Netflix will officially shut down its DVD-mailing business at the end of the month. But before the company closes the physical rental, it sent out its final batch of DVDs on September 29, and let its loyal customers keep them, along with any discs it still has.
For starters, Netflix started as a mail-based rental business in 1998. It was a huge success back then and even got a whopping 20 million subscribers at its peak in 2011. However, with its transition to streaming and its growing success, the DVD-by-mail service started to dwindle over the years.
So, as part of its final DVD shipments, it lets its clients get up to 10 iconic red envelopes. However, that is if they opted for its “finale surprise” promo, which offers to send up to 10 discs, selected from their queue. And though the service has no plans to charge its subscribers for not returning the DVDs, it says it will continuously accept disc returns until October 27 for those who still want to return them.
A Goodbye to Netflix’s Iconic Red Envelope
As an emotional goodbye, Netflix created a short video that showed the process of old DVD rentals. Fans could hear the familiar dial-up modem sounds and see the lo-fi graphics of computers back then as a subscriber tried to log into the service’s site to rent DVDs.
It also featured how the iconic red envelopes were made, packed, and delivered to every home’s mailbox. As the excited subscriber opened the envelope and played the disc, it gave a major nostalgia, transporting the viewers back to the old days. “Farewell to the era when Netflix came in the mail,” the video noted.
You can watch the video below:
Why is Netflix’s DVD-by-mail service closing?
In a blog post, Netflix’s Co-CEO Ted Sarandos admitted that the DVD business was continuously declining, making their goal to become the best service provider “increasingly difficult.” This service’s revenue is constantly seeing a 20% decrease year-over-year. In 2022, it only generated a profit of $145.7 million, just 0.5% of its total returns.
In total, Netflix got 40 million unique subscribers over the years and shipped out more than 5.2 billion DVDs. It even revealed that the first DVD it shipped was Beetlejuice in 1998 and its most popular title was The Blind Side.
That said, with the prevalence of streaming services today, with only a few opting for DVD rentals, it’s no surprise that this business will come to an end. Truly, this is the end of an era for everyone.
