On June 23, 2010, Netflix's Chief Service and DVD Operations Officer, Andrew Rendich spoke before a Congressional hearing in support of the United States Postal Service's desire to reduce mail service by eliminating Saturday deliveries.
This is a good time to ask what Netflix's priorities really are. Netflix is a company whose existence is largely based on residential mail delivery. Sure, some Netflix subscribers have moved to downloads, but millions of subscribers still receive all or most of their movies through the USPS. If Netflix was primarily concerned about meeting the needs of their customers, they would be horrified by the prospect of the USPS cutting back on delivery days. Instead, Netflix is actively supporting reductions in postal service.
Here is one likely reason why. If the USPS eliminates Saturday mail deliveries, average mail transit times are going to increase. It's simple. Under the proposed Monday through Friday delivery schedule, whatever mail you should have received on Saturday will arrive on the following Monday or later. Even worse, that DVD you watch on a Friday night will no longer be able to go out in the Saturday morning mail and get back to Netflix on Monday. Under the new plan, unless you go to a lot of extra trouble, Monday will be your first chance to mail that DVD back to Netflix. Who knows when Netflix will actually check in that DVD and send out a new one? If that new DVD does not happen to get to you by Friday, you will just have to wait until Monday to watch it. It will be a frustrating cycle.
This change will increase significantly the turnaround times on your account. Essentially, you will be paying the same monthly subscription fee, but you will be getting less DVDs per month. Here's the best part. Netflix gets to blame the whole reduction in service on a lazy, slow, and inefficient postal service. The elimination of Saturday delivery is a dream come true for Netflix. It is no wonder they are marching into DC and supporting the measure before Congress.
Showing posts with label post office. Show all posts
Showing posts with label post office. Show all posts
3/22/2009
Netflix Once Blamed USPS, Now They Blame ISPs
Netflix’s Chief Product Officer, Neil Hunt, has addressed Netflix streaming content problems on The Netflix Blog.
Many subscribers are suspicious that Netflix is throttling streaming content for heavy users. Netflix is flatly denying this practice, but the company has no credibility, because they have abused subscribers through throttling before and denied it.
Netflix’s denials of throttling streaming content are somewhat like the denials they used when they lied about their practice of throttling through the mail. Netflix used to blame USPS for the check-in and shipping delays for DVDs. We later discovered the fault largely did not rest with USPS, and the delays were mostly due to Netflix. Now that Netflix is being accused of throttling streaming content, Netflix is blaming the ISPs for the delays. First they blamed USPS, now they are blaming ISPs. We found out USPS was mostly innocent. What we will find out about the ISPs?
As of now, Netflix is on record as officially denying the practice of throttling streaming content for some users. If someone later finds Netflix is lying, there will probably be more lawsuits and ill will toward Netflix.
By the way, Neil Hunt’s most infuriating point in Netflix’s denial is that Netflix “hopes” to solve the streaming content problem by the end of the year. Why is this not a higher priority for Netflix? Netflix should be talking about having this resolved by the end of April.
Many subscribers are suspicious that Netflix is throttling streaming content for heavy users. Netflix is flatly denying this practice, but the company has no credibility, because they have abused subscribers through throttling before and denied it.
Netflix’s denials of throttling streaming content are somewhat like the denials they used when they lied about their practice of throttling through the mail. Netflix used to blame USPS for the check-in and shipping delays for DVDs. We later discovered the fault largely did not rest with USPS, and the delays were mostly due to Netflix. Now that Netflix is being accused of throttling streaming content, Netflix is blaming the ISPs for the delays. First they blamed USPS, now they are blaming ISPs. We found out USPS was mostly innocent. What we will find out about the ISPs?
As of now, Netflix is on record as officially denying the practice of throttling streaming content for some users. If someone later finds Netflix is lying, there will probably be more lawsuits and ill will toward Netflix.
By the way, Neil Hunt’s most infuriating point in Netflix’s denial is that Netflix “hopes” to solve the streaming content problem by the end of the year. Why is this not a higher priority for Netflix? Netflix should be talking about having this resolved by the end of April.
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