Inside Another Netflix Shipping Center

Fayetteville Online has a story about a local Netflix shipping center in North Carolina.

The two-year-old Greensboro hub, and 36 others like it across the country, are placed to meet a one-business-day turnaround for most customers' requests. The Greensboro hub covers North Carolina and some parts of Virginia and Tennessee. Swasey declined to say how many the hub serves.

Netflix uses its specialty software to catalog incoming DVDs and seamlessly shift them into the outgoing column, eliminating physical steps that could slow down the process. You don't see a "pick and pack" room as you might at a conventional mail-order company. That eliminates the overhead of storage costs.

Netflix offers 55,000 individual film titles. Swasey said the North Carolina hub has 35,000 of those titles in circulation at any time.

If a title comes back to the hub and doesn't get rented within a certain period of time, it goes back to storage in California.

Comments

[sykoboy]

"We do give preference to the lower volume renters. It's a decision we made, and it's fully disclosed."

Yeah, only in the past couple months, Swasey. Why don't you acknowledge how your employer was sued over this issue. No, leave it to the reporter to expose it. And just like all reporters on ThrottleFix issues, none of them are taking on the hard issues -- i.e. WHAT IS THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF RENTALS A 3-OUT CUSTOMER IS PERMITTED TO RECEIVE.

"They all get benefits, Swasey said."

Slaves in America also got benefits. They were given water and enough table scraps to maintain productivity. The bare minimum, which I'm sure is the case with ThrottleFix employees. How much do you want to bet that ThrottleFix health benefits are exclusive of claims relating to repetetive stress injuries.

"Netflix workers in Greensboro come from all kinds of careers, from the Postal Service to teaching."

I call B.S. on this one. A teacher is willing to subject him/herself to the mindless opening/stuffing routine? They really must pay well at ThrottleFix!

"He declined to say what their pay range is but said that after a three-month probation, every worker gets a free DVD player and is encouraged to take movies home to watch."

Whoopdee freakin' doo! I'm so sure these DVD players are Onkyo brand and not the $29.99 variety found at Wallyworld. Pathetic.

"After inspecting the DVD and its sleeve, the DVD goes through the inventory process..."

I call B.S., again. Why does ThrottleFix lie? I've already explained in a previous post that based upon my experiences, they do NOT inspect the DVDs, unless their idea of "inspecting" means checking for a broken disc while it's still in the sleeve. I can guarantee you they do NOT take them out of their sleeves and look for scratches.

[NetflixShill]

"Slaves in America also got benefits. They were given water and enough table scraps to maintain productivity. The bare minimum,"

Their table scraps were probably healthier than the sludge being eaten by the masters. Some would argue that the slaves became genetically superior to the masters, based on generations of natural selection, hard labor, and clean food. (Whilet he masters ate sugar and white flour, the slaves ate fruits, meat, vegetables, whole grains, and beans. As evidence, I point you to any professional sports team. How many whites do you see on the field? How many blacks?

[NetflixShill]

The Netflix building is unmarked for security and competitive reasons, Swasey said, but "mainly, we don't want customers stopping by to drop off their DVDs."

Manuel commented on this recently. It really annoys me that the "main" reason they don't give out their address is to stop customers from coming by to drop off their returns. Why shouldn't they welcome folks to drop off their DVDs and save them postage costs? They should open drop spots all over the city. Just ask yourself why they don't. I swear Netflix seems to ENJOY throttling users; they would do it even if postage was free or paid by the customer... WTF?

[corey3rd]

Slaves got more than the bare minimum. I don't know what history you follow, but you have to take care of your slaves because they are yours for their entire lifespan. You want them to eat well cause you're working them hard in the fields. On the other hand, the indentured servants from Ireland were starved and beaten since they only were on the plantation for a few years. Think what you will, but the Irish were treated worse than black slaves in the South. but history doesn't seem to want to focus on white plantation owners working the Irish to death.

Maybe Netflix could pay these people even more if they didn't lose money on your account. I know there's no way they can afford to offer full dental for employees when I'm getting 27 titles a month while paying $19.25 for the service. That's 71 cents a rental for last month. Take out postage....and it's table scrap city.

The article itself is bogus because Greensboro is not the only center in North Carolina. Raleigh and Fayetteville now have their own hubs.

[corey3rd]

Why shouldn't they welcome folks to drop off their DVDs and save them postage costs?
_______________

It sounds simple. But it opens up a bigger situation when people decide that besides dropping off the DVDs, why can't they pick up DVDs. Right now Netflix runs on a system - a tight system. The Postman shows up with the returns, they spend all morning opening and processing returns. Then they swap the process around so they can ship out the titles. If a customer drops by with their titles at 3 p.m., they're going to want to see fresh titles in their mailbox the next morning. But the system isn't set up for that. And they're going to whine and complain.

It's easier for netflix to pay the price of a stamp than deal with a noisy customer.

[Hunter McDaniel]

Netflix is not in the postal business. There's absolutely no reason to believe they would save either money or time by setting up a parallel network of drop-boxes. As for drop-offs at the DC, the only people who might use them are the same obsessives who are already unprofitable.

The description of their operation is consistent with what I've read and deduced from other sources - most of their disc shipments are "turnarounds", with no real inventory except in San Jose.

[thecrow]

"He declined to say what their pay range is but said that after a three-month probation, every worker gets a free DVD player and is encouraged to take movies home to watch."

And you wonder why it takes so long to get new releases? All the employees got 'em.

[Super-Bat-Man]

did that guy just compare them to slaves because they work boring low paying jobs, WITH BENEFITS?

oh poor them

you do know that slaves are not allowed to leave? don't you?

what do you expect Netflix to give them? full coverage on everything. please. not putting anyone down here but the people that work these jobs are easily replaceable. that's the trade-off you get for being able to turn your mind off and not having to deal with stressfull decisions.

if these people want better pay and benefits then they have to sacrifice a little bit of their time and mental health

[BoB]

"And you wonder why it takes so long to get new releases? All the employees got 'em."

I was thinking the same thing! :)

[murphyslaw]

"We do give preference to the lower volume renters. It's a decision we made, and it's fully disclosed."

After it was denied for 20 months and after a a lawsuit.

Hunter said:
"There's absolutely no reason to believe they would save either money or time by setting up a parallel network of drop-boxes."

Except they're going to have to deal with the fact that half the expenses are postage and other competitive methods comng on stream have no such cost.

I bet they will be begging customers to drop films of at the DCs at some point in the mid term.

[NetflixShill]

"It sounds simple. But it opens up a bigger situation when people decide that besides dropping off the DVDs, why can't they pick up DVDs."

All Netflix needs to do is set up a box in front of the distro center and let people drop them off. New discs would ship the next day, guaranteed. It'd be too hard to let us pick up new discs, unless they'd been reserved in advance. Not that it couldn't be done by an innovative company.

"Netflix is not in the postal business. There's absolutely no reason to believe they would save either money or time by setting up a parallel network of drop-boxes."

There's every reason to think that they would save money if they collected the returns from a network of drop boxes. How do you think your library moves things from one branch to another? By USPS? They'd have a fleet of vehicles that drive things around the city where they are requested. For Netflix, it would be cheaper than that, because returns would all go to a central location and out-going mail to USPS.

"As for drop-offs at the DC, the only people who might use them are the same obsessives who are already unprofitable."

So that would reduce their losses, and make those customers happier. Why not do it, except they just want to piss off heavy users as much as they can? NFLX has made it their mission to throttle "movie hounds" and punish us. Even when we offer to bring movies to the distro center ourselves, we're given the guilt trip about being unprofitable. Sorry, but it's not the customer's job to make sure a company is profitable. They need to change their business model and/or stop lying.

"I bet they will be begging customers to drop films of at the DCs at some point in the mid term."

At last someone who sees the future. Netflix relies too much on the post office, and their service is not very dependable. After their recent rate hike, their service has been worse than ever. Why does it worry them so much to have us dropping off returns at the distro center? What do they have to hide???

[corey3rd]

You didn't address the idea that people won't be merely happy with dropping them off when they know if they spend enough time banging on the door, they can swap for the new release. Having worked in the world of customer service, I can assure you that a certain amount of people will always wants more than what is offered. Rules are for the masses - not for them. And they will stand outside that door banging, whining and claiming netflix is a rip off. And others will want a tour of the complex to see where the magic happens. What are they hiding from? Nutjobs who will hang around the drop off bin thinking they can sneak inside and meet Willy Wonka?

The whole idea of a drop off box at the DC serves no purpose. How many people are really going to drive to the middle of nowhere in an industrial zone to drop off their film? We're dealing with a market that doesn't want to drive 2 miles to Blockbuster on a main drag. In order to save 39 cents in postage, you want to burn a gallon of gas?

You wanna save Netflix a couple bucks a month, make sure you put two titles in a return envelope. That'll reduce more losses than the 4 or 5 people a day that might drive up to the box.

[Rusty Ramrod]

"But the company has attracted critics for its practice of "throttling," or giving light renters priority over frequent renters in some situations. The company has settled a class-action lawsuit, and company spokesman Steve Swasey said the company uses the practice only when a DVD is in short supply."

Bullshit. We see people whoring themselves out every day for their occupations, but this guy must feel like a bag of crap every night having to live with the guilt of lying day in and day out.

.

"If we have more demand for a title than we have copies of a title, that's when the allocation kicks in," he said. "We do give preference to the lower volume renters. It's a decision we made, and it's fully disclosed."

That is *not* throttling. That is inventory allocation. Throttling is not shipping people a copy of Rambo right away as to limit the maximum number of monthly rentals for a customer.

I find it interesting that NetFlix is trying to "blur the press" and steer people into thinking throttling is anything but limiting an unlimited service.

.

"Here in this nondescript office park _ the company posts no signs on its leased building and asks its address not be divulged _ is the brick and mortar of one of the Internet's hottest spots for movie rentals."

"The Netflix building is unmarked for security and competitive reasons, Swasey said, but "mainly, we don't want customers stopping by to drop off their DVDs."

Hell no they don't want that. For were we to drop off our movies at 6AM and they didn't show received for a couple days (like they do now) we would have concrete evidence they were throttling.

Obviously, it is not difficult to locate, through public records, the addresses of all the distros. Makes me wonder if they have them disguised with dummy corporation names?

That is actually a good project, to reveal the physical locations of each distribution center.

Rather than spending precious time digging through public records, might be easier to register "Netflixaddresses.com" and put up a quick site to offer a $10 bounty to the first person to out the physical locations. Since that is about 2 hours of wages for the minions that work there, no doubt some would be more than happy to claim the booty.

[Mr. Nethead]

Actually, Netflix pays $10-12 per hour plus benefits. Yeah, it's not great, but it beats working at McDonalds. And no, I don't work there. But it's easy to find job postings from Netflix on sites like Monster.com.

[corey3rd]

that's nearly twice as much as I got paid while working at a Mom & Pop video store - and they don't have to worry about idiots with the "is this good?" Or worse the dolts who can't understand why we didn't get five copies of PuppetMaster III.

You could probably locate the netflix building by hanging out at the post office and stalking the truck filled with red envelopes as it leaves the sorting center.

[Incused]

I took a look at Tennessee anytime's corp lookup http://www.tennesseeanytime.org/soscorp/ and found reference to a Netflix building managed by NATIONAL REGISTERED AGENT, INC. After looking up the address on Maps.google.com http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=1900+CHURCH+STREET.%3BNashville,+TN&ll=36.154455,-86.799108&spn=0.000927,0.002548&t=k , it looks like a standard warehouse/office building to me... could this be where my movies come from?!