this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2023
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The last disc will be shipped on September 29th 2023 after 25 years of service.

After an incredible 25 year run, we've made the difficult decision to wind down at the end of September. Our goal has always been to provide the best service for our members, but as the DVD business continues to shrink, that's going to become increasingly difficult. Making 2023 our Final Season allows us to maintain our quality of service through the last day and go out on a high note.

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[–] Kramgr 105 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I was a little disappointed when they notified me of the shutdown, then I started using the public library for DVDs. Great selection, I can get a lot more out at one time, and the discs are in much better shape. And free. Yes I know about taxes.

[–] [email protected] 65 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I doubt you’re going to get the same pedantry you would get on Reddit here, about taxes. I think the majority of Lemmy users are educated and lean left politically

[–] 21kondav 34 points 1 year ago (1 children)

For now. They’ll be coming soon lol

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I doubt it, honestly. The people who are still pissy over at reddit don't actually want to leave unless they're presented with a reddit clone that has both a fully developed app and a huge userbase. Maybe in a year things will be different, but we'll see.

[–] patachu 9 points 1 year ago

The people who are still pissy over at reddit don’t actually want to leave unless they’re presented with a reddit clone that has both a fully developed app and a huge userbase.

"Now introducing ... Zuccit, brought to you by Meta"

[–] 21kondav 5 points 1 year ago

Well i just learned that lemmy even existed yesterday. So it’s still moving through the grape vine

[–] PalmTreeIsBestTree 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I am using a Lemmy app on IOS that is a clone of Apollo.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago

The library is an underrated resource when it comes to dvd rental. Damn though, I had no idea Netflix still distributed physical media. Props, I guess. I'm shocked they stayed in the game this long

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[–] FlyingSquid 42 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm on a forum which includes a lot of fans of classic films and they're really sad about this because they still use it to get films they haven't seen before and there's not a good alternative other than spending a lot more money to buy them individually.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What forum?

Does criterion channel not fill that role or does it just have too much missing from its library?

[–] FlyingSquid 11 points 1 year ago

A forum for fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000, so we tend to like things more on the obscure side.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago

Their dvd library went to shit a looooong time ago, so to echo some other comments here- i’m surprised the service was even still around. I used to get multiple discs at a time. (i think they had a 3 disc at-a-time plan where you could send one back and they’d send you the next in your cue, but you’d always have 3 at home.) Then as streaming started to take off and they started making their own TV shows it seemed like there was less and less DVDs for rent, and not just because id watched them. I was getting notices of things on my “wish list” or whatever about to become unavailable, or movies i wanted to rent again were just gone from the library. This effected movies, documentaries, TV series, lots of different content types. They rolled streaming into my plan for free and i eventually gave up on discs entirely and just canceled that part of my plan, sadly. Eventually completely canceled everything a few years ago, ended up never using the service anymore. There’s my experience no one asked for!

[–] YourMomSaysHi 13 points 1 year ago (9 children)

What're they gonna do with all those dvds?

[–] ultimate_question 10 points 1 year ago

People have been asking this since they announced the end of DVDs and Netflix is yet to address it so it feels like they're probably gonna go to waste, fingers crossed that Netflix can get a bigger write off by donating them than burning them though lol

[–] thehatfox 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They will possibly be sold off. In the UK we had postal rental service called LoveFilm, and when it eventually shut down many of the DVDs started appearing in second hand stores. For a whole there were bulk boxes of 100 random discs that were being sold very cheaply.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I don't find it very likely. All those current Netflix DVD users are also potential customers for the digital subscription. Suddenly all those DVDs floating around for pennies would reduce that number of potential customers, which I believe Netflix doesn't want.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

When Blockbuster shut down, they never made any attempt to collect DVDs that customers had out. That's how I scored my sweet, sweet copy of the classic Seth Green movie Without a Paddle.

[–] YourMomSaysHi 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh, the timeless classic also featuring Dax Shepard and Matthew Lillard? I'd call that a score, my friend.

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[–] Donjuanme 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If this is a quote from the movie, I have to apologize because I'm honestly not sure if I've seen it.

[–] Donjuanme 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You rented it, then haven't gotten around to watching it in the 20+years you've had it? XD amazing blockbuster couldn't stay in business with your late fees alone

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

In my defense, who even has a DVD player these days?

[–] Donjuanme 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

True that. I'd have to dig out the usb2.0 dvd player that I bought 10 years ago when I realized I didn't have a dvd player. Bought it, used it once, haven't seen it since.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Lmao that just reminded me that I have one of those in a box sitting a few feet away from me, covered in dust. I think I bought it when I built my lastest PC 5 years ago since I didn't add a built in drive. I think I've used it once since then.

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[–] Donjuanme 2 points 1 year ago

It's a fun romp. Not the worst background noise. Surprisingly good cast, it almost becomes a touching story before zipping straight back to its roots of stoner humor. 6/10 would recommend it over quite a bit of other movies.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Bury them in the desert

[–] SGG 5 points 1 year ago

Right next to the Atari game cartridges!

[–] FlyingSquid 5 points 1 year ago

Where did all the E.T. cartridges go?

[–] afraid_of_zombies 4 points 1 year ago

Find a site of an old blockbuster and leave it in the hole?

[–] reallynotnick 3 points 1 year ago

I thought of that too and I realized they must already have a channel to get rid of discs since they would need to dwindle down numbers after a new release is no longer in huge demand, it sounds like they also cull some old releases entirely based on the comments here.

I know GameFly sells their used games directly to consumers, but Netflix must be selling them in bulk to someone since they never do that. Unless they are getting like for rental only discs and have some sort of deal with studios where they have to return/discard them or something.

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[–] mechoman444 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Whole crap they were still doing this?

[–] regular_human 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

They should shut down their entire garbage ass company instead.

[–] reddig33 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

At one point Redbox had made overtures to Netflix about buying their dvd by mail service. I guess this isn’t going to happen.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I mean during Covid, with no theatrical movie releases, the newest DVD for Redbox for 6 months was Sonic the Hedgehog. I used Redbox weekly but after that period I just stopped.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Good thing I finally returned those 3 DVDs I had checked out. I had moved back in 2014 and had misplaced the DVDs, was using the streaming service instead of the DVDs, so I hadn't really bothered to search for them, and then I just happened to spot them while going through some stuff and slipped them into the mail.

[–] SwallowsDick 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I remember when they tried to spin off this service several years ago, to "Quicky" or something like that, and there was so much backlash that Netflix backpedaled. Shows how much times have changed

[–] berkat 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They named their DVD service "Qwikster" at that time. Obviously it was a terrible idea and had to rebrand.

[–] MimicJar 3 points 1 year ago

Not even rebrand, they just didn't do it.

Im sure they still did more or less whatever they were trying to do internally. What they wanted was Netflix to be synonymous with streaming. What they didn't realize is that it already was.

Funny enough it's possible the Qwickster rebrand might have created a more effective company and it wouldn't be shutting down. Although more likely it would have been confusing and floundered.

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