fabgil joseph kharmaina
Sherry Galeazzi
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Those of you who subscribe to Netflix's DVD mail-order business have always had to return the rented discs to avoid being charged for them. But with the service soon to close its doors, Netflix will apparently look the other way if you choose to hang onto your remaining discs. And that doesn't include just one or two DVDs but potentially as many as 10.
In a Monday post published on X, formerly known as Twitter, Netflix said that it would not charge for any unreturned discs after September 29 and told subscribers to enjoy your final shipments for as long as you like. The post itself was an attempt to clarify what Netflix called all the "news headlines out there" that seemingly gave mixed messages over whether or not people had to return the discs following the demise of the service.
The confusion followed an announcement by Netflix that offered subscribers a chance to win as many as 10 extra discs shipped to them on the final day of the service. Visiting the Finale Surprise website and signing in with your Netflix DVD account automatically qualifies you, though there's no guarantee you'll be one of the lucky ones to receive all those DVDs.
This past April, Netflix broke the news that its familiar red-enveloped DVD service would end with the shipment of its final discs on September 29. Providing films and TV shows by mail for a quarter of a century, the DVD service was responsible for sending 5 billion DVD and Blu-ray rentals to customers since its inception in April of 1998.
But with faster and easier streaming options grabbing more business, Netflix found it increasingly difficult to justify the efforts put into the DVD rental trade. Revenue from the DVD service declined steadily over the years as the company steered customers toward the streaming plans. In 2022, Netflix's DVD rentals accounted for $145.7 million in sales (down 20% from 2021), representing just 0.5% of total revenue, according to an April story from Variety.
People accustomed to streaming their favorite entertainment whenever and wherever they like might question why in 2023 Netflix customers continued to rent DVDs by mail. As a classic film lover and someone who's subscribed to the service for years, I have a simple answer. So many great films, especially ones from the Golden Age, simply aren't available for streaming, either through Netflix or other services.
To quench my thirst for classic films, I subscribe to The Criterion Channel. I'm also a subscriber of Amazon Prime, which offers a fair selection of older movies for streaming, though most of them require a rental fee. I'd love to get TCM, but my limited cable package doesn't include it, and I'm willing to shell out only so much money on entertainment. That left Netflix DVDs as the best source for films, and not just older classics but newer releases.
I'll be sad to see the service fade into the sunset. I always looked forward to finding that red envelope from Netflix in the mail, knowing that a great film or TV show awaited me. But one small consolation is that I'll be able to keep my last few DVDs so I can watch and rewatch them whenever I want.
The film is set in a fast food restaurant in Ohio on a busy Friday night. The place is slammed, and the manager, naturally, has her hands full corralling workers and making sure customers are happy. What she didn't plan on was being the unwitting accomplice in an elaborate and sick prank. She receives a call from one of the perpetrators posing as a police officer. He tells her that one of her employees, a young woman, stole money from a customer. And to back it up, he claims that customer is right there with him, along with the restaurant's district manager.
While the restaurant manager is on the phone, the girl in question enters her office where she is asked to remain while her purse and pockets are searched. Nothing is found, so the "cop" asks the manager to strip-search the employee, rationalizing that it would be easier if she just did it there. That way, this whole thing could be taken care of much more quickly.
Needless to say, the manager is reluctant to do something like this, but she does it anyway. Making matters worse, more intense, and more frightening is the request from the prank perpetrator to have the girl remove her underwear after the strip search came up empty.
The escalation toward a horrifying conclusion is exacerbated by a third party, as requested by the man on the phone. Also, as the night gets busier, the manager must leave the girl WITH another employee.
It's not what I'd call a horror movie in the truest sense of the word, but I was more disturbed than I have been with most other horror movies I've seen...even after the second viewing.
In the actual incident, it was an assistant manager, but the rest of the movie is practically letter for letter how it happened. What followed was a trial and then massive lawsuits. This report looks back at that harrowing night. And while it contains no graphic imagery or language, it's very disturbing nonetheless:
Launched in 1998, the Netflix DVD queue service was introduced for a seamless experience instead of having to drive to the nearest shop for DVDs. People used to opt for this service and it was popular back then. With the changing time and altering needs of the business, Netflix recently decided to end this service. If you are not aware of this service, this post will enlighten you with all the details that you should know about queue DVD Netflix service. Keep reading to know more.
Earlier, Netflix used to have two different services: an online streaming service that users are familiar now and browse it through the www.netflix.com and apps. And, a DVD Netflix queue rental service via dvd.netflix.com, where the platform sent DVDs via mail. The Netflix queue DVD service offers some movies and TV shows that were not available on their streaming platform. Users had the ability to watch both Blu-rays and DVDs, and there were a few plans to select from depending on how many DVDs users needed to borrow.
Speaking of the Netflix DVD com queue feature, users used to receive between 1 to 3 discs at a time as per their plan. This means, whenever users are done with the DVD they rented, Netflix used to supply them with the next DVD, on time and free of charge, as long as they put the next movie or show they want to rent out on the Netflix.com DVD queue.
In April 2023, after more than 25 years since the launch of DVD queue on Netflix, Netflix announced the shutting down of its disc-mailing business for good by September 2023. Netflix also claimed that the last bill for the active users will be August 2023 and the DVD subscription will be cancelled automatically without users needing for Netflix DVD queue sign in.
In addition to this, Netflix also claimed that users will not be charged for any unreturned discs and users enjoy them for as long as they like without the Netflix DVD login process. Netflix claimed that shutting down the Netflix DVD service will help them better focus the resources as it grows into new markets such as gaming as well as interactive and live content.
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