Netflix, Thou Art a Cruel Mistress

Netflix shipping as I see it...

• If I receive a movie on Monday and Tuesday morning I mail it back, then Wednesday Netflix will receive it and ship out another DVD the same day.


• It takes 2 days to get to me, so I'll get it on Friday.


• All this, of course, assumes I will watch the movie the same day I receive it.


• Based on the above information: Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are the best days to mail movies for optimum turn around.


• Unfortunately, if you mail it Mon through Wed you would at best be able to send them back Fri through Sunday (which are the worst days).


• On average we watch 3 movies a week; this works out to just over 12 movies per month.


• If you started May 1st and watched every movie the same day you received it, and mailed it back the following morning you could watch 18 movies in a month. If you average 2 days to watch a movie the total goes down to 15 movies max for the month. 3 days = 12, 4 days = 9.


• This is a great deal if the movies are new releases. $4 per new release x 18 movies would be $72 worth of movies for only $17.99 a month.


• However, if all 18 movies are .99 non-new release rentals, then .99 x 18 = $17.82 worth of movies for $17.99 per month. Not a great deal at all. In fact, some might suggest this is, in fact, a craptastic deal.


• I'm not altogether sure movie rental stores still have .99 rentals on non-new releases.

So, the more new releases you rent, the more bang you're getting for your buck. Save the movies that have been on DVD for a year or more for cable.