Posted by Derek Janssen on 02/11/06 17:59

root wrote:
> What if Netflix offered an alternative plan where the customer
> paid postage both ways? For the 3-out plan the alternative
> should cost less than the current $18 or so. How much would
> you be willing to pay Netflix if you also had to pay the
> postage but there were no throttling delays?

How about "If they're THAT impatient to watch Their Movie, let 'em eat
Blockbuster."

(And maybe I should offer a little perspective, here:
It's been two months since I moved into my new place, and for one reason
or another, the cable guys *still* haven't installed the jack as
contracted, let alone hook it up....We're still working on that one.
The current upshot is that there is no broadcast in my neck of the
woods, and I haven't watched the evening news since 2005: Either I
watch Netflix, I dig something out of my wine-cellar shelf, or my set
literally goes dark.

Now...you'd think--I mean, WOULDN'T you, now?...that I would be the
*first* to champion the Holy Customers' right to demand everything they
want, when they want it, and that Big Ol' Rich Corporations are being
mean just because they won't give us an ice cream cone and a pony.
But--wonder of wonders--for some odd reason, I've actually been
*tolerant* of how a corporation operates its business strategy, and
trying to look past my own bloated self-justifying ego to suggest that
maybe what happens happens for an incorporated, profit-balancing reason.
Well, a reason besides "they're mean and greedy", seeing as I
graduated Seneca County Elementary School some years ago.

Why am I philosophical about it?--I'm not too sure. Maybe I'm just a
nice person. Maybe I know how complex businesses are to operate on a
national scale, despite never having CEO'ed one myself.
Or maybe I just still WANT there to be a Netflix a year from now, just
in case the cable guys *still* haven't shown up yet.) :)

Derek Janssen (Aspect of Maturity, #27: Being able to balance one's
needs, without blaming symbolic authority figures)
ejanss@comcast.net

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