Back in April, I signed up for Netflix. I let myself get talked into it, but I figured I would try it out for a while and see what happened.
So far, I’m a happy customer.
I’m on the three DVDs at a time plan right now. I started out with two, bumped it up to three, thought that might be excessive, then caught a bad cold and was stuck at home, very glad I had three movies to watch. According to FeedFlix, I’m spending an average of $1.26 per movie (both DVD and instant watch). Admittedly, that’s a bit high, especially since I was using Redbox to rent movies for $1. What happened? Well, I had three weeks in a row that were absolutely crazy and I then kept the same three movies for all three of those weeks. That raises the average cost a bit.
Of course, that’s where Netflix makes their money. I know people who have had one Netflix DVD for months because they never get around to watching that particular movie, but they still won’t return it. Why, I’m not sure. Perhaps they think they’re wasting the rental if they return without watching. Clearly, we see the flaw in that logic.
But even at $1.26 a movie, I’ve been very happy with my Netflix subscription. The turnaround rate is incredible. I dropped some DVDs in the mail on the way to work Monday morning and they will show up today. I’ve been able to watch a ton of movies on my “to see” list – both blockbusters and little indie flicks that are harder to find. I’ve also discovered some movies that I never expected to enjoy thanks to the Netflix recommendations.
Of course, now that the regular tv season is starting up again and my life is getting busier, I might not have the time I had to watch movies. I’m not a couch potato movie watcher – rather I turn one on and get chores done, like ironing and laundry folding, filing, budget updating, and pretty much anything else done on the computer. But with a DVR, I’m not sure I’m still going to get the use of my Netflix subscription that I did over the summer.
So we’ll see what happens. I’ve managed to set up a queue of over 200 movies/tv shows that I want to see, so this subscription might be sticking around for a while.
