The
truth is you'll never know for certain when your movies will arrive. Irregular time intervals are common. Most providers advertise three to four days
of turnaround time, but that's incorporating ideal delivery conditions. Some companies do not operate on the
weekends, and the United states
Post Office shuts down on Sundays.
Depending on your proximity to nearest distribution center, you might
lose or gain a day of service.
Then
there are the 'catches' or the fine print.
Contrary to common belief, this is not a 'first come, first served'
business. Free-trial members are given
precedence to movies to 'hook them in', while established members are
consequentially put on waiting lists until the film becomes 'available'. And even when the film is available, if
you're in competition with another member who has used their account 'less'
than you they will be given the film first.
New Releases! New Releases!
These
may be harder to come by than a trip to your local video store. Unless you're new, there's a high probability
you're going to have to wait. Pre-ordering weeks in advance will not ensure you
will receive your movie on its release date, but it will cut down on your wait
considerably. This means researching
release dates and planning your 'movie schedule' ahead of time—something you
may find time-consuming and annoying.
Dealing with a Profitable Business:
There's
no such thing as a free lunch. Online
providers do not make money on the number of movies you watch, but rather, the
number of movies you 'do not' watch.
This practice is referred to as 'limiting' your account. For example, you might return two movies at
the same time (possibly the same envelope) to find only one of your films was
'counted'. The other might turn up the
following day, or if you've managed to hit a weekend, the following Monday. The
reason for the delay is the cost of shipping.
For every day providers withhold your order, they save. Utilizing this practice on a million
customers over a period of a year will net a substantial profit.