Oh noes! How will I ever afford this!?!

[trinityvixen]

Netflix is raising its prices for DVD-and-streaming plans in the wake of announcing a streaming-only plan. My plan is going up!

...by one dollar.

Netflix, I don't know how you continue to make a profit by being both scrupulously honest with your customers, helpful, and pre-emptive when it comes to complaints (There was a service outage? Don't hate us! Here's 2% off your bill! Even if you weren't trying to stream!), but I think I love you.

I guess I could halve my bill by getting streaming only, but I honestly rent too damn many DVDs to do that. And I like having the option not to be totally beholden to an internet connection to make the most of my service.

But seriously: Netflix, I love you. Even when you make me pay more, I love you. You are doing everything right.

Comments

[six-demon-bag.livejournal.com]

My plan is going up by $3, but that's okay 'cause I always rounded up to the nearest $5 when budgeting, so I don't have to re-budget at all. And besides, it's just $3.

In the year or so I've had it, I've fallen more deeply in love with Netflix with each contact. They really are doing everything right.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, someone pointed out that the more DVD plans were going up by more. Well, if needs be, you can always drop to the 2-at-a-time plan. That would even save you money!

[six-demon-bag.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, I could and I really don't NEED three DVD's at a time, seeing as how I sometimes hold onto one or two for over a month without watching them. BUT! It's really nice to have a little selection when picking what to watch and it's only $5, which I'm sure to blow on something even less important.

[saturn-shumba.livejournal.com]

Wait...I'm already paying 14.99 for two DVD's at a time. *is confused*

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I get a bill for my current service that comes out to roughly $15. But I assumed that was with tax and the like, since $13.99 is basically $14, and then a little extra tacked on would make it $15.

[moonlightalice.livejournal.com]

My bill is going up $3, which sucks, so I'm going to cut it down to 1 DVD at a time. Way to cost yourselves $8/mo, Netflix... ugh.

I don't see how adding a service I don't subscribe to should affect my bill by almost 20%.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

You shouldn't have been getting the three-at-a-time plan anyway, given how ::ahem:: frequently you actually watch those movies. :P

All kidding aside, I think that it's the best way they could resolve the situation. It's easiest from their end to make streaming part of every account by default than to create an opt-out option (that people, if they were determined, could get around anyway). They are probably also seeing such high increases in demand for streaming, that it makes more sense to cater to that crowd than the folks who use the DVDs as their primary content.

Basically, they're offering you more ways to get the most out of your Netflix account, and, to offset that, the DVD plans are costing a little more. As corporate moves go, this is sensible and justified. And I think they're banking on some people doing as you are, and dropping their plans down--they must be, or they wouldn't offer the half-as-expensive streaming-only plan as part of this news--and yet they did this anyway. I'm sure that, in the long run, they're saving themselves money. (I suspect that the DVD-mailing operation is most expensive versus the streaming.)

[moonlightalice.livejournal.com]

The multiple movies has nothing to do with how frequently I watch them (it's not a race), but with having more than one option for something to watch. It was also indispensable for watching TV shows and wanting more than 4 episodes at a time. I don't watch nearly as many movies as I used to at this point and when I do I tend to watch streaming, so I had been considering changing anyway, but this definitely makes the decision for me.

And they're not offering me any way whatsoever to "get the most" out of my Netflix account. I'm already getting what I want and nothing is changing for my service except the price. I think $20/mo is just too damn high for pretty much anything at this point, and it's ridiculous that they would raise the price by 20% with absolutely no service increase to me. Why do DVD-watchers have to make up the shortfall for instant viewers?

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Why do DVD-watchers have to make up the shortfall for instant viewers?

The obvious answer, to me, would be that without the extra being paid by the DVD-watchers, we wouldn't be able to have the buffet-style, all-you-can-eat streaming. It costs money to be able to stream all that stuff, and people stream indiscriminately such that they can get twice or three times (or more) as many hours of content as they could physically get through DVD. There are no limitations on that. The option then becomes do you charge a shit-ton for the streaming (or worse: pay-by-film or cap the streaming), or do you add on to the accounts most people have anyway? I get why they did it.

Also, "raising the price by 20%" sounds a lot worse than it is when you look at how cheap (relatively speaking) Netflix is. I also don't think that $20/month is too much for what Netflix offers. I am biased, I admit, by knowing what Blockbuster used to charge, but, really? Compared to cable? Compared to going out to see all those movies in theaters or buying them on DVD? I'll take the $20/month. Netflix probably saves me that much a month by not making me buy/rent elsewhere.