I mean, really, post is something like $0.40 these days. Unless a postal service gives them a price break, the $2 DVD fee is entirely consumed by the cost of mailing you (and you sending back) 2.5 DVD's per month.
I mean, really, post is something like $0.40 these days. Unless a postal service gives them a price break, the $2 DVD fee is entirely consumed by the cost of mailing you (and you sending back) 2.5 DVD's per month.
I think they are being dishonest about their "bafflement" over the persistence of DVDs. I think the real reason is the quality of their streaming collection. There a few gems but it is filled with a lot of sub-par, unwanted, titles. I for example, have watched all the streaming videos I want for a while. Now I am just waiting for the new ones to appear and watching real DVDs I get in the mail.
But to give them the benefit of the doubt, it would be interesting to see how they determined that streaming just isn't that popular. They could have judged by the total # of subscribers that have ever setup or watched a streaming title? The best way would be if they focused on titles offered both in streaming and non-streaming form, then investigated which form people actually choose.
I got a Roku for them a few years ago to make it easier for them to stream. Last time I was there I noticed it was gone. When I asked about it they said that once they got a new TV they didn't really want to set it up and gave it to my sister (I didn't take any offense, and at least it's being used now).
I actually enjoyed it since it was a good reminder of how everyone has a threshold for the new/innovative/convenient vs. the familiar/comfortable.
The way it works is if you send enough mail to the same zip code, then you pay a certain discount (a few cents per mail piece) if you package all of that mail together. The amount of the discount varies depending on if you sort by 5 digit zip code, or just 3 digit zip code prefix.
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/11/30/ne...
This is a bit outdated, but I couldn't find anything that indicates this problem has been fixed (if anyone is aware of that, please let me know).