Netflix Opens Shipping Center in Hawaii

Canoe Ride broke the news:

Great News for Netflix Customers in Hawaii!

The long awaited distribution center here in the islands is finally open! The difference in turnaround was incredible for my films this week. This should be a big boost for Netflix here, as a major gripe and impediment to Hawaii residents joining here was the long turn around time for DVD's to and from the US mainland.

Dave writes that the new Honolulu distribution center:

...appears to be in operation - for at least a week now.  Just thought I'd let you know, as I had posted about the 8-10 day turnaround time I was getting between Maui, HI and San Jose and I didn't see any announcement on your site.

So far, total turnaround has been between 2-4 days with the Honolulu center, which I find quite reasonable.  I guessing that they will get more consistent after operating for awhile.  With such turnaround times, I'm guessing that Netflix is now a much better choice than Blockbuster's service - even considering Blockbuster's current offering of 2 free location rentals per month.  (At least until Blockbuster opens a shipping center here...)

Cyanatus is also happy about the new shipping center:

Just wanted to let you know that a Netflix center has opened here in Honolulu.  All of a sudden, I'm getting disks in *1* day, instead of the usual 2 to 4 days (from San Jose, CA).  And so far it looks like they're receiving my returns in 1 day as well, instead of the usual 4 to 5 days (back to San Jose, CA).  My Netflix "per disk" cost just went waaaaaay down!

Now I have to figure out how to expense a trip to Hawaii to visit the new Netflix office. :-)

Comments

[MCWnAK]

Here's hoping that the Alaska DC is coming soon. To heck with Sugar Plum fairies (and Ellen’s Gingerbread man), I going to sleep tonight with dreams of 2-day turnaround times dancing in my head.

Alas, I don't think Alaska will get one. If you just look at census data, there are twice as many Hawaiians as Alaskans. Even if you presume the number of subscribers are equal (there's a lot more to do outside in Hawaii), Alaska is much, much less dense than Hawaii. There are population centers in Juneau, Anchorage and Fairbanks, but those aren't particularly close to each other.

[DJ Butch]

Before I send off a letter to a federal agency about this, I will share a NETFLIX practice\scam to increase revenue. My automatic pre-payment of the monthly service charge was recently not honored when NETFLIX submitted it. (For which I was charged a $22.00 fee by my bank, for Overdrawing the account - which had funds in it, and they never processed the NETFLIX payment). However, NETFLIX re-initiated the transaction a day or two later, and the fee was withdrawn. Now here comes the real rub! About ten days after NETFLIX was paid (Two days late, - And this is for services NOT YET rendered), I received a notice from a company by the name of CERTIGY PAYMENT RECOVERY SERVICES, INC. IN FLORIDA, STATED THAT NETFLIX SOLD THEM THE BAD CHECK,WHICH THEY WILL RE-PRESENT FOR PAYMENT AT MY BANK, AND THAT I SHOULD PAY A $25.00 SERVICE CHARGE TO THIS COLLECTION AGENCY.

Amazon launching DVD rentals:

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=635775

[MCWnAK]

While Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau are not close to each other (in lower 48 terms), all first class mail that travels between them goes by air as it does to almost every other community up here, so the turnaround time would be greatly reduced (maybe three or four days rather than eight). Additionally, unlike Hawaii, Alaska was cold, long winters and therefore a captive subscriber base for seven or eight months of the year. I also suspect that rentals go way down in the summer when we have more daylight than we know what to do with, so as long a people didn't cancel their subscription in the summer, Netflix could reap substantive profits. There are also many communities here that aren't large enough to support a "decent" video store own their own (not to mention the ones that are not connected by a road system), but they all have a post office of some sort and Internet access.

I don't expect Netflix to open a DC in Alaska, but I think one on the scale of the one in Hawaii would support itself.

It would be interesting to know how many Hawaiian subs they had before opening the DC and how many Alaskan subs they currently have.

[jondo]

What exactly constitutes a Netflix Shipping Center?
I live in Hawaii, and was pleased to notice the quick speedy turnaround in the past few months.
But how does it work?
I mean, I drop off the mailers in the post office's outside curbside drop box in the evening.
And then I get an email at 5AM the next morning that it was received?
So Netflix must be affiliated with the post office somehow because there is no time for even delivery.
The only time that transpired is when they dug the mailers out of the curbside box and scanned it. Less than one day.
Is that how a shipping center works?
Do they pre-ship from another location once electronically received by post office?
Thanks

[Michael Hackney]

Before I also fire off a letter to federal agencies I would like to inform Netflix and Certigy of just how they contribute to the harrasment of innocent people exposed to thier Service. Someone from Michigan fraudulently used my name and address in N. Carolina and a checking account number from Home Savings Bank to join netflix. I received a notice from Certigy on 5/15/05 that stated my check had not cleared and netflix had turned the acct. over to them for collection. Never had an acct. with Home Savings Bank, so called netflix and spoke to Kelly who said she would close acct and notify certigy. Not that simple. Received another notice from certigy in Fla. today and after 2 hours of phone time with 3 calls to netflix and 4 calls to certigy I am now being asked/told I must send a letter to certigy stating that this was a fraudulent transaction. I resent having to take the time to write this and I asked the last certigy rep what would happen if I did not send the letter. She stated that I wopuld continue to get collection letters. So I said thankyou and left it at that. My only satisfaction will be the wasted postage that certigy will pay. I used to order on web all the time but in future will not be ordering anything and will inform friends and associates to do the same. Some companies just should'nt be in business.

Ouch! That's a painful post on so many levels.

I feel for you buddy. I dread identity theft.

That said, you need to realize a few things:
- this isn't a NetFlix site; your post hasn't been heard by the right people
- you need to contact a law enforcement agency ASAP; hopefully who ever you contact will get you in touch with the right people
- you can't blame Certigy for asking you to put it in writing; it's the appropriate first step
- get used to putting things in writing; you're probably going to wear out several pens before the identity theft issue is resolved

[icashootnstar]

It's ufortunate that they apparently don't stock many copies. My waitlist is now up to 18 Very Long Wait, Long Wait, and Short Wait's. In fact the only movies I don't have to wait for are over two years post-release or art flicks.