I mailed a DVD back to Netflix on Saturday, and got the next DVD in my queue today. This is because they received the former and mailed out the latter yesterday – a federal holiday with no mail delivery.
Obviously someone’s processing mail somewhere over the weekend … is this something special for Netflix or is there other stuff happening on federal holidays? on Sundays in general?
My understanding is that the post office scans the returns and Netflix is notified electronically, so your return is credited to your account before they physically receive it. (Oddly, nowhere does Netflix instruct you to put the disc sleeve back in the envelope with the bar code showing through the little window, but obviously you need to do that for the scanner to work.)
I don’t know where people get that idea (that the post office scans Netflix discs before they are returned) but I don’t believe that it’s correct. Instead the most likely reason that twickster received movies today is that the Netflix staff worked yesterday so that the outgoing mail was ready for the postal service when they opened at midnight today (or whenever it is they open).
By the way, my guess is that the “little window” is used by Netflix when the movies are sent out, so that the disc sleeves are stuffed into envelopes which are only addressed after the machine scans it so it knows which movie is in it.
This article from The New Yorker is from 2006 so it may be outdated but it describes the process at Netflix. Sounds like Neflix does wait to get the envelope back but processes them very fast.
The begining of the process has Netfllix picking up it’s own mail from the postal service rather than waiting for delivery.
On federal holidays the US postal service does not offer **regular mail delivery or retail services **(post office closed). This does not mean that all US postal operations cease on holidays. Express delivery is still available. The US Postal Service is only a quasi-government agency. Movement of the mail between post offices and process centers is contracted out to private carriers. I tried to find a description for the door to door processing of the US mail but was not sucessful.
My guess would be that your DVD envelope was processed at your local post office on Saturday and turned over to the contracted private carrier at the end of the day/night. the regional processing center shipped it to your local post office where Netflix picked it up early Monday morning.
I think USPS definitely had a deal with GameFly at some point where they scanned GameFly mail returns – I believe it was called FastReturn. I wouldn’t be surprised if Netflix and Blockbuster have the same type of deal with USPS in certain locations.
It would be necessary to have people put the disc-holding envelope in the mailing envelope with the bar code showing through the window, though – most people don’t bother, or don’t pay attention, because Netflix doesn’t ask you to. So there’s no participation by the USPS in processing returns.
So – “no mail” just means no delivery, with most other processing happening normally? Makes sense – Netflix does their usual pick-up/drop-offs at the central USPS processing center.
In addition, Netflix actually says on the disc sleeves that if you lost a sleeve, put two discs in one sleeve. If you lost a return mail envelope, put two discs in one envelope.
I’ve done both, and sometimes even simultaneously, and it seems to never slow down the turnaround at all. The slowest part is definitely the time the disc actually spends in the mail both ways.
I used to work at the Post Office back in the day, and yes, the mail still moves; on holidays, on Sundays, in the evenings and all through the night! 
The main Akron, OH post office on Wolf Ledges has a processing center on the back side of its retail facility.
I drop off mail and parcels at all hours of the day and night. There are absolutely semi-trailers coming well after closing time and on “off” days.
The parking lot also has way too many vehicles in the dead of night for the facility to not have substantial staffing after-hours.