"Very Long Wait", "Long Wait" - The New Release New Norm

[Waba]

How many others are getting caught in Netflix's cost cutting measures and seeing new releases with "Very Long Wait" and "Long Wait" as their status? Outside of 'Speed Racer' and 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' I haven't received any popular (subject to interpretation). Currently I have:

'Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian'
'Wanted'
'WALL-E'
'Kung Fu Panda'
'The Happening'
'Tropic Thunder'
'Hancock'

I have a friend I converted to a Netflix fan who has pushed his discs down to just one "for old movies" since he can't get new releases in a timely manner.

I called customer service about the issue and they said they suspect this is because they have closed their used disc store.

Netflix loses much of its appeal if you can't get the movies you want is a timely fashion. Should they not have enough copies to satisfy their customers within a month? ('Kung Fu Panda' & 'Tropic Thunder') Isn't two months too long? ('The Happening').

I've giving this until after the holidays before I found my friend - if I don't just suspend my account all together.

[ColdOne]

Nope. If you don't care about how the business works and are unwilling to take advice on how to get the most out of your service then you can just walk away.

Good luck to you.

[Steve Anness]

I can understand new releases have a long wait. But what about when a movie has had a long wait for so many months? For instance the first three disks of ER season 1. I keep putting stuff ahead of it because the first three disks have a "Very Long Wait" status. You would think after six months they would order more copies.

Why did they get rid of the used DVD store? I would think that if they were able to obtain more copies of ER season 1 and satisfy the people who want the first three disks, if for some reason after a few months the demand went down they would be able to sell the disks.

Anyhow, I am not faulting NetFlix as doing anything wrong. I rarely have any issues, and if I really wanted those disks I could go buy them. I am willing to wait, I just wish I didn't have to wait so long.

[I'm Not a Turnip]

I have suspicions that the studios put pressure on Netflix to close the store. For example, Universal Home Studios is currently prohibiting distributors from providing any U.H.S. movie to Redbox. Universal wants to prevent Redbox from renting their DVDs for 45 days after the public release, limit how many of their DVDs are in each kiosk, and require Redbox to destroy, rather than sell, previously-viewed DVDs. I wonder if similar demands were presented to NF - perhaps even from studios other than Universal.

[ColdOne]

The dynamics for series discs are different than for individual discs. The demand for the first disc is almost always much greater than that of the second (and that of the third, ...). That problem is compounded by there being more wear-and-tear on those first discs and a subsequent relative abundance of all the other discs.

However, studios will not typically sell Netflix copies of just the first or second discs in a series. If the series is relatively cheap (as it appears to be for ER) then Netflix can just buy extra copies and throw away the later discs, but for many series it is just not cost effective to do that and longer waits are to be expected.

In the case of ER 1, it's a puzzlement. The series has been out for many years and it still seems to be available for purchase to consumers. Sometimes Netflix claims that there aren't enough copies for them to buy in bulk (presumably at discounted prices), but it seems pretty lame that for something like this they don't just order 100 copies from Amazon and put them out there. Perhaps there is some legal reason they can't, but as a practical matter it seems like an obvious win.

[Steve Anness]

Yeah, I will probably end up just buying the first three seasons since I want them anyways.

Needless to say I love my NF account and have plenty other things to watch from them.

[Kaotikitty]

I would suggest you don't keep putting stuff in front of those discs - you never know when you'll return something and it will coincide with someone returning that ER disc, and Netflix will send it to you. Do, however, put several "available now" titles between the discs so they aren't sent out of order.