Netflix Shipping on Saturdays (Again)

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Great news for Netflix customers. According the Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings, they’re beginning to test Saturday shipping during the first quarter of 2009 in “certain parts of the country.” This means if you send a disc back on a Friday, Netflix receives it on a Saturday and you could receive your next disc as soon as Monday. Assuming you’re lucky like me and close enough to a distribution center to get one day delivery. I’ll be trying it out this weekend to see if Kansas City has implemented this yet or not.

Check out more of Brent’s reflections on tech, gadgets, software and media at Geek Tonic.

13 thoughts on “Netflix Shipping on Saturdays (Again)”

  2. Yeah, I caught some of the UPSP budget deficit coverage. The postal system needs to be rethought. I wonder if they could save money by limiting hours (or days) post offices in small towns are open. And instead of canceling Saturday delivery (in some areas?) maybe they should cancel Monday. USPS kinda reminds me of Amtrak – they perpetually need to beg for money because they’re mandated to serve many areas… that are unprofitable. One of the articles I read blamed their shortfall on the recession, but I think it’s more likely that the 4% of reduced business is people paying bills and such online. Also, I haven’t shipped packages with USPS in years – the lines are long, the delivery times are slow, the rates aren’t good, the tracking is insufficient (unless you mess with filling out additional labels at an additional expense).

  3. I have to disagree with you, Dave: I only use USPS to ship. I have multiple post offices in my area (Detroit) with Automated Postal Centers and 24-hour lobbies, so there are NO lines to deal with. Granted, a really large box can’t be placed in those centers, but I almost never ship really large boxes.

    On the other hand, I tend to find FedEx and UPS to be pricier and much more difficult to deal with. Plus, one of the main family members I ship to lives in a very small town in the Rockies – and FedEx and UPS won’t deliver there (he is required to buy a P.O. box – they have no postal carriers – so the USPS is definitely regaining some of its cash in that regard).

    I personally think that USPS is one of the things we take completely for granted and I fear the day they, or something like them, were to disappear and we would be at the mercy of commercial services.

  4. USPS lost its value to us taxpayers decades ago. For 1/100th of the cost we could contract FedEx manage all postal mail. Like the domestic automakers, the USPS is a legacy money pit we have not been able to get rid of…but that may soon change. ;)

    Does anyone envision a drastic account price change in the near future? Netlix announces that people who still want postal delivery of physical media will pay quadruple the monthly fee, while digital downloads get a 50% reduction?

  5. @Todd: FedEx being able to manage anything would be a huge step forward for that company. I stay as far away from them as possible (I think I’ve shipped on thing with them in the past decade). And, to be dead honest, the USPS is much better value to the US taxpayer than, say, the Canadian postal service is to Canada. I was in Edmonton at a conference a little over two years ago and to send a simple post card back to the States would have cost over $3 USD. That’s something that would be unheard of here, even to send a postcard to another country.

    Again, we take the USPS for granted.

    All of that said, Chicago Tribune (via Lifehacker) is reporting that they will be cutting Tuesday, not Saturday: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-meltdown-post-office,0,4059136.story

  6. Personally it would be fine with me if USPS cancelled their Saturday delivery, its always been kind of an odd thing.

    I’m generally perfectly happy with my USPS service. My only real complaint is I wish they would change the stamp rate less often. How about just rounding it up to the next nickel?

  7. Wow, I never realized Netflix didn’t ship on Saturdays. That’s all I’m going to say because comments on HackingNetflix’s article are so good :)

  9. Love Netflix…

    I also like the USPS… they seem to be pretty dependable and all around easier to deal with then UPS or FedEx… I would not mind one, even two days less service… I don’t need anything that fast that isn’t internet delivered.

  10. I just noticed the Netflix shipping center near Dallas shipped me some movies on Saturday, May 30th. I’ve never gotten Saturday shipping before!

  12. I actually am having the opposite problem…I’ve had Netflix for over 4 years now and at first when I shipped a movie back on Friday, I got the new on Monday. I had the shipping down to an art! But sadly I’ve noticed now all of my Friday movie shipping doesn’t come until Tuesday. :(

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