The Cost of Keeping Netflix Movies Too Long

The Over Caffeinated Dad on Seattle Pi points out the hidden cost of keeping Netflix DVDs for weeks or months:

And then one day it arrives in your mailbox and, naturally, you don't feel like watching it tonight, tomorrow, or the next day, so you stick it on top of your DVD player, where it sits for three months before you send it back, take it off your queue, and shortly thereafter find yourself -- as usual -- the lone member of the "I've never actually seen that" club.

Repeat this every 18 months or so for five or six years, and factor in the cost of even the most basic Netflix membership, and you end up spending $114.87 for something you could buy new at Target for $19.95.

If we don't watch a movie within 10 days, I try to send it back to get something we're more interested in watching. It's also a good idea to get a mix of titles so you have different movies to suit your different moods.

What's the longest you've kept a Netflix movie or TV show?

Comments

[Hbi2k]

That's why streaming is so nice. Netflix quickly went from a physical disc rental service with streaming as a nice side benefit to the other way around.

[mortgage help]

Netflix quickly went from a physical disc rental service with streaming as a nice side benefit to the other way around.

[Crow550]

I try not to keep movies long.

However the longest I kept some movies was around the time my Mom had a heart attack. She's doing fine now. It was a long road of recovery.

Which would be Step Brothers & Iron Man on 12/29/08:

Returned Step Brothers on 03/17/09 & I didn't really like it. Maybe I should give it another shot? I don't know.

Iron Man returned 3/13/09 which was awesome.

As you can see I was not in a movie watching mood at that time.

Other than that I can't stand to keep a movie very long as I want to pass it on to the next person.

Just don't see the point in renting a movie to let it collect dust. If I want to watch streaming only. I will clear my DVD Queue.

I try to rent what I want to watch. As the idea of renting something to let it sit on a shelf & then return it without watching it much later is silly to me.

[Sock Puppet]

I wish whoever has the Farscape: Season 4 discs 2 & possibly 3 would put them in the mail, they have been uber long wait for almost 8 months!

[Enmanuel]

I try not to keep them for too long. I think the longest I've kept a movie was for like 2 weeks when I was out of the country last year.

[snowmaiden]

The longest I've ever kept a disc was about a month for Disc One of Rocky & Bullwinkle, Season 2. There are 13 episodes per double-sided disc, and I just OD'd after a while! Fortunately they've added it to streaming now, so I can come back to it in smaller doses.

[Steve I]

I'm retired......typically I get a disc in the mail about every other day. I usually watch the movie that same evening and then have it back in the mail the next morning....

[dave]

I get a movie in the mail. watch it that night (usually). return it the next day. The following day another movie is sent out, which arrives the next day.

Example: I get a movie on Tues. return Weds. I get another movie on Fri. There have been some weeks when I've been able to watch 3 movies (I'm on the one disc plan).

The premise of "overcaffeinated dad" is bizarre, IMO...

[Ryan]

I watch all of my discs the day or the day after. I want to get as many movies per month. I don't understand people who just leave their discs sitting around. They are wasting money!
Netflix loses money on people like me who pay $8.99 a month and get 8 movies shipped a month, so I am sure they are happy when someone leaves a movie sitting around for a few months.

[falsage-1]

I always felt that measuring the value of Netflix by pure discs-watched-to-subscription-cost was missing the point of the service. Not to mention the fact that it will cause you pointless stress if you're constantly worrying about how many discs you've watched in a month.

You're not paying for high-volume, low-cost video rentals - you're paying for the convenience of not having to drag your fat ass off the couch and drive to Blockbuster only to settle for something your not interested in because you forgot what you actually wanted to rent. People seem to forget that building and maintaining a list of movies you want to watch (so you don't have to remember on the spot in the video store) is part of the cost. You're really paying for 1.) a system to remember what you want to watch, and 2.) the convenience of home delivery so you don't waste your time and gas on trips to and from the video store.

I also look at it this way because I am extremely lazy.

[PatB]

The reason I end up keeping NetFlix disks too long is that I'm not very good at predicting what I will actually watch. I thought I would enjoy John Woo's "Killer" but I stopped watching after only about ten minutes. Then I delayed sending it back for another three weeks so as to give myself another chance. I tried again but couldn't bear to watch it past the credits.

[Tom Wolper]

As long as you have a queue you will have discs sitting at home. If I send in a movie on Monday, a new movie will come on Wednesday whether I will have time to watch it or not. There's no option to send a movie back and tell Netflix not to send another one for a week or until you will have the time to watch it (without deleting your whole queue). During times like now with NHL and NBA playoff finals airing on alternating nights, it can take us 2 weeks to get around to a movie.

This is my second year as a Netflix subscriber. The first year I watched 95 movies plus two TV series. I can't and don't want to keep up that pace.

[Lego]

I've kept some discs for nearly a year. And no I'm not totally selfish. I will not keep a movie for long if it has any sort of wait for others to rent (not that I ever rent anything with a wait time). I rarely rent new releases and rent almost exclusively TV shows.

The only reason I have kept some discs for months and months is because I am on the 3-disc plan (plus instant watch) and it is way more content than I have the time to watch. So when I do watch a disc I will pick the one I want to watch the most. That means that third disc will sit there for a very long time because I DO want to watch it eventually, just not right now.

No reason to lower my plan to two discs because there is barely a difference in price, and I won't do the one disc plan because it doesn't allow for choice.

Those of you who drive yourself crazy to watch a movie the same night it arrives so you can send it back the next day (I used to do this myself) are just going to wear yourself out. You are paying for the plan regardless of how many movies you watch. Watch how many you feel comfortable with. And keep the discs as long as you want (unless it has a long wait, then let someone else have it).

[longklaw]

I kept Stephen King's Desperation and the last disc of Six Feet Under: Season 2 for about 2 years. I was holding onto them for a friend and sent them back when that friend moved away.

[Karva]

Wow.

One week is the longest I've kept one.

[Mel]

This entry gave me a chuckle!

Due to a move and sheer laziness I have had 3 netflix DVDs sitting in my "don't lose this stuff!" box for about 8 months. I finally dug them out the other day to mail back and oops...forgot. Pathetic right?

I still don't see it as losing money, as I primarily use the netflix streaming service. It's just a weird procrastination on my part. I think I'll put them in the post on Monday. :)

[Mike61554]

I will usually keep a disc for no more than a couple of weeks. I've had "Ally McBeal" season 2 disc 1 for a month waiting for the TV season to end. It will be watched in the next couple of weeks.

[MiniMonkey]

There have been several times when I've had a movie out for a few months before getting around to watching it. But I'm on the 5-at-a-time plan, so I'm usually going through at least 3 of them at a decent pace. Well, decent to me, but probably way too slow for most of you.

For me, the value of Netflix is not a cost-per-rental game. With the number of movies I actually watch every month, I would be fine with the 2-out-at-a-time plan, but I'm paying the extra for variety. Whenever the mood strikes me, whether that's every day or only a few times a month, I've got a wide variety of movies across genres at my fingertips to choose from.

And I simply refuse to return a movie I haven't watched. If I rented it, it's because I felt that seeing that movie was important for some reason, and given that my queue is always capped at 500 movies... if I sent an unwatched movie back, I'd never get back around to it. Forcing myself to watch the movies before sending them back is the motivation I need to watch certain movies that I know I will enjoy but never really have the urge to watch. And boy have I ended up seeing some amazing films as a result.

The other benefit of being slow to turn around movies is that since my cost per rental is so high, I can pretty much get any movie I want shipped to me. So I almost never have to wait for new release or high-demand discs. Again... I'm paying a premium to have more spur-of-the-moment choices available to me, and that is completely worth it in my book.

[Billy]

I reported a movie had been lost in the mail and Netflix emailed me to say they had received it... 1,038 days later.

[DDD]

I've had Fantastic Mr. Fox for month now and I've watched it many many times. I just refuse to go out and buy it until it goes Criterion and comes with an audio commentary!

[DATM]

I've had the Snow White blu-ray for like three months now. And before that I had Coraline for two months. The reason for this is that Netflix movies and tv shows are streaming all day on at least two of my three tv's.

[sarah]

I keep discs for an average of probably 1 to 2 months. I'm not always in the mood to watch what is on my queue. I watch something Netflix Streaming content an average of 1-3 times a day. It's worth it to me.

[Dave Dunn]

Back in the day, when I was a Netflix customer, I had a great queue with some DVDs and those movies that you'd just never see at a rental store plus the movies that were interesting new releases. The new releases for the long,long waits times from the Portland Maine Distribution Center got longer, and longer and longer untill I said no more Netflix. (untill getting on the phone with a Netflix rep and you'd get the new release movie the next day, tiresome)
I think that the new release Netflix DVDs go out to the Maine customers in the trailers, who then share them with their cousin's who then share them with their cousin's and so on, rather than actually leaving them around before sending them back.

[Hiedi]

whoever has gabrial inglies's 2 hot 2 fluffy, please return it. It's been listed as a "long wait" now for nearly 4 months. I've been really wanting to see it.

Longest I've ever had a movie has been about 2 1/2 weeks.

[Keiko]

longest is 1 week

[BooBee]

Because of my commute to work, I turn around movies in 24hrs of getting them (I have a 3.5 hr commute daily). Older TV sitcoms I rent I usually keep no more than a week since those are much longer in content.

[Alston]

One year is the longest, just kept thinking I'd watch it. But that was an outlier. Most films go back within a month.

[Tim S.]

I have never received a disc and not sent it back the very next day. The only time that has happened on my account was when some friends were housesitting for me. I let them pick something they wanted and put it on my queue. The picked a disc of "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" and kept it for 10 days. I didn't have a problem with that since they were kind enough to housesit.

[dAVe]

I agree with the original post about the cost of keeping and every so often a title goes beyond my "10 day shelf" rule. It's usually a problem with my available time to sit and watch it rather than the lack of interest reason some here have posted. I'm very aggressive in managing my DVD Queue so that the next DVD's, positions 1 thru 3, to be shipped are titles I'm ready for when I get them.

I'm not happy about it but longest title kept was 53 days which wasn't a "Hot New Release" at the time so please don't flame me.

[cj]

10 days tops and that because i was on vacation and took the movie with me. It was a cartoon for my kids.

[Yoko]

10 days?!? That's just crazy talk. We will go two or three days max without watching a movie. On a side note, watching movies is a great way to stay occupied/distracted when you are unemployed. It gives you something to look forward to.

[Fohf]

I average about 3 weeks per disc. Longest for me is about 70 days. I was never in the mood to watch that movie and felt bad about sending it back unwatched.

But really the reason I take so long to watch movies is because I use Netflix streaming everyday. I would prefer a "streaming only" plan and I don't know why they don't offer it. I can always go to redbox if I want to see a new release right now.

[Fred Talmadge]

The last few monthes we haven't been watching movies as much as we would like so they sit around for a few weeks. Sure we are losing money, but it's convinent for which I'm paying for.

[hohosmurf]

It doesn't make sense to average the cost of keeping movies a long time if you don't also calculate the savings on short turn around times as well. As a subscriber from almost the beginning of Netflix, I've always gone back and calculated the cost per movie received each year, and averaged it over several years. For several years I had an 8-at-a-time plan, and for a period of about 8 months (before the vacation hold feature) I had various upheavals in my life that prevented me from watching the movies I had on hand, so I kept them without watching because I sdin't want to cancel my plan. Then I resumed my usual watching activities. For as many movies as I got and sent back right away, the average cost of my movies over 5 years (including the time I kept the dvds for 8 months) was still only $1.72 a movie. It was still a huge savings over renting them at that time. Now, you can avoid that with vacation hold and streaming.

[George]

10 days at most, but usually, its because I have nothing too interesting on the queue. We're not the sort who has hundreds of movies in the queue.

I'd love to see some ability to just-don't-send-me-anything ... or temp downgrade to streaming only. I still want streaming, but don't want to put the account on hold.

[Obviously Fake Name]

Longest? About an hour.

I rip the movies to disk, and watch them later, then delete.

That way, I cycle thouh my list like crazy.

I delet after watching.

[FurryGuyJeans]

The longest I have kept a DVD from Netflix was 5 days when snowed in last winter. Normally I keep a disc for 3 days (5 plan, 3 at home that I watch one a day, 1 returning to Netflix, 1 being shipped to me). Luckily for me my distribution center is close enough for 1 day turn around.

[h0mi]

I had a dvd out for 5 months... partially because I was in the middle of a move and never took the time to sit down and actually watch the movie.

Sure, I could've bought the box set for How I met your mother for the cost I spent on netflix, but I was paying for netflix regardless of whether I watched 1 or 20 discs at that time- it's not like it makes sense (for me) to simply buy these discs & cancel my netflix.

[chrswyatt]

lol, I have kept a dvd out for the since Jan. 12, 2009 so 515 days and counting....but I use the service as instant streaming at least 3 hours a day. I view it as me paying 9.53 a month for instant streaming for tons of movies and shows and less about the amount of dvds I get a month.

[daniel]

I agree with falsage-1. But to answer the question, 2 weeks is the longest. Most of the time it is one day.