Another
hazard of the business is lost or stolen merchandise. If this occurs, some will charge you the
retail price of the DVD--others realize it's a part of the business and will
disregard it. The postal service is not 100% effective, but neither is dealing
with a profitable business. Customer
service representatives blame the post office, and the post office blames the
companies. Logically, the post office
gains nothing for holding or losing your mail; online providers save on shipping
and profit. Regardless of who is
responsible be prepared for this situation sometime down the road.
Damaged Goods:
There
is nothing more disheartening than to be an hour into a movie and have the
screen freeze. You will encounter this often, more so than your local video
store. Thrown through the mail in a thin
paper sleeve is not the best way to handle compact discs. This is a tough issue to fix, for those who
scratch their movies are obviously not reporting it, and those that receive
scratched movies do not report for fear of being charged.
If
your disc is playable and freezes only on a certain frame, just skip to the
next chapter of the movie and rewind to almost the spot you were on. A pain, yes, but it's still better than
dealing with possible fees and/or waiting for a replacement the following week.
Are you saving money?
Like
everything, it all depends. The key is to look at the business as a service,
not as a way to save cash. Do you
already spend an excess of twenty bucks a month on movies? Remember this is a monthly service, and if
you're paying fifteen dollars a month, you’re paying $180 a year. Factor in that you will rent occasionally
from your local store when you’re “movieless”, and things really start to add
up.