Netflix to End DVD by Mail

[BlackoutCreature]

I came home from work today and found an E mail in my inbox from them announcing it. I'm pretty sad about it, as a subscriber since 2003 those red envelopes have gotten me through some tough times over the last twenty years, but I won't lie, I've pretty much run out of things to order from them and my Queue is practically empty. Last day of shipment looks to be September 29, 2023.

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

I thought this ended years ago.

[Burst]

Add me into the group that thought they'd done this about the time they started going all-in on their original programming.

I'll be curious how long RedBox holds out, I know the biggest thing keeping RedBox and your handful of Mom 'n Pop rental stores open is typically rural areas that still have lousy internet, but to be honest, knowing how companies tend to behave, I wouldn't be surprised if RedBox gets bought out and closed up well before the internet infrastructure finally catches up.

Also, there's totally an alternate timeline somewhere out there where Blockbuster managed to become the streaming/original programming giant.

[y4j1981]

www.engadget.com/netflix-will-shut-down-its-dvd-rental-business-in-september-195213827.html

Netflix will shut down its DVD rental business in September

The company's original business is coming to an end.

After 25 years, Netflix's original business is shutting down. The company has revealed that it will "wind down" DVD rentals (that is. DVD.com), with its last movie discs mailing on September 29th. Simply put, the shrinking demand for physical rentals is making it "increasingly difficult" to offer the quality of service the company wants.

Netflix shipped its first disc (Beetlejuice, if you're curious) in 1998. It has since mailed over 5.2 billion movies in its signature envelopes (nearly all of them before 2019) to more than 40 million customers. You likely know the story after that. The company began streaming on-demand video in 2007, and that business grew quickly enough that it became Netflix's most popular offering by 2009. After a premature attempt to spin off the mailed rentals as Qwikster in 2011, Netflix moved them to DVD.com in 2016. By that point, the company was well into producing original streaming shows and had stopped mailing DVDs on Saturdays.

There's also a financial incentive to drop disc rentals. While Netflix is recovering from a bleak 2022, its profits in the first quarter were still worse than they were a year ago. Subscriber growth was relatively modest, too, at 1.7 million new users. A decision to axe the DVD-by-mail unit could help Netflix trim costs, even if the savings are relatively small. The disc market has been on a sharp and steady decline for years, according to VideoScan/MediaPlayNews data — sales alone dropped 19 percent from 2021 to 2022.

It's nonetheless a sad moment for home video fans. Netflix played a major role in shaking up the movie rental business. Where retailers like Blockbuster dominated in the 1990s and early 2000s, Netflix helped people stay at home. Blockbuster and other rivals hopped into the market years later but fought to gain traction. While retail rentals are still available through Redbox kiosks and similar options, it's safe to say Netflix changed expectations for good.

[Deleted]

Man this sucks.

I see a lot of Redbox Kiosk being taken down in my area too. I get that streaming is convenient, but with the right set up, the A/V quality just blows it away.

[BRV]

It was a great concept for the time, but once Netflix became its own studio, mass-producing its own content, it was only a matter of time before this went the way of the dodo.

Also, it was a sort of fascinating to look back on. I'd want to see a movie, I'd slide it to the top of my queue, and then a day or two later it would arrive in the mail - and sometimes I'd just have no interest in watching it any more. I think "The Hurt Locker" sat idly on my desk for about two weeks, as an example.

[Confused Mark Wahlberg]

I had "GI Joe: The Movie" out for about a year and didn't realize it.

[Confused Mark Wahlberg]

And man, Blockbuster on a Friday night was insane

[asssvvvvxc]

Remember the whole Qwikster thing?