New York Times on DVD by Mail

The New York Times is running a story comparing Netflix, Blockbuster and Walmart in today's edition. I highly recommend reading the entire story, but here are a few choice tidbits:

By their admission, Blockbuster (www.blockbuster.com) and Wal-Mart (www.walmart.com/dvdrentals) are still playing catch-up. Wal-Mart, for example, has only a small fraction of its rivals' movies and distribution centers. It is often the last of the three companies to get a new movie in stock. Its Web site doesn't offer any customer reviews. Surprisingly, its three-DVD plan is not even the price leader (Blockbuster has that distinction). So unless you believe in rooting for the underdog - has that word ever appeared in the same sentence with Wal-Mart before? - there's no good reason to choose it.

There are, in other words, two winners here. Blockbuster is the value king, undercutting Netflix by $3 a month and offering in-store rentals; it's as though it is reimbursing you for tolerating its start-up glitches.

Netflix is the service king, the smoothest and the most reliable program. It's the only outfit with highly evolved features like separate queues for each family member (including individually addressed envelopes), each limited by movie rating, if you like. Netflix also offers far more plans than Blockbuster or Wal-Mart; you can sign up to have any number from two to eight discs out at a time, at prices from $12 to $48 a month. For busy people, a two-DVD plan is especially attractive; Blockbuster offers no such plan.

Be sure to watch David Pogue's video...

Thanks to Eric for sending this in.

Comments

From th article: "Blockbuster's DVD-rental Web site is a joy to navigate"

Now thats a laugh.

[mike]

I just started to keep track of when my Netflix DVD's get shipped, arrive, send them back, and when NF recieves them. So far it has been 8,7,7 and 5 days from when they send to when they recieve. This is with a 1 day turn-around. (only have 3x plan, so turn around the next day after I watch) the 5 is about right, but the 7's and 8! is crazy. They send it Wed lets say, don't get it til Friday, send it Sat morning and they don't "recieve" it til Wed, then don't ship the next movie til Thursday. WOW, this keeps up and I'm dropping this like a rock.

[RAYMOND KNIGHT]

I wish these review people would keep NETFLIX for several months and perform a "throttling" test. They could open two accounts and send stuff back the same day on one account and keep the stuff from the other account longer and see what happens.

[Hunter McDaniel]

Mike-
It makes more sense to track it the other way - from when USPS picks it up until you get a replacement delivered. And you should subtract Saturdays and Sundays since NF doesn't work those days.

Sounds like you don't have a good postal service to/from your local distribution center.

I switched from NF to BB. Im paying 12 dollars less a month and recieved 39 dvds from BB and it hasnt been a full month yet. The most i ever got from NF is 33 and both shipping centers are in Cleveland. Not to mention to 2 extra in store coupons.
I can put up with BB downsides until they get their act up to par with NF, especially when I'm getting a full 10 more dvds a month for 12 dollars cheaper.

...yes i burn them and send them right back and am on the 8 eight plan.

[Bill]

Nobody is arguing that Netflix's 8 out plan isn't a better deal than BB's 8 out. But for the 3 out it's hands down Netflix.

[trey]

Once again the tests prove that Netflix is the best, how many must we read before all of us get it? As for me....I got it. Netflix rules them all in service!

[Nat]

Pogue's video includes a screen shot of his Netflix queue with star-rating widgets on it. What the heck is that? Mine's never shown a ratings interface on the queue.

[Chris]

I just signed up for Intelliflix and I like what I'm seeing from them so far. For the first 3 dvd's they've sent me, shipping time has been less than netflix & BB, distribution centers are closer, they let you report the dvd once you send it back so they can send the next one out, the website gives netflix a run for their money, but they do have some holes in their selections and you have to keep up with each return envelope you receive and keep it with the same dvd because they ship from different local stores.

It's hard to say if they'll keep up the good deal at $8.25 a month, or start throttling when postage fees become equivalent to what I pay, but so far it's looking good. They're a young company but if they keep this up, they might be the best deal out there.

[Chris]

Somebody needed to mention them since the NY Times didn't.

[Orchard P Dirk]

Well, this is just a fascinating site where people come and make comments about such things as movies and rentals and the like, which is quite impressive for a girl like I who is really just trying to make and solidify friends in this world.

I do have to say though, that it often appears that Netflix receives my dvds, according to my web account, a day before they will email me and tell me that they have received my dvds. Because they are actually receiving the dvd a day before they are telling me via email they got them, it creates the illusion that I am receiving my next movie 1 day sooner than I might normally think i would receive it (if I had not checked my web account). This is clever of Netflix, but one has never argued that Netflix was not clever, and perhaps it is not such a bad thing to be in this world.

However, I once subscribed to a service a few years ago called Quickflix which seemed to be based in New Mexico and it would take about 1 week for them to receive my dvd and then another week for them to send a new one back out to me, which was quite silly, and so I canceled and joined Netflix, which treats me well and gets a new dvd to me in about 1 business day, as they say. But I also just wonder if some day they will allow all we netflixers to get together and have a screening by ourselves, because then I would bring something called "peanut butter chip brownies", and if you think about it, that is something even Netflix cannot provide via their services.

[xt]

"Once again the tests prove that Netflix is the best, how many must we read before all of us get it? As for me....I got it. Netflix rules them all in service!
Posted by: trey | March 31, 2005 04:25 PM "

ok "trey" we know you didn't the the article! LOL
Wake up, read what people are saying. netflix is loising this war.

[Wong Kuo]

I read the NYTimes article and found it to be very shallow in terms of research. The writer apparently didn't seek out much subscriber commentary at all. If he'd looked around just a bit, he'd have found massive amounts of criticism, particularly with respect to Netflix's known (and fraudulent) "throttling" antics. For him to write that Netflix subscribers can get as many DVDs per month as the USPS can deliver is patently false. Netflix makes very sure--via its shady and undeniable throttling practices--that subscribers CANNOT get all the DVDs they can watch. The current monthly cap for the 3-out plan seems to be around 12 disks.

[REN]

Netflix could provide "peanut butter chip brownies", but to keep expenses down they would have to limit shipments and wouldn't send them out until days after they were baked.

Chris: It will be interesting to hear about your experience with Intelliflix. I'm currently trying the moviezip place I mentioned (15 days in out of 45).

[pluthera]

As many have stated. Service was fine during the trial period. Now 3 months down the road, the 1-2 day turnaround time is 4-5 days. I am best friends with the postal carrier who delivers to the hub in my area. He puts my returns on the top. I know exactly when they get delivered. What a dissapointment! I rent the movies for a young person who watches my children while I am at work. We are talking british comedies, TV show compilations, etc as I have no cable. I'm on the 3 out plan and its not cutting it. I can't imagine there is a big wait for Red Dwarf or One Step Beyond. I did not want to believe the throttling post but alas....I must.
I know when my discs are delivered and I know that the general volume of returns to their hub is the same. I guess I could start counting cars in their parking lot to see if someone got fired. I live 2 minutes away from the hub and 10 from where the mail sort is.

shucks..........

[BW]

I'm surprised now one commented on this paragraph from the Times article:

"Nor is that the only twist Blockbuster has, ahem, in store. Later this year it will increase the number of distribution centers by as much as 15,000 percent when it invites its 4,500 local stores to become DVD mailing centers. This audacious master plan ought to shave DVD shipping times drastically. (If the local store doesn't have the movie you want, one of the regular centers will send it out instead.)"

Maybe this is old news, but this is the first I've heard of it...

"I can't imagine there is a big wait for Red Dwarf or One Step Beyond."

I have One Step Beyond (and here I thought I was the only person who likes that show, or knew it even existed :-)) in both my queues at Netflix and BB (also a three month member), and neither queue shows any type of wait on them. I havent had any kind of trouble getting them shipped to me.

[trey]

XT- how do you explain these quotes taken straight from the article?

Quote 1. :

"By their admission, Blockbuster (www.blockbuster.com) and Wal-Mart (www.walmart.com/dvdrentals) are still playing catch-up. Wal-Mart, for example, has only a small fraction of its rivals' movies and distribution centers."

Quote 2. :

"Netflix has 30 distribution centers all over the country; Blockbuster has 23, and plans to add 7 by June."

Quote 3. :

"Seven years ago, Netflix invented the category, the business model and the prepaid two-way shipping envelope. Now, as three million subscribers are helping..."

Quote 4. :

"Blockbuster and Wal-Mart have entered the market, taking a page from the Netflix playbook. Actually, they've taken pretty much the entire playbook. All three services look and work almost exactly alike. Netflix must be furious."

Quote 5. :

"Blockbuster's status as a fledgling seven-month-old service is sometimes evident. For example, it tends to be overly cautious when estimating when you'll get the movies in your queue. The day before its release, "The Incredibles" was listed as "very long wait (six weeks or longer)," but it arrived in three days. And the Blockbuster site occasionally greets you with: "Sorry, but we needed to do a little housecleaning. Please check back later."

Quote 6. :

"Netflix is the service king, the smoothest and the most reliable program. It's the only outfit with highly evolved features like separate queues for each family member (including individually addressed envelopes), each limited by movie rating, if you like. Netflix also offers far more plans than Blockbuster or Wal-Mart; you can sign up to have any number from two to eight discs out at a time, at prices from $12 to $48 a month. For busy people, a two-DVD plan is especially attractive; Blockbuster offers no such plan."

So I believe my own original blog is merrited, and by the way here it is:

My Quote:

"Once again the tests prove that Netflix is the best, how many must we read before all of us get it? As for me....I got it. Netflix rules them all in service!"

So XT maybe you should check yourself before posting ignorant misspelled blogs. LOL :->

[Mark]

It's dissapointing when business writers fail to truly reflect the "broad range of expereinces" Netflix customers experience. I've writen to the guy who covers the Netflix beat for the SF Chronicle and heard that he's "aware of" (customer claims of) throttling and "might" mention it next time he covers the company. I'm still of the opinion that locking high volume users out of certain titles is basically a strategy to "encourage" people like me to go bother Blockbuster for a while. That said, while I've as much chance of seeing 'Ray' via Netflix as Ray Charles had of seeing much of anything, the turn around times on the titles I've mailed back this week has stepped up, for the first time since November or so. One week wonder? Or are they realising that a blanket "shipping tomorrow" policy is really taking things too far? We'll see. Meanwhile I've also joined GreenCine because they're local, and offer a decent selection of more off beat art house stuff and - ahem - adult entertainment. I'll give them a couple of months. The site's hopeless in terms of finding you movies you didn't know you wanted to see, mind you...

[Tim Coyle]

I just did my own review of the 3 services: Netflix, BlockBuster, and Walmart. I still think Netflix has the best features for the price.

[Boris]

my experience is that Netflix is superior.

i hear the complaints that netflix throttles.

1)that i have not encountered because i rent
about 8 to 10 dvds a month.

2) netflix managment says that "unlimited"
is more a marketing slogan then anything
else.
3) netflix management says that as the company
gets more scale ( i assume around 5-10 million
subs vs 3 million today) that the company
will devote more money proportiately
to disc shipping fullfilment and less
on marketing)
4) The trottling complaints seem unresonable,
as the upper end shipments of nonthrotting
are reported around 12-15 disc a month,
which is a great value for the 3 disc fee.
expecting 25 dics is month is excessive
and just draining and whoring the system
for everyone els.

I'm in L.A. and Greencine has only 1 dist center in SF and I get movies from them quicker than I did at NF.

A bit off topic, but is anyone else having trouble with the Blockbuster website? I went there to do a search for more films to add to my queue, and all I get is the blockbuster logo in the upper left hand corner, along with the side and top banner. I get no images of the movies. I get no links either. But as I scan the pointer with my mouse over where the usual links are supposed to be on the side banner, it recognizes them.

Plus, this is a bit hard to explain but what graphics are onscreen, it is sort of stretched and spread over way to the right. For example, when it comes to my queue, I have to scroll and scroll and scroll aaaaaall the ways over, but what I can see is a spread over big mess. All of the sudden, instead of the numbers being right next to the titles, I have to scroll all the ways over to the right big time to see the numbers. Scroll some more to get to the titles. And then scroll some more in order to get to the checkboxes if I want to delete something from my queue.

[name]

hi ilike you

[Greg]

I've been a member of Intelliflix for one month, April. During this month I was able to get a total of nine DVDs. All of which had been released previous to the middle of March or significantly earlier, even though the top of my queue was top heavy with their rather meager list "new releases".

After complaining during this "honeymoon" period of the first month, my last expected film shipped was from the very end of my queue, Dracula (1979) - instead I received Dracula (1932).

Their support was neither on topic, nor able to address any significant issues.

Their coming soon list has a total of five DVDs listed, and until this week Hotel Rwanda was not a selection. Primer is not a selection, nor is Assassination of Richard Nixon. Don't even imagine getting foreign films.

Searching for DVDs is bug ridden, and often results in blank pages.

The turn-around from the DC area is at best a snails pace.

Full ranking ( 5, best - 1, Worst ):

Availability of New Releases 1
Time to Ship 1 ( NJ to DC )
Selection 1 ( Actually non-existent )
Support 2
Price 1 ( about $2 per DVD )
Web-site Usability 1 ( BUGS! )

At 16+ dollars for their three at a time option, I feel totally ripped-off and thankful I did not try their sucker, er, super pass.

Strongly recommend stearing clear, to paraphrase Woody Allen - The Food is Bad, and the Portions are Small