# Netflix ends its DVD-by-mail service **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 18, 2023, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-ends-its-dvd-by-mail-service/982868 "2023-04-18T21:04:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2023, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-ends-its-dvd-by-mail-service/982868/1 "2023-04-18T21:04:18Z")
It’s continually shrinking and will end at the end of September. > **[Netflix is ending its DVD-by-mail service](https://www.polygon.com/23688558/netflix-dvd-service-ending-date)** > > Goodbye, little red envelopes ---
**Author:** ![amaguri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@amaguri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amaguri)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2023, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-ends-its-dvd-by-mail-service/982868/2 "2023-04-18T21:07:00Z")
I kept it probably longer than most, up until 2020ish… and by the end I was really, really struggling to find anything worth putting in the queue. I can’t imagine what it looks like now! ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2023, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-ends-its-dvd-by-mail-service/982868/3 "2023-04-18T21:09:51Z")
Do they not have everything? Did the start selling off their DVD’s? ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2023, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-ends-its-dvd-by-mail-service/982868/4 "2023-04-18T21:29:43Z")
Aw. I don’t care for myself, but my brother still occasionally uses the service. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2023, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-ends-its-dvd-by-mail-service/982868/5 "2023-04-18T21:41:41Z")
I used it up until around 2013. Throttling and ending Saturday service made me give it up finally. I gave up Netflix streaming too last year as I was simply choking in streaming services and no time to watch them, especially in summer. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2023, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-ends-its-dvd-by-mail-service/982868/6 "2023-04-18T23:42:27Z")
I’m surprised they kept it this long. We dropped the DVD/BluRay disc option about three years ago. It got to be a chore just to find one disc a week we wanted to watch. A lot of times we just took something that looked vaguely interesting only to justify paying for the service. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2023, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-ends-its-dvd-by-mail-service/982868/7 "2023-04-18T23:43:06Z")
Way back in the early '10s when Netflix included streaming and DVDs in the same plan, I was using my sister’s Netflix account for streaming. When then split the streaming and DVD services into separate plans, she canceled the streaming plan and just kept the DVD plan, because she likes to watch more obscure indie movies that, at time at least, were only available on DVD and not streaming. I have no idea if she still has the DVD plan. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2023, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-ends-its-dvd-by-mail-service/982868/8 "2023-04-19T03:23:28Z")
I think it’s a shame. In its heyday, Netflix’s DVD library was great, though that was greatly helped by the first-sale doctrine. I think now a lot of titles are never released on DVD but instead hoarded by one or another streaming service. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2023, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-ends-its-dvd-by-mail-service/982868/9 "2023-04-19T17:35:52Z")
So what happens to all of those movies? ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2023, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-ends-its-dvd-by-mail-service/982868/10 "2023-04-19T17:45:16Z")
Sounds like they should have had some sort of final rent-a-thon, where the subscribers get to rent some number of movies and keep them. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2023, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-ends-its-dvd-by-mail-service/982868/11 "2023-04-19T17:47:15Z")
I’d love that idea! Maybe there should be a list of suggestions for movies to watch before the service ends? ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2023, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-ends-its-dvd-by-mail-service/982868/12 "2023-04-19T17:59:53Z")
Wow, I didn’t know that they still had it in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2023, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-ends-its-dvd-by-mail-service/982868/13 "2023-04-19T19:16:19Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > I didn’t know that they still had it in the first place. Yep, today I learned… ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2023, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-ends-its-dvd-by-mail-service/982868/14 "2023-04-19T22:03:13Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > So what happens to all of those movies? Don’t worry, they’ll be sent to go live on a farm upstate. They’ll be happier there. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2023, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-ends-its-dvd-by-mail-service/982868/15 "2023-04-19T23:11:54Z")
> [@zbuzz](#): > > Don’t worry, they’ll be sent to go live on a farm upstate. They’ll be happier there. Snerk. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-ends-its-dvd-by-mail-service/982868/16 "2023-04-20T04:55:45Z")
Yeah, upstate farms often don’t have the broadband speeds necessary for streaming. They’ll give those DVDs a good home. ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-ends-its-dvd-by-mail-service/982868/17 "2023-04-20T15:22:49Z")
Woe is me! I’m on the four-discs-at-a-time plan and currently have 206 discs in my queue. Looking at my history it would take about thirteen months to go through that many, so I’ll have to do a lot of culling to whittle it down to five months worth. Looking at a few random titles, I would have to subscribe to three or five (or fifty) streaming services to duplicate that list. It also means I have to get off my butt and figure out how my never looked-at Wi-fi works and which, if any, of my TVs can connect to it 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-ends-its-dvd-by-mail-service/982868/18 "2023-04-20T19:16:04Z")
We broke down and cut the cable in 2019, and although it was an adjustment, it’s mostly gone well. I wanted to save money, but I also wanted to be sure no one felt deprived, so we signed up for a bunch of streaming services. I’m now looking at some of the ones I rarely use and planning to drop those. If we miss one, we can sign up again, but there’s so much to watch, I suspect we won’t even notice. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-ends-its-dvd-by-mail-service/982868/19 "2023-04-20T20:03:00Z")
They could have a golden public relations opportunity here. They have thousands of discs. I’ve heard something like 10,000. Rather than tossing them in dumpsters, they should have a clearance sale. Put the entire list on-line and make them available for nominal purchase to all Netflix subscribers, disc subscribers and streamers alike. Titles available while supplies last. Credit card only. As many as you want. And all proceeds will be donated to and divided among a number of hi-profile charities that almost everyone can agree on (Red Cross, Cancer, Heart, et cetera) to be determined. Netflix would incur some mailing charges, but they would be minimal, and the goodwill generated for the company would be tremendous. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-ends-its-dvd-by-mail-service/982868/20 "2023-04-20T20:11:34Z")
10,000 titles, not 10,000 discs, right? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-ends-its-dvd-by-mail-service/982868.md?page=2)