A Rare Look Inside a Netflix Shipping Center: Hawaii Edition
KHNL8 in Hawaii takes a look inside a "top secret" Netflix shipping center, including a rare video shot inside the facility.
Swasey says if all seven million Netflix members drove to and from a rental store, they would consume 800,000 gallons of gasoline."For $13.99 you get three DVD's out at a time, unlimited rentals so you can rentals so you can watch as many as you want and you can watch them online," Swasey said.
Did Swasey slip up or is Netflix testing $13.99 pricing in Hawaii?
There was an interesting poster in the video that read, "Netflix: Our Goal!!! To always deliver the correct playable disc the next day at a cost unattainable by our competitors."
Tidbit from the story: Netflix has more than 50 shipping centers.
Crazy!!
I would have thought the process was more automated than someone stuffing a DVD into an envelope.
Posted by: HarryPinker | January 30, 2008 at 08:11 AM
Yeah i actually assumed so too, but the last few movies i got had the barcode section ripped a little... So i assumed that it was a person seeing if they had messed up on stuffing the movie... cuz i know the postman doesnt care what movies i get :-)...
Posted by: andyg8180 | January 30, 2008 at 08:42 AM
What do they do with DVDs that are not mailed out? Are they stuffed in an envelop and then wait for someone to rent them?
Posted by: TPOLMike | January 30, 2008 at 08:45 AM
What the hell? 13.99? Damn Hawaiians getting a deal.
Posted by: RMags | January 30, 2008 at 10:04 AM
"disc the next day"
What interesting is that for the first time, all three of my selections are coming from somewhere far, far, away. The quickest of the three has had what appears to be a 5 day turnaround from when they received my disk to when I should get theirs. At least, I'm guessing 5 days -- I haven't seen it yet.
To be honest, this is the first time I've experienced such a delay across my three-out choices.
Posted by: jimofoz | January 30, 2008 at 10:35 AM
"What do they do with DVDs that are not mailed out? Are they stuffed in an envelop and then wait for someone to rent them?"
Yes. They are all stuffed, barcode readable, into the envelopes and then ran thru the machines. Ones that have a customer waiting will have the address printed on those. The others will get rejected back, to be ran again the next day. If after so long, a movie fails to get rented, it is suppossedly sent to San Jose, CA which is NFs holding center for the slow movers.
Posted by: BoB | January 30, 2008 at 12:33 PM
$13.99..... Interesting. I am going to contact the cusotmer service group about this....
Posted by: hebby | January 30, 2008 at 03:17 PM
I've been waiting for movies for five days now. Talk about next day.
I am going back to blockbuster.
Posted by: Tarik | January 30, 2008 at 05:16 PM
Don't go back to Blockbuster....BB is lame. 13.99 would be cool, but whatever im not complaining
Posted by: Nick | January 30, 2008 at 05:25 PM
BB is the Anti-Christ. Trust me, I know!
Posted by: BoB | January 30, 2008 at 05:58 PM
I live on Maui and the 13.99 quote is a mistake. I pay 16.99 for 3 out.
Posted by: darthmoll | January 30, 2008 at 07:08 PM
I thought stuffing was automated too. Netflix showed off a stuffing machine about 6 months ago:
http://www.hackingnetflix.com/2007/08/netflix-unveils.html
Maybe it failed? Or they just don't have them at all the centers?
Posted by: Baff | January 31, 2008 at 12:40 AM
The stuffing machines are only available at a couple sites, but at all the others, people are still stuffing the envelopes. They are hoping to get the machines at all sites, because they are faster of course.
Posted by: mims | January 31, 2008 at 10:50 AM
Here is the link. http://www.khnl.com/global/video/popup/pop_player.asp?ClipID1=2144062&h1=Netflix%20Shows%20off%20Top%20Secret%20Distribution%20Center&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=116733&LaunchPageAdTag=Search Results&activePane=info&playerVersion=1&hostPageUrl=http%3A//www.khnl.com/Global/SearchResults.asp%3Fvendor%3Dwss%26qu%3Dnetflix&rnd=94245332
Posted by: Tim | January 31, 2008 at 11:41 AM
Come on guys, Oahu is a SMALL island, I wouldnt expect anything less than one day here. We pay the price by having to wait an extra day or two for our credit card bills to arrive from North america.
Posted by: BLUJKTS | January 31, 2008 at 01:57 PM
how does the online view work? is it a DL or stream? if DL what file format is it ?
thanks
Posted by: spytech | February 01, 2008 at 03:48 PM
how does the online view work? is it a DL or stream? if DL what file format is it ?
thanks
Posted by: spytech | February 01, 2008 at 03:48 PM
I'm pretty sure it's streaming, spytech. If they allowed downloads it's easy piracy of the film, people have already pirated films how they've got it now.
Posted by: Plus | February 01, 2008 at 04:41 PM
"I'm pretty sure it's streaming, spytech. If they allowed downloads it's easy piracy of the film, people have already pirated films how they've got it now."
Well, You can easily copy streamed data as well. It's just more advanced than what the average PC user (email checker) knows how to do.
My father always said, "a lock is just to keep an honest man honest". It's the same with all this copy protection. A thief (pirate) will always be able to get the data if he wishes). Anything built (conceived) by a man, can be defeated by a man.
Posted by: BoB | February 01, 2008 at 05:19 PM
I always wondered what a netflix factory looks like. Netflix, Facebook, Google, and other companies along those lines are places I would love to work at even if it might turn out like any other job.
When I get the time, I will drive down to my local netflix shipping center.
Posted by: mojaam | February 01, 2008 at 10:32 PM