I’ve posted about Netflix many times over the past two years. Why? Because Merrin and I LOVE Netflix. It’s quite simply the best & easiest DVD rental service available – bar none. Allow me to explain:
We used to rent DVDs from Blockbuster. They had an OK selection of new releases, but almost nothing to choose from as far as classic movies. If something had come out before 2001, forget it – no can do. That sucked. Another thing that totally sucked? Late fees. Invariably we wouldn’t have time to watch the DVDs or wouldn’t have time to return the DVDs. What did that mean? Plenty of Blockbuster late fees. So, your average $4.00 rental would end up costing $10. It sucked.
Then, along came Netflix. It almost seemed to good to be true. For $13/month, we could pick from thousand of movies and keep them as long as we wanted to. No late fees, no stupid computerized Blockbuster “you’re late” phone calls, no arguments with the Blockbuster clerk telling me that some movie from six weeks ago was four minutes late. In short, Netflix was nirvana.
No late fees is definitely a Netflix plus. But another is the website. It’s really easy to use and gives you quick access to the “queue” of movies that you have in selected for future viewing. But the really cool part are the recommendations. You rate every movie you watch (if you want to) and it will custom suggest other movies you may like. Kinda like Tivo. Awesome!
Today, we’ve been Netflix subscribers for about a year. I’m glad to report that we have never had a single problem with Netflix.
So, how does Netflix work? Glad you asked.
Step one is, of course, sign up at Netflix for an account. You decide how many movies you want to have at your house at once. The more you want to have out at once, the more expensive the monthly fees. Generally the account fees (which are monthly) range from about $13 – $25. That’s it. There are no other fees. No late fees (ever!) and postage to send/receive the movies is all paid by Netflix.
Second, select the movies you’d like to rent. These are added to your “queue”. Since you’ve already told Netflix how many movies you want to have at your house at any time, it will send you the selections from your queue just as soon as you return your other movies. For example, if you like to have four movies at your house, Netflix will send you the first four movies in your queue when you sign up. Then, as you return each one in the pre-paid envelope, Netflix will mail you another movie from your queue.
That’s about it, really. No muss, no fuss. The movies come in the regular USPS mail. You get an email from Netflix telling you what movie is being sent and when to expect it. When you send it back, you get an email that it was received and Netflix asks you to rate that movie. That’s how it starts to build your personalized suggestions.
Our rental history shows that we’ve rented about 85 movies over the past year. Honestly, that’s a lot more than we ever would have rented if we still belonged to Blockbuster. Why? Simple finances really.
One year of Netflix costs us about $150. That’s roughly $1.75 movie. If we had rented the same number of DVDs from Blockbuster (assuming they even had all the movies we rented!), it would have cost at least $335. That doesn’t even begin to include the late fees!
So, why have I been mentioning Netflix so much in this post. Two simple reasons:
#1 – NETFLIX ROCKS. It’s a great service and you should try it out.
#2 – If you sign up from my website, I get a little something extra in my Netflix account. And, I love getting a little something extra, don’t you?!
Anyway, that’s my pitch. Now go sign up!