Topic: The Problem with GameFly

[UltimatePartyBear]

The Wikipedia article on Netflix claims there are over 100 distribution centers, citing this page, which claims there are over 50.  Yeah.

Fun story on how much Blockbuster just doesn't get movies.

Blockbuster's CEO may not be a fan of old movies, but he's probably right about weighting supply towards new releases.  However, trying to claim that a larger catalog isn't a selling point is some of the most pathetic spin I've ever seen.

[RABicle]

Last Monday, I returned my first game, Gears of War, and began eagerly awaiting the next one on my queue, Indigo Prophecy.  I got notice of the exchange on Friday and received the new game today, Monday.  So the turnaround time has improved from ten days to only seven.  This is still totally inadequate considering that I'm paying by the month.

That was your mistake RIGHT THERE. That game is a fucking disaster.

[Jonnyboy117]

I'll have a lot more to say about Indigo Prophecy on next week's RFN and maybe a blog post too.  It's a fascinating, truly unique game.  I'm not very far yet but I'm enjoying it so far.

[RABicle]

Please please play it all before you say anything publicly about it. It's a pretty short game, I finished it over a weekend.

[Jonnyboy117]

I plan to play it much more between now and Monday (when we record RFN).  But even if the story falls apart later on, the premise and execution are more than noteworthy.

[Djunknown]

Could you theoretically go/drive to the distribution center if you're within range? While that might defeat the purpose of having the games coming to you, why not have that as an option if you don't want to wait 5+ days.

For example: I'm in the greater Detroit area and placed an order. I have an option to go the center, with a slip or something saying I'm here to pick up a rental. They look it up, give it me, and play it until I'm ready to return it, by mail or drop-off. Anything wrong with this model?

[UltimatePartyBear]

That would partially defeat the economy of scale they have going for them.  I don't know exactly how GameFly does it, but generally a shipping center is basically a great big warehouse.  Workers don't go get one game at a time for each order.  They get an organized list based on a hundred different orders to minimize the amount of wandering around the aisles they have to do.  So if you walked in and asked for a particular game, somebody would have to go find it for you right then rather than waiting for the opportunity to grab it on an efficient route through the warehouse.  This would slow everything down, and time is money.  I'm sure GameFly's on a razor thin margin as it is.  They'd also need to build and maintain a customer service desk and hire more people to work at it.

It might be beneficial if they allowed you to just drop off, since that would credit you for the return faster and get your next one sent out that much sooner, but it wouldn't save GameFly any money since they already paid the postage for you to mail it back.  They'd still have to build a drop off point for you, too.

[Jonnyboy117]

Actually, business reply mail isn't charged postage until it enters the postal system.  I recently got a charity solicitation in the mail, and the return envolope was "postage will be paid by addressee".  But it also had a message for me: "Use your own stamp to increase your donation!"  In other words, you have the option of saving them the cost of postage if you put your own stamp on there.  I would think it works the same with all business reply mail.

[Pale]

http://www.netflix.com/FAQ?p_faqid=145


Q:
Where are Netflix's distribution centers located?
A:
Here are some of the metropolitan areas where we have distribution centers:

    * Atlanta
    * Boston
    * Dallas
    * Denver
    * Detroit
    * Fort Lauderdale
    * Houston
    * Los Angeles
    * Minneapolis
    * New York
    * Newark
    * Phoenix
    * Philadelphia
    * Portland
    * San Jose
    * Stamford
    * Seattle
    * Washington, DC

I guess it just says "some", so they do have more than the ones listed here.  This is the list that I counted for my blog post.

Yeah, that's definitely not all of them.  My movies get delivered to and arrive from a PO box at the Rochester Post Office I regularly visit to ship games.  I often wonder if I should just start dropping them off.

[Halbred]

We have one here in Anchorage, too. Finally.