One day you’ll be telling your kids your movies came in the mailbox, and they will laugh as they flip through their digital library.
After 25 years Netflix is announcing they are ending the mail service on DVD.com. The service was separated from the streaming branch a few years ago, but users could still pair up their subscriptions to get both streaming and physical copies of movies. This was a bit handy as newer movies, or shows, were harder to find on streaming platforms so it gave you an option to see both.
The final movies to be shipped out will be September 29th, and Netflix will accept returns until October 27th. Users won’t be billed for the service past August. According to the FAQ, the decision to end the service is to fulfil quality of service with dwindling support. What happens if you decide “to hell with it” and keep that last DVD? Who knows at this point.
It is unclear how many people still subscribe to the DVD service (which yes, includes Blu-ray’s) but we could see that the net profits of the branch went from $200 Million to just under $100 million since 2021. It was pretty clear Netflix has been phasing out the service with new subscriptions not even prompting the DVD side without searching for it.
Netflix started in 1997, and their streaming platform began in 2007, but Netflix CEO says the company wouldn’t be where it is today without the red envelopes. Quick note, the first ever shipped DVD was Beetlejuice!
“Those iconic red envelopes changed the way people watched shows and movies at home — and they paved the way for the shift to streaming,” he wrote. “To everyone who ever added a DVD to their queue or waited by the mailbox for a red envelope to arrive: thank you.”
25 years later, and 5.2 Billion DVDs shipped, the red envelopes will be nothing more than a “back in my day” story. Farewell Netflix by mail.
