After I discovered netflix, i have had no desire to rent movies from regular stores like blockbuster or hollywood video anymore. I can't be the only one that feels this way. Does anyone have any stats on how these guys have impacted business at major rental chains? Everybody I know uses this now and doesn't rent movies anymore in person. I've heard they have something like a few hundred thousand members...that's got to have an impact on those chains.
Netflix was discussed here BC, I believe, and my wife & I love it though others didn't like it. However, there's the problem of that unwatched "Last Emporer" disc that's been sitting next to the DVD for over a month now.... Blockbuster has changed their rental terms to some unlimited and some week-long rentals, probably in response to Netflix.
Only netflicks for me, and since i live by them, they get their flicks back the next day if I put them in the mail box before 5pm.
Personally, I despise Netflix. Of course, that could be a bit of backlash since I work at Suncoast and have been forced to push Netflix membership on every unsuspecting person who enters our store. They - "they" meaning Best Buy and the other companies who have bought into Netflix - are very high on this program and are asking each individual store to get six new members per day. You essentially have the entirety of Suncoast's warehouses at your disposal, so I can see the upside to it, but I've never gotten into it.
Is it me, or has Netflix service and in-stock rates gotten much better recently? I haven't picked a disc that hasn't been immediately available in about 6 months...
It also depends on how many movies you go through each month. If you're the kind of person who watches movies the day you get them and then send them back the next day then you'll get bumped to the end of the queue for popular rentals. If you don't go through many discs each month then you'll get higher priority when it comes to getting the hot titles. See http://dvd-rent-test.dreamhost.com/ for the details. I just love being able to think of a movie and add it to my queue and have it show up somewhere down the line as opposed to sitting in a video store trying to remember what movie it was that I wanted to see as I wander from aisle to aisle. Hell, I'm pretty sure I could save money if I rented the same number of movies I get from Netflix at a Blockbuster but it's the convenience that makes it all worth it. Don't think for a second that Blockbuster, Hollywood etc. aren't already working on their own home delivery systems including movie downloads. They know they need to change with the times or lose out on a huge cut of the rental pie. For me, Netflix is like my TiVo and I wonder just how I was able to lead a happy and productive life without it.
That explains a lot. I first subscribed to Netflix back in 2002. I started with the 3-disc and quickly upgraded to the 5-disc plan. A month in, I started to notice that all the popular new releases always had a "short wait" or "long wait" status. I never could get the DVD's I wanted. I quit in January 2003. I re-joined again several months ago. I will stick with the 3-disc plan. I've been averaging about 5 DVD's per week. I have not had a problem with any DVD on my list so far except for one: 2002 World Cup Highlights. Even that was only a couple of days wait. What I love about Netflix are the selections, in particular the Foreign Films and Television series DVD sets. I just got through the Freaks and Geeks Season series, the Office series is on its way and Firefly is next on the list. Farscape, Angel and Buffy are other series I have watched through Netflix. It's tough, if not impossible to find these DVD's at Blockbuster. Netflix rocks.
They've opened a distribution center in Birmingham, so I can send one back one day and another ships out the next day. I'm downgrading from 5 discs to 3 discs because of the speed now.
Netflix has almost a million and a half members. But it really has not impacted the rental places that much (cheap DVD prices are far more of a worry). Also, Netflix lost almost $6 million last quarter and who knows when they will be profitable. Meanwhile, Blockbuster is (usually) profitable, and is actually opening 400 stores this year. Hollywood is also profitable at the moment, and is expanding as well.
Netflix is way better than a video store. I went into Hollywood last week to get something for my wife on the spur of the moment and I felt like I was cheating on Netflix. I'm sorry. It won't happen again.