Netflix Files as Intervenor in Postal Proceeding

The Postal News Blog is reporting that Netflix has filed as an intervenor in the postal proceedings about "evolutionary network development service changes."

Intervenor is an online DVD rental service providing more than 4 million members access to DVD movies. Members select movies to rent at the Netflix website (www.netflix.com) and receive delivery of their movies via First Class Mail. These rented DVDs are then returned to Netflix using First Class Mail. Intervenor's service could be impacted by the changes described in this proceeding.

Comments

[CJ]

This looks like one of those bureaucratic studies that will take years to eventually implement should the recommendations be approved. Bottom line is USPS wants to trade off "prompt service" versus "Economic service" - so of course this stuff is of great interest to NetFlix.

[phineas]

According to the filings, service changes would start in June. Some of the network changes are already being implemented.

[NetflixShill]

Nobody even knows what this means. The wording is vague and ambiguous. Can somebody translate postal jargon into ordinary English? What are "3-digit zip code service area origin-destination pairs"??? The articles are totally useless, as far as I can tell. They could mean anything. Netflix doesn't know what it means any more than we do. Who does?

[John]

When a company like netflix mails out in bulk they typically have the address and barcode allready done. This is called presor mail. there is 3 digit 5 digit and 11 digit. These values determine how far there customer zip code is broken down to. For example if you live in a 63211 zip code 3 digit means it is broken down just to the 632. The other two numbers would be the mail carriers route number. The lower the digit the more work the post office will have to do to break it down to carrier and street. It would be a mess if they did that trust me. Netflix movies are not made to be run on a machine 6 times.

[phineas]

Shill- Netflix knows exactly what it means. They locate their service centers in places that have service standards that will maximize the speed of getting their DVD's delivered. Service standards are just the standard period of time it should take for a piece of first class mail to get from one 3-digit ZIP code area to another. Every pair of 3-digit origins and destinations has a standard of from one to three days. So it's supposed to be overnight from where I live in Massachusetts to say, Providence, two days to New York, three days to St Louis, etc.

The post office is closing smaller processing centers, where they do the actual sorting, meaning that in some cases two places that currently have overnight service might now have two day service. If one of those places is where you live, and the other is where your local Netflix center is, I think you can figure out the implications! That's what Netflix is worried about. Service standards won't change everywhere that there's a plant closing, but Netflix needs to know well in advance where those changes might occur. By intervening, they get to ask questions, demand documentation, etc...

[NetflixShill]

I know about pre-sorting. What I can't figure out is "origin-destination pairs." What does the origin have to do with anything? Does that mean they're going to start checking return addresses? WTF? That would be a total waste of time. The origin is irrelevant to the USPS business model, unless a letter is undeliverable and has to be returned. I'd like an explanation about what this has to do with Netflix. Right now, it seems like the article was rushed without any consideration of its usefulness to readers. Maybe postal employees know what all this means. I don't. WTF?

[NetflixShill]

"Netflix knows exactly what it means. They locate their service centers in places that have service standards that will maximize the speed of getting their DVD's delivered."

They don't know what service areas are changing or how. Maybe people out in the country would see the delivery times increase. I doubt local mail in the city will go from 1-2 days to 3-5 or more. Netflix claims most of their customers get 1-day delivery. The article totally lacks content. Saying service between UNKNOWN pairs of cities will be faster (or slower) is meaningless. Give me some facts and I'd see the relevance. Right now, I can't. It'll most likely be better for most people, if they want to stay in business. They make a lot of money off of Netflix, Blockbuster, and so on - with very little effort on their part.

[slightlysteamed]

"What I can't figure out is "origin-destination pairs." What does the origin have to do with anything?" asked NetflixShill

As I recall the origin refers to where in the stream the mail enters (ie a local PO or a sectional center) and the destination the sectional center assigned to the delivery Post Office location.

A sectional center receives mail addressed to certain 3 digit prefixes, then sorts it down and sends it along to the local PO's for them to sort it down in route order and deliver.

More populated areas used to have more sectional centers, but that may no longer be the direction the PO wants to go.

With the advent of fax, email, Fed-Ex for critical time deliveries the PO is probably seeing much less first class mail than it did when it set up the sectional center system. It would follow that they would want to close some centers for economy.

That's one of the reasons they demand pre-sorted by zip code mail for bulk mailing permits such as Netflix and Blockbuster use, economy. It costs them much less in sorting mail for dispatch that way. They get bags of mail already batched with a sectional center tag on them and all they have to do is put them on a truck to that sectional center.

With the vested interest Netflix has in timely delivery it doesn't surprise me that they filed as an intervenor in this issue. Certainly they need to know what centers are proposed for closure as this would most likely affect their distribution centers, and would possibly put them in a position of influence as a large mailer, to prevent closures inimical to their business interests.

What drives the postal rates is the postal workers union. It is a never ending spiral for higher wages, more health benefits, better pension benefits, etc.

Postal workers at one time did not pay into Social Security, they had their own private retirement. I don't know if that is still the case, but I would assume it is.

As is the case with Civil Service the old saying is "they won't work and you can't fire them".