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Lack of Saturday Mail Might Actually Help Netflix

Its postal bill will shrink, and people can't watch as many videos

By the Associated Press

Posted Feb 7, 2013 4:18 PM CST

(AP) – The Postal Service plan to eliminate Saturday home delivery probably won't hurt Netflix, one of its biggest customers, observes AP. That's because Netflix's postal bill will shrink and subscribers probably won't watch as many DVDs while paying the same monthly fee. The story might have been different if Saturday mail delivery had been cut a few years ago, when DVDs were still Netflix's main business. Now the company boasts far more Internet video-streaming subscribers. Investors drove Netflix shares to a new 16-month high yesterday after the USPS announced its cuts. (Too rosy of a view? A Forbes columnist thinks the move might force Netflix to become an all-streaming company.)

A Netflix envelope containing a DVD is clipped onto a mailbox, in Springfield, Ill.
A Netflix envelope containing a DVD is clipped onto a mailbox, in Springfield, Ill.   (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)
FILE-In this Jan. 24, 2007 file photo, Netflix customer Carleen Ho holds up DVD movies, Talladega Nights and Pirates of the Caribbean' that she rented from Netflix, at her home in Palo Alto, Calif. Netflix is more popular among couch potatoes than investors a year after its polarizing decision to...
FILE-In this Jan. 24, 2007 file photo, Netflix customer Carleen Ho holds up DVD movies, "Talladega Nights" and "Pirates of the Caribbean' that she rented from Netflix, at her home in Palo Alto, Calif....   (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, file)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 30 comments
loyalamerican
Feb 8, 2013 7:40 PM CST
"might help netflix"? It will help their bottom line greatly. It will slow down the turn around for sending out the next round you have on order. I was subscribed to them when I was sick a few years ago and would watch the new movies and send them back for the next round the next day. This worked well for a while and then delivery was slowed down by them by 2-3 days everytime. Their warehouse/mailing address was close to where I live, but with them paying postage both ways, they slowed it down with delays. That's called "throttleing" and they lost a suit for doing it nationwide.
HarryBeaver
Feb 8, 2013 6:58 AM CST
I gave up on Netflix when they stopped renting Betamax
DougMasters
Feb 7, 2013 7:02 PM CST
Maricopa county library > netflix Still to this day not a movie that I wanted I couldn't get.

Copyright 2013 Newser, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. AP contributed to this report.

 
Netflix • USPS • US Postal Service • Saturday mail delivery

 
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