I got an email about this since I'm signed up to GameFly, but I thought I'd mention this for those who were having problems with games getting to them in a reasonable time.
They just announced a deal they made with the postal service. Now when you send a game back the instant the post office scans it Game Fly is notified and your next game is sent. That should cut a couple of days off of the return time for the farthest shipping areas.
I can't seem to find a press release to link to, but that's it in a nutshell.
Edit: Found this on their site:
In partnership with the U.S. Postal Service, GameFly has launched our FastReturnTM service to improve turnaround time. This means improved shipping times for GameFly subscribers!
FastReturnTM will start the processing of your next game as soon as we receive confirmation from the U.S. Postal Service that a game has been returned in the mail. You may no longer need to wait until we receive the returned game in our warehouse before we send the next available game in Your GameQ!
NOTE: The USPS may not use scanning equipment in all locations. Therefore, not all GameFly subscribers may be able to participate in this service.
I'm tempted to try gamefly but my biggest problem is I already have too many games already and I really want to finish at least ONE before the summer is over.
Hot damn. My one complaint about Gamefly has been that their distribution center was too far away and it took too longs for games to get there and back. Other than that, they've been totally awesome. Now it sounds like that won't even be a problem anymore.
Edit: Just saw the note that not all locations are going to be using it. I hope to hell that mine is.
My last shipment of Netflix movies had a slot cut out of the shipping sleeve, so the barcode could be seen. Either they are trying to make it easier to check the movies back in at the warehouse, or they are doing it for the post office.
Never thought I'd be endorsing BB, but the free in store rentals on games with a subscription is pretty damn great.
JG93
"Pain or damage don’t end the world, or despair or f*ckin’ beatin’s. The world ends when you’re dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man—and give some back." Al Swearingen, Deadwood
szgany wrote:My last shipment of Netflix movies had a slot cut out of the shipping sleeve, so the barcode could be seen. Either they are trying to make it easier to check the movies back in at the warehouse, or they are doing it for the post office.
That slot is for Netflix internally, the problem is the barcodes don't line up on most movies with that slot. The postal service requires the code to be on the front with the label.
I'm currently running tests on both services, and compiling my data in a blog. It will be about 3 parts when it is all finished, part two is coming tomorrow. There are some surprising results I have for part two, mostly regarding extremely recent updates to Blockbuster, and some shipping details to report.
I read your article. Great work. I agree with your analysis of the Blockbuster and Netflix websites. For me, I just find netflix a great site to surf. Sometimes, I will be interested in one movie and then see a link provided by the site to another movie I had never heard of which I also add to my queue. Before I know it, I have 20 movies in my queue. I found netflix has a better selection for anime titles and they are easier to search. Lastly, I always check out customer reviews on titles. I find these provide the best information on movies. You can tell some netflix users have put some effort into their reviews and netflix seems to weed out the "IT SUXX0R" reviews. IMHO, netflix is currently worth the extra $3. My only concern is that they team up with Amazon and blow away Blockbuster thereby getting back the monoply and allowing them to raise their prices back up. But, I'm pretty sure I will still use the service.
