for the slow mail.

[Limewater]

We joined August 2005, so we just crossed 18 years. Also only in top 20% of renters, which kind of surprised me, but maybe shouldn't.

We were never on more than one disc at a time. For a while when we lived in Atlanta we could fairly reliably cycle two discs in a week.

They have us getting 13 discs in August 2008, but I think that's a database error or something. Looking closer, they have two copies of a disc listed as going out on the same day and a couple other things that look odd. That said, they invested more in recording my rental history than I have, so maybe my memory is faulty. Maybe we did try out two discs at a time or something.

[Ziggy]

There use to be a shipping center in NY. When there was, they would receive a DVD the next business day after I mailed it. And likewise I would receive a DVD the very next day after they mailed it to me. So I had really fast turnaround time. But some years back, I guess they consolidated the shipping centers. The closest center to me became NJ. That ended up meaning an extra day each way. Then during the pandemic, it took several days each way. That was very frustrating. IIRC it took over a week to cycle discs when the mail was the slowest. I was considering canceling until the mail got better, but ending up sticking with it.

Regrettably, there were some times when weeks or months went by that I failed to return discs. It was frustrating when that would happen because I felt like I was just wasting money. If only I had nothing to do in life but watch DVDs lol. I would have changed my plan to one at a time, knowing that I could switch back to two or three at a time whenever I wanted to. But I was grandfathered in to an old price for two discs. I would have only saved like two bucks if I switched to one disc, and then I wouldn’t be able to get that old price plan again.

Netflix is pretty cool like that. Right now I’m grandfathered in to an old price for streaming. It’s awesome that they do that, and not just raise the price for you like every other streaming service. Knowing that the DVD service was ending, I told myself that when it does I’ll use that money to get another streaming service. But Hulu just announced another price increase for October, so that rained on my parade a little.

[Limewater]

Netflix is pretty cool like that. Right now I’m grandfathered in to an old price for streaming. It’s awesome that they do that, and not just raise the price for you like every other streaming service. Knowing that the DVD service was ending, I told myself that when it does I’ll use that money to get another streaming service. But Hulu just announced another price increase for October, so that rained on my parade a little.

Wow. I've had the standard streaming plan since it existed, but I'm paying the standard price. Maybe you got an extra discount for being on the two-disc plan.

[Ziggy]

No, I don't think so. I had the standard plan for the longest while, but then I changed it to the basic plan. $9.99/mo, no ads, one screen at a time, 720p. This plan no longer exists. Their current cheapest plan (in this region) is $6.99/mo, 1080p with ads. Then it's $15.49/mo for no ads. Hopefully they never force me out of this plan, because that would be quite a price increase when I don't care about the added benefits.

[Jagosaurus]

Man ... sad day.

So, worth noting most libraries do have a process to buy/requests books that extends to media. Been awhile, but I was never turned down asking my library to purchase DVDs, and you're the first to check out.

But I hear ya ... Bigger pain that mailing a disc back.

Doesn't Game Fly also offer movies in addition to game? I never used their service.

[Limewater]

It's kind of funny how Netflix has managed to completely unnecessarily be assholes to their customers in the process of ending the DVD service.

Maybe they thought that one last dick move would be a great way to keep people from pestering them to bring the service back.

[Ziggy]

Why, what did they do?