WSJ on Why We Don't Return Movies

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting story (free) that looks at the psychology behind our inability to watch some movies, keeping them for long periods of time before returning them.

Such subscription services tap into a powerful vein of human instinct, said Peter Fader, a marketing professor who studies consumer behavior at University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. "People want unfettered access to things. They want whatever they want, to have as much as they want, when they want it," said Mr. Fader. "And they're willing to pay irrationally for it."

Even consumer behavior experts can't completely shake this habit. At one point, Mr. Fader had two Netflix DVDs -- both part of Ken Burns' "Baseball" documentary series -- sitting at his home for more than six months. He describes the series as "weighty," but didn't want to send them back. "It's too much of an admission to say, 'I give up,'" Mr. Fader said.

I shared my own experience of renting The Passion of the Christ twice -- and I still haven't seen it.

How long have you kept a movie before sending it back? Did you watch it before you sent it back?

Comments

[Manda]

I'm too much of a cheapskate to hold onto unwatched DVDs. All are watched within a week whether I'm in the mood or not. The only time I'll keep a DVD for longer is if I really enjoyed it and want to watch it again.

[Hunter McDaniel]

In three years I've only sent back one DVD without watching it, and in that case I only waited a week to do so. However, like most readers of this blog I'm somewhat obsessive about Netflix and manage my queue pretty closely so that the top entries are always things I want to watch "this week". I'm long past the 'eat your spinach' stage of ordering discs I "ought" to see.

What this article and others like it point out though is that the burden of choice simply takes too much mental energy for many people, which is why they'd rather just surf cable.

[Bulldozza]

Same here. I doubt I have ever held a movie more than 5 days. I take a few chances with classics and documentaries and one thing that I've learned is that if after 20 minutes I think the movie is terrible, I don't wait around for it to get better. I put it back into the envelope and off it goes.

[NetflixShill]

I don't hold onto the DVDs more than a week, and I don't feel obligated to watch the DVDs rented either. I couldn't get into City of God, Married to the Mob, Serenity, and a lot of others. People are dumb to feel obligated to watch something they don't like or don't feel like watching. That's a mentality which became obsolete as price-per-rental dropped. It's not like you're throwing away food. You are throwing away 20 cents per day per DVD, for everything you keep. In 3 months, that's $18 - enough to buy most new DVDs. If you're keeping things that long, you might as well just buy them. Then you can put them out on display to impress your friends. LAME.

[NetflixShill]

I haven't seen POTC either. I rented it with MVP and decided I'd rather not see it. These DVD services free you from being obliged to watch. Saying you're "not in the mood" is a cop-out. You know what "moods" you're likely to be in. I don't watch by mood. If you need the right mood, it's most likely a movie you should avoid. Know yourself and stop renting thing you have to in the "mood" for.

[ninjagrrl]

I kept Hitch for almost two months before finally sending it back, never watched it. Still haven't seen it.

[Scribe1964]

I've had DVDs lying around for a while, mostly because I get something ELSE in the mail that I'd prefer to see instead. And you know what? I don't care. Compared to how much I used to spend at my local BB before the days of Netflix, I'm getting a great bargain.

[Damian]

I upgraded to a 4-disc plan so I could have a slot or two for "difficult" movies.

[trixare4kids]

I've kept a few movies around for a couple weeks but only because I didn't have time to watch them. I do have a friend on my friends list (and you KNOW who you are) who has had the first three discs of the sopranos out now for at least 5 months - and he's on the 3 out plan. I don't know why he just doesn't buy the buggers.

[tim]

I'm more of the type to delay having it shipped. Every few days I shuffle my queue with NetflixFreak, and if I'm not in the mood to see the top movies anytime soon, I keep shuffling until I'm happy.
It's similar, because I have and will continue to put off movies as long as I can.

[Super-Bat-Man]

I had Six feet under season 1, disc 2 for about a week and a half before I gave up on it and sent it back. I kind of liked the first disc hoping it would get great but then I just got sick of that family. One likeable character is not enough.

I'm with buldozza on this one:
There are way too many other movies and shows that I know I will like to waste too much time and money giving stuff a chance. I just did it with delicatessen I gave it a chance...but the first 30 minutes of the movie was 30 minutes of my life too many spent being annoyed. I had that movie back in the mail the same day.

[Tiburon]

I've had Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for 3 months now. I've watched it. Just don't know why I haven't returned it. Thank god I don't do BB anymore. Thats why I love Netflix.

Sorry to anyone waiting for Charlie. I'll try to get it in the mail soon.

[hawk5391]

I got Battle of Algiers from Netflix and just could not bring myself to watch it. Finally I gave it a shot and I LOVED it. If I didn't have Netflix I would never have rented it in the first place and I would probably have seen some dumb Adam Sandler movie instead. Thanks Netflix!
By the way, this is also a good example of why I chose Netflix over Blockbuster -- the quality of the Netflix ratings, recommendations and website content is enough for me to justify my 4-out membership.

[corey3rd]

I've had a couple cases where while waiting for a netflix arrive, the movie has played on HBO or Showtime so when it arrived the next day, I just tossed it back in the mail.

strange that on this article and the other article about netflix guilt, the reporter didn't encounter anyone that duped their DVDs. Nor did he report if these same people will buy a DVD and let it collect dust on top of the TV.

[C Nyze]

Movies in my portion of the queue are watched and shipped back within the same week that I receive them ... ALWAYS. My wifes portion of the queue is like a log jam, she is one who needs to be in the mood for movies. I don't get the whole right mood for a movie or a movie being difficult to watch ... I watch movies for entertainment, not to reach another level of enlightenment. I do stay on top of my queue though so I always get things that I want.

[Magnus Cthulhu]

I've never really had a problem with keeping stuff around. I mean, yeah, I might run out of time to watch a particular title, but that's usually because I overrent myself on movies and run out of time (I have two online rental services with which I return movies within two days of recieving them and I rent in store anywhere from 5 to 15 movies a week from up to three different rental stores, so I average about 10 to 15 DVDs a week, although hours varies as sometimes 5 or 6 of those DVDs might be television discs ) so I have to wait a week before watching and returning a movie, but I never let stuff linger out on my online program (or my in store pass, or the rentals I pay for) because I feel I *should* watch it but don't want to. If I feel I should watch something, I rent it and watch it. If I feel I should but don't really feel up to it, I just don't rent it. And, if, say, I've had it on my queue for a while, forgotten about it, and it crops up and I don't feel in the mood for watching something heavy, I just watch it anyways. A good movie is a good movie is a good movie, whether I feel in the "mood" prior to watching it or not.

I'm up to some number like 650 DVDs rented in the past year or so and I've watched every one of them. I think it'd be dumb not to watch them. Even if it's on a flat fee program, and even if it's only pocket change that I'm losing by sending it back, it's still a matter of the time lost and the fact that I'm probably missing out on a good movie.