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glatt · 07-15-2011, 11:24 AM

I was talking to my brother recently. Somehow he snagged a spot on a closed tour of a Netflix distribution facility.

Turns out Netflix's goal is to never store a DVD. If they store a disk, they lose money. So they have these robotic machines that open the return envelopes, pull out the DVDs in their sleeves, scan the bar code on that sleeve, remove the DVD from that sleeve, clean the DVD and check it for damage. The machine also checks to make sure the correct DVD is in the sleeve. If you accidentally put your own personal DVD in the sleeve, the machine keeps track of which envelope that DVD came from and who sent it in, so it will return your DVD to you.
If the returned DVD is in fine shape, it's put back into the inner sleeve, and a new envelope is addressed to the next recipient and the DVD is stuck in there to go off to the next person. The machine sorts these stuffed envelopes by zipcode as it is filling the orders so that Netflix can get the lower pre-sorted postage rate.

Netflix has apparently gotten so good at the shipping part of the business that they know which post offices lose mail, and they know which post offices are good. They probably have a better handle on the post office quality than the post office does. They apparently go into the bad post offices and show them how to do a better job and they have been getting in trouble for it because other mass marketers want to be able to train the post office to deliver their mail the way they want it to be delivered too.

07-15-2011, 11:24 AM	#4
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	I was talking to my brother recently. Somehow he snagged a spot on a closed tour of a Netflix distribution facility. Turns out Netflix's goal is to never store a DVD. If they store a disk, they lose money. So they have these robotic machines that open the return envelopes, pull out the DVDs in their sleeves, scan the bar code on that sleeve, remove the DVD from that sleeve, clean the DVD and check it for damage. The machine also checks to make sure the correct DVD is in the sleeve. If you accidentally put your own personal DVD in the sleeve, the machine keeps track of which envelope that DVD came from and who sent it in, so it will return your DVD to you. If the returned DVD is in fine shape, it's put back into the inner sleeve, and a new envelope is addressed to the next recipient and the DVD is stuck in there to go off to the next person. The machine sorts these stuffed envelopes by zipcode as it is filling the orders so that Netflix can get the lower pre-sorted postage rate. Netflix has apparently gotten so good at the shipping part of the business that they know which post offices lose mail, and they know which post offices are good. They probably have a better handle on the post office quality than the post office does. They apparently go into the bad post offices and show them how to do a better job and they have been getting in trouble for it because other mass marketers want to be able to train the post office to deliver their mail the way they want it to be delivered too.