NetflixB次元官网网址檚 trailblazing DVD-by-mail rental service has been relegated as a relic in the age of video streaming, but there is still a steady B次元官网网址� albeit shrinking B次元官网网址� audience of diehards like Amanda Konkle who are happily paying to receive those discs in the iconic red-and-white envelopes.

B次元官网网址淲hen you open your mailbox, itB次元官网网址檚 still something you actually want instead of just bills,B次元官网网址� said Konkle, a resident of Savannah, Georgia, who has been subscribing to NetflixB次元官网网址檚 DVD-by-mail service since 2005.

ItB次元官网网址檚 a small pleasure that Konkle and other still-dedicated DVD subscribers enjoy but itB次元官网网址檚 not clear for how much longer. Netflix declined to comment for this story but during a , co-founder and co-CEO of Netflix Reed Hastings suggested the DVD-by-mail service might close around 2023.

When B次元官网网址� not if B次元官网网址� it happens, Netflix will shut down a service that has shipped more than 5 billion discs across the U.S. since its inception nearly a quarter century ago. And it will echo the downfall of the thousands of Blockbuster video rental stores that closed because they couldnB次元官网网址檛 counter the threat posed by NetflixB次元官网网址檚 DVD-by-mail alternative.

The eventual demise of its DVD-by-mail service has been inevitable since Hastings decided to spin it off from a then-nascent video streaming service in 2011. Back then, Hastings floated the idea of renaming the service as Qwikster B次元官网网址� a bungled idea that was so widely ridiculed that it was It finally settled on its current, more prosaic handle, DVD.com. The operation is now based in non-descript office in Fremont, California, located about 20 miles from NetflixB次元官网网址檚 sleek campus in Los Gatos, California.

Shortly before breakup from video streaming, the DVD-by-mail service boasted more than 16 million subscribers, a number that has now dwindled to an estimated 1.5 million subscribers, all in the U.S., based on calculations drawn from NetflixB次元官网网址檚 limited disclosures of the service in its quarterly reports. NetflixB次元官网网址檚 video streaming service now boasts 223 million worldwide subscribers, including 74 million in the U.S. and Canada.

B次元官网网址淭he DVD-by-mail business has bequeathed the Netflix that everyone now knows and watches today,B次元官网网址� Marc Randolph, NetflixB次元官网网址檚 original CEO, said during an interview at a coffee shop located across the street from the post office in Santa Cruz, California.

The 110-year-old post office has become a landmark in Silicon Valley history because itB次元官网网址檚 where Randolph mailed a Patsy Cline CD to Hastings in 1997 to test whether a disc could be delivered through the U.S. Postal Service without being damaged.

The disc arrived at HastingsB次元官网网址� home unblemished, prompting the duo in 1998 to launch a DVD-by-mail rental website that they always knew would be supplanted by even more convenient technology.

B次元官网网址淚t was planned obsolescence, but our bet was that it would take longer for it to happen than most people thought at the time,B次元官网网址� Randolph said.

With NetflixB次元官网网址檚 successful streaming service, it might be easy to assume that anyone still paying to receive DVDs through the mail is a technophobe or someone living in a remote part of the U.S. without reliable internet access. But subscribers say they stick with the service so they can rent movies that are otherwise difficult to find on streaming services.

For Michael Fusco, 35, that includes the 1986 film B次元官网网址淧owerB次元官网网址� starring a then-youthful Richard Gere and Denzel Washington, and 1980B次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淭he Big Red OneB次元官网网址� starring Lee Marvin. ThatB次元官网网址檚 among the main reasons he has been subscribing to the DVD-by-service since 2006 when he was just a freshman in college, and he has no plans to cancel it now.

B次元官网网址淚 have been getting it for almost half my life, and it has been a big part,B次元官网网址� Fusco said. B次元官网网址淲hen I was young, it helped me discover voices I probably wouldnB次元官网网址檛 have heard. I still have memories of getting movies and having them blow my mind.B次元官网网址�

Tabetha Neumann is among the subscribers who rediscovered the DVD service during the throes of the pandemic lockdowns in 2020 after running out of things to watch on her video streaming service. So she and her husband signed up again for the first time since canceling in 2011. Now they like it so much that they get the a plan that allows them to keep up to three discs at a time, an option that currently costs $20 per month (compared to $10 per month for the one-disc plan).

B次元官网网址淲hen we started going through all the movies we wanted to see, we realized it was cheaper than paying $5 per movie on some streaming services,B次元官网网址� Neumann said. B次元官网网址淧lus we have found a lot of old horror movies, and that genre is not really big on streaming.B次元官网网址�

Konkle, who has written a book about Marilyn MonroeB次元官网网址檚 films, says she still finds movies on the DVD service B次元官网网址� such as the 1954 film B次元官网网址淐attle Queen of Montana,B次元官网网址� featuring future U.S. President Ronald Reagan alongside Barbara Stanwyck and the 1983 French film B次元官网网址淪ugar Cane AlleyB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� that help her teach her film studies classes as an associate professor at Georgia Southern University. ItB次元官网网址檚 a viewing habit she doesnB次元官网网址檛 usually share with her classes because B次元官网网址渕ost of my students donB次元官网网址檛 know what a DVD is,B次元官网网址� said Konkle, 40, laughing.

But for all the DVD serviceB次元官网网址檚 attractions, subscribers are starting to notice signs of deterioration as the business has shrunk from producing more than $1 billion in annual revenue a year ago to an amount likely to fall below $200 million in revenue this year.

Katie Cardinale, a subscriber who lives in Hopedale, Massachusetts, says she now has to wait an additional two to four days for discs to arrive in the mail than she used to because they are shipped from a distribution center in New Jersey instead of Boston. (Netflix doesnB次元官网网址檛 disclose how many DVD distribution centers still operate, but there were once about 50 of them in the U.S.).

Konkle says more discs now come with cracks or other defects in them and it takes B次元官网网址渇oreverB次元官网网址� to get them replaced. And almost all subscribers have noticed the selection of DVD titles has shrunk dramatically from the serviceB次元官网网址檚 peak years when Netflix boasted it had more than 100,000 different movies and TV shows on disc.

Netflix no longer discloses the size of its DVD library, but the subscribers interviewed by the AP all reported the narrowing selection is making it more difficult to find famous films and popular TV series that once were routinely available on the service. Instead, Netflix now sorts requests for titles such as the first season of the award-winning B次元官网网址淭ed LassoB次元官网网址� series B次元官网网址� a release that can be purchased on DVD B次元官网网址� into a B次元官网网址渟avedB次元官网网址� queue, signaling it may decide to stock it in the future, depending on demand.

Knowing the end is in sight, Randolph said he will lament the death of the DVD service he brought to life while taking comfort its legacy will survive.

B次元官网网址淣etflixB次元官网网址檚 DVD business was part-and-parcel of who Netflix was and still is,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 embedded in the companyB次元官网网址檚 DNA.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址擬ichael Liedtke, The Associated Press