netflix by the numbers
The movie-by-mail rental market is getting pretty crowded. As a successful pioneer, Netflix has painted themselves with a big red target for Blockbuster, Wal-Mart, and several niche players to shoot at. There's now talk of Amazon entering the fray, either as a standalone player or as a partner with Blockbuster, so the competition is only going to get tougher. All these options has me wondering: have I gotten my money's worth with Netflix?
I joined Netflix in 2003 in response to the irritating late fees and holier-than-thou stocking policies at my neighborhood Blockbuster. The online service has featured quick turnaround times, unscratched DVD's, and an exhaustive movie library, so I can't complain. Since a recent comparison had Netflix edging out Blockbuster and Wal-Mart for turnaround time and selection, there would have to be a substantial financial incentive for me to look elsewhere.
I've rented 48 DVD's through Netflix since October of 2003, which amounts to a rather lethargic pace of 3.3 rentals per month. At the current monthly fee of $19.47, that amounts to $5.86 per rental. Oof, that's a bit steeper than the old Blockbuster fees! In fact, the current Blockbuster online plan is only $14.99 per month, which amounts to an average fee of $4.50 per rental at my pace. Throw in the availability of PS2 rentals, and suddenly the Blockbuster offer looks pretty tempting ...
But I can't forgive Blockbuster for the big dollars they got out of me for so many years. They may have recently eliminated late fees at their retail outlets, but not before extracting a semester of Harvard tuition from my lackadaisical movie retention habits. "Ballbuster" had their shot, and they got their blood money from me. Now they can rot while I overspend with their competitor. HA! That'll show 'em.
Other meaningless Netflix statistics:
Average Turnaround (from shipping to return): 27 days
Shortest Turnaround: 5 days [Elf / Capturing the Friedmans]
Longest Turnaround: 223 days [American Psycho]
Average Gap (between returns): 9 days
Shortest Gap: 0 days [several films]
Longest Gap: 51 days [A Better Tomorrow on 4/6 / CQ on 5/27]
Best Rental: City of God [5 stars]
Worst Rental: Aria / Wings of Desire [1 star]
I joined Netflix in 2003 in response to the irritating late fees and holier-than-thou stocking policies at my neighborhood Blockbuster. The online service has featured quick turnaround times, unscratched DVD's, and an exhaustive movie library, so I can't complain. Since a recent comparison had Netflix edging out Blockbuster and Wal-Mart for turnaround time and selection, there would have to be a substantial financial incentive for me to look elsewhere.
I've rented 48 DVD's through Netflix since October of 2003, which amounts to a rather lethargic pace of 3.3 rentals per month. At the current monthly fee of $19.47, that amounts to $5.86 per rental. Oof, that's a bit steeper than the old Blockbuster fees! In fact, the current Blockbuster online plan is only $14.99 per month, which amounts to an average fee of $4.50 per rental at my pace. Throw in the availability of PS2 rentals, and suddenly the Blockbuster offer looks pretty tempting ...
But I can't forgive Blockbuster for the big dollars they got out of me for so many years. They may have recently eliminated late fees at their retail outlets, but not before extracting a semester of Harvard tuition from my lackadaisical movie retention habits. "Ballbuster" had their shot, and they got their blood money from me. Now they can rot while I overspend with their competitor. HA! That'll show 'em.
Other meaningless Netflix statistics:
Average Turnaround (from shipping to return): 27 days
Shortest Turnaround: 5 days [Elf / Capturing the Friedmans]
Longest Turnaround: 223 days [American Psycho]
Average Gap (between returns): 9 days
Shortest Gap: 0 days [several films]
Longest Gap: 51 days [A Better Tomorrow on 4/6 / CQ on 5/27]
Best Rental: City of God [5 stars]
Worst Rental: Aria / Wings of Desire [1 star]
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
posted by wae at 5:55 AM
1 Comments:
Vulcan Video on South Congress, baby. They're cool people. They're local. They have 2 for 1 rentals on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. They give you a buck back on new releases if you return them the next day. They give you a free rental with every 10 movies or so. (I can't remember the exact figure, but it seems like we get an awful lot of free rentals). They carry cool stuff.
The only drawback is that it's tough to get new releases sometimes.
I've also been meaning to check out Pedazo Chunk on South First.
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