Netflix
Netflix – The Pros and Cons of the Online Movie Rental Service
In particular, the video-rental giant Netflix, now a household name across America, has revolutionized the nature in which a person is able to rent a movie; providing an online service offering unlimited rentals for one flat monthly rate and no late fees. With delivery and returns provided by the US Postal Service via pre-stamped envelopes, Netflix has become an economical, no-brainer for voracious movie watchers across the nation. Many seem like the offer seems to good to be true, while others don’t see a problem with the traditional method of visiting a video store to rent a movie. Pro: Price – The cost of Netflix is without a doubt the cheapest way of going about renting movies, especially if you watch more then three movies a week. I divided the number of movies I watched that first month by the flat rate of $16.99 (three movies at a time) and it came out to 87 cents per movie, which if you’ll note, is also cheaper then the $1 price of the popular and competing Redbox. Now if I watched that same amount of movies by renting them from a video store at the average price of $4 a rental, it would have cost me around $80. I’m sorry but that my friends is a steal and by far the biggest pro of Netflix. With a movie library that offers over 100,000 different titles, Netflix has by far the biggest variety of films to choose from.
Pro: Convenience – “No Late Fees,” Netflix knows that this statement is by far their biggest selling point and that is obviously why it is splattered all over their advertisements and commercials. Commuting to and from the video store is also eliminated.
Con: New Releases – I started off with the biggest pro of Netflix and here is by far the biggest con. It’s a popular complaint from users that Netflix has found rather difficult to address. A movie’s most popular rental period is in the first 30 days of it being released on DVD, and even though Netflix has increased supply of the most popular titles being released every week, it is not financially smart for the company to match the demand due to the fact that interest in the title will slowly fade.
Con: Stuck Without Movies – Depending on what package you sign up for with Netflix (anywhere from 1-8 movies at a time), there will most likely be instances where you will not have a movie at home on a night when staying in, making some butter-coated popcorn and watching a flick is all you feel like doing.
Con: Video Store Blues – Any avid moviegoer or film buff will tell you that there is an unexplainable, almost majestic like quality to visiting a video store. You enjoy walking through the aisles of new releases, comedies or horror movies and reading the back of the covers and making your selection. Before joining Netflix, I frequented video stores on a very regular basis and I must say that there is a very nostalgic, if not organic experience to visiting a video store that is lacking with Netflix. I personally have remedied many of these cons myself by designating Netflix as my primary source of renting movies but when I find myself in a situation as explained above in the second con or when there is a new release I really want to see and Netflix stamped it with a “Very Long Wait,” I look forward to going to the video store and renting one or two movies every month. Therefore, I still get all the perks of using Netflix but at the same time, don’t give up on the video store completely. So there you have it, the top three pros and cons of using Netflix. Now, I don’t know how many times my argument has actually persuaded someone to give up on video stores and jump on the Netflix bandwagon but I will tell you this, if you are anything like me and watching movies takes up a significant part of your past time, Netflix is by far your best option and what you should be using to rent movies. The selection and convenience is unmatched an the money you’ll save by using Netflix will hopefully allow you to break even with all of the late fees you have been forced to pay over the years.
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