USPS vs. Netflix

Friday, October 7th, 2005

A week or so ago I noticed that one of our DVDs from Netflix was taking much longer than usual to arrive. After almost two weeks had passed from the time when it was shipped, I assumed it had been lost/stolen in the mail and was about to send a lost disc report to Netflix. Just before I did, it finally arrived:

USPS damage

In this second picture, you can see the sincere apology the USPS offered for the damage. This is really how we received it, packing tape and all.

USPS damage

I sent in a damage disc report and for proof (and amusement) mailed Netflix the DVD just as I received it. The return mailer was obviously useless, so I had to stuff the whole thing, both disc and mailer, into a regular envelope with a note explaining that this really is how I received it. A few days later I got this reply:

From: customerservice@netflix.com
Subject: damaged DVD
 
Dear Kenn,
 
We are sorry to hear you had a DVD damaged in the mail. 
For future reference you do not need to mail it to us to 
specifically show you did not damage it, we will believe 
you.

After watching the replacement disc Netflix sent, I decided that maybe the USPS was trying to warn us. As Sarai said, “I liked this movie better when it was called Swingers and the characters were at least somewhat likeable”.

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Comments

kscaldef
October 7, 2005

The Netflix business model has always seemed a little worrisome to me. I mean, essentially they are mailing 20 dollar bills around the country in easily recognizable envelopes. Personally, I had a couple discs disappear in transit when I was a member.

angeldye
October 7, 2005

we had 2 disks stolen from the HQ mailboxes back when the fucking mailman was leaving them open. We freaked out about having to tell netflix, but were quite relieved + shocked that this shit happens all the time.

I do believe that was a warning though. I haven’t seen the movie, but if any indication to the fact that my store had 20 copies and we didn’t sell one… (and we sell a lot of DVD’s) means the movie is BAD!

kchrist
October 7, 2005

I’ve always wondered about their theft numbers myself but, surprisingly, I’ve never had a disc go missing. I’ve had a few show up damaged (but never as damaged as this one!) but that’s about the extent of the problems I’ve had.