I’ve been a member of Netflix for just over a year, and wanted to see if I was getting my money’s worth, so I calculated the average number of movies a month I was getting. I was pleased that it was nine movies a month, because that means that at the current subscription price, I’m paying about two dollars a movie.
(If you want to do the same thing, go to the Your Queue page, and follow the link to the DVD Rental Activity page. Now that page only shows the last three months of activity, but there is a button called Send Full Rental Activity on that page. Clicking on that button will email your entire rental history to you.)
So how many movies a month are you getting? And if you’re getting a lot of movies a month, does it seem like the delivery times have grown longer?
Some people claim on various websites that Netflix is slower to deliver movies to long-time or heavy users of the service. These people suggest that it’s deliberate on the part of the company to make new users happy at the expense of older customers.
I don’t think this is the case. I’m fortunate to live near their center in Coppell, TX. They usually receive my movies the next day and ship that day. I have the 5 DVD at a time progam and usually go through about 30-50 per month depending on if I get something that my roommates want to see.
Wow, I thought I was doing well, but you’re doing a whole lot better. I’m seeing three movies a month for each of the three movies at a time I get, but you’re seeing 6-10 movies for each of your five.
I joined at the beginning of January and watched 14 movies over the month. I live close to the Minneapolis center, and I also would get next-day delivery (I’d send back a movie, they’d get it the next day and send out my next one, I’d get it the day after that).
I’ve only been on Netflix since the beginning of the year, and I’ve been though about 20 DVDs so far. I get them 3 at a time, and the turn-around is very quick; I’ll send one disc back and they’ll usually receive it the next day (2 days, tops); they’ll mail out the next thing in my queue that same day, so I’ll get it the next.
It might just be because I’m new. But I’m mostly watching old British mystery series–Insp. Morse, Cracker, Campion, and right now Miss Marple–stuff that’s not in high demand rather than top movies with a waiting list. That may also explain why I’m getting such a quick response. We’ll see if it’s the same in a few months.
We have a netflix shipping center in hartford, so we get fast turn around service. I have mrAru drop the mmovies off on his way to work at a hartford post office that is the one that netflix uses
netflix and cable tv are our only movies. We still have the 3 at a time plan, and no decision to change at any time in the near future=)
we do about 9 movies a week, and the time that i reported Pippin lost wandering around [looking for the sun maybe? grin] we got a replacement the next day whoever found it apparently watched it and returned it for us :dubious: because our replacement copy and the lost copy got reported to me as recieved the same day by the shipping center.
I’ve been a member for a while, going from 3 to 4 then 8 then back to 3 and then quitting due to slowness and then rejoining when I found they’d opened a center where I live.
I’ve noticed it seems that sometimes it takes longer on the turnaround, I suspect this may be because they’re sending my (possibly uncommon title) flick from some distant warehouse, while all the return envelopes are to my local center.
I’m a bit cynical as well, thinking that it’s possible they could delay the movies a bit to give me “acceptable” instead of “excellent” service - so when I receive a poll email asking “Have you got movie X yet? When did it arrive?” I add a day. In other words, I don’t mind if their estimates to me as to when I’ll receive my next selection are off, but I want to keep the movies coming at their best rate, if they are using the member reports to lag shipments to fast-turnaround members.
Their new “queue for each of your familiy members” feature is cool.
I’ve been a member for 2.5 years, on the 3-at-a-time plan. On average I get 12 discs a month, and have noticed no change in the service/turnaround. I love Netflix.
We’ve been a member for a little over a year. We are on the 3 movies/month program and watch between 7 and 12 movies a month depending on how much we travel in the month. I have not noticed that the turn around of movies has been slower. I love Netflix and think I’d prefer them to the other services out there…mainly Blockbuster (because they have too much censorship on their stock such as they won’t carry NC-17 movies) and Wal-mart (just because they are an evil empire.)
I can’t remember how long we’ve been members–maybe 6 months?
Our turnaround is great and we get about 12-14 movies per month. I am definitely renting/seeing more films now than when we were with Blockbuster.
I too like the family member queue feature.
I’ve been a member for about 2 years. We probably have averaged 2-4 movies a month. But, y’know what? I still love it! I hate driving to rent and return movies. The selection is awesome. No guilt complex about late fees. And 2 movies a month watched by 2 people for $17.99 is still cheaper than 4 movie tickets!
I read in what I believed to be a reliable source (Fast Company or Business 2.0, maybe?) that Netflix does somewhat delay frequent renters of high-demand new releases. That’s not what I rent, but all in all that’s not something I’d get bent out of shape about if I did, I don’t think. As a strategy you might try alternating new releases with other movies.
I’ve been a member forever (or so it feels)…ever since DVD players started coming down under $200. Originally, I’d return movies on monday, then get new ones on friday. Now, when I return a movie on monday, I usually get new ones by wednesday (although if I turn in movies on wednesday, I don’t get new ones until the next monday, usually). The only variation I’ve seen from them is during busy season for the post office (december), and I miss the years when Netflix would bump everybody up from the 3 movie@ a time program to the 4 @ a time program for December to account for that.
Anyhow, my turnaround time has only gone up since I started renting with them, and I’ve always been a 9-12 movie/month guy.
We’ve been members for 3+ years. We are on the 3 at a time plan. We don’t really rent enough movies to justify the price on a “per movie” basis. However, my son (6 y.o.) will watch a movie constantly for several weeks in a row and then send it back. I know it would cost tons to rent a video for 3 weeks, so I know we’re saving money that way.
I also like now that you can split up the queue. Of our three movies two are in the queue for my huband and I, and one is in the queue for my son. It’s great because before we’d get stuck with three kids movies at a time sometimes.
As for turn around, we are very fortunate to be close to a distribution center. If we mail one off early in the morning, I can see online that they have received it that same day. Sometimes the next one is mailed out the same day, so we get the next one on our list the day after mailing the one off. Usually there is a one day lag though.
I also live near Coppell, and we get 10-15 per month. They USED to get my movies the next day and I"d get my new ones the day after that, but the past couple of weeks it’s taken three days or more and I’m pissed.
We watch about 2-3 movies a week, so based on cost alone I’d say we’re getting our money’s worth.
I’m not concerned so much with the cost as the selection though. Around here we can rent movies from a smallish Movie Gallery and a couple of gas stations. They don’t tend to carry, for example, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and Zelig, two of our recent Netflix picks.
