Comment How it seems to work. (Score 2, Interesting) 550
I've been a happy customer with Netflix for a year and a half or so. I recently canceled my account with them but thats because I can not get the postman to take my returning netflix movies. So I canceled rather than trying to deal with the guys supervisor, and have to worry about my incoming mail arriving. Anyway... my lifes problems aren't the point of this post.
During that year and a half, I noticed that my movies started coming slower. I figured they had an algorithm to keep the flow of DVD's at a rate that kept their profits at a certain point. This didn't seem like a big deal to me, all you can eat... isn't... unlimited bandwidth... isn't... so it would stand to reason unlimited rentals would follow the same pattern.
However if Netflix was using an algorithm, that would mean that by changing my behavior I could maximize my return. Now I didn't try to make a thesis, or even write down data, so take my results with a grain of salt.
I learned that how many movies you send is the most important variable. I had a three at a time account and then went to a five at a time account to see if that would get me faster results. What I found is that the recieving time didn't change. I recieved my "We got the DVD" email from Netflix no matter how many DVD's I sent back. This allowed me to factor out the post office.
I have a taste for indy movies, weird Japanese movies, and Samurai flicks, so I never had any notice for waiting times as my movies were not in as high demand. When I wanted more popular movies it was not irregular to have a notice saying there was a short or long wait. So I could factor out other user demand.
So I tryed various schemes from sending one movie a day to sending all five at once, but only once a week. Effectively this is almost the same thing. The first method was sending 6 movies a week the second was sending 5 movies a week. One movie a day kicked once a weeks butt. When I sent one a day, Netflix would send me a message the next day that it had recieved my movie, would ship it out that day, and I'd recieve it the day after. To be more clear, I put it in the mail on Monday, recieved emails on Tuesday, recieved DVD on Wensday. So one day there, one day back.
When I sent 5 movies I would recieve the email notices from Netflix the next day that they were recieved, but typically would not have any movies shipped for two to three days, and that would be one or two, the rest would trickle in after. To make that more clear, I if I put them in on Monday, I recieved email on Tuesday, a movie or two Friday, a movie or two Saturday, and typically what was left on Monday, but sometimes not till Tuesday. This means 10 movies equals something like two and a half to three weeks. Remember I was sending them all together to test response times, so I wouldn't finish watching the last movie until Tuesday or Wensday. Sending them every day 10 movies equals about a week and a half. So sending them all at once was twice as slow.
The delay from sending the mean average of 3 movies at once seemed to be on par with sending 5. What I mean by that is it tended to be two days delay rather than three days at 5. 2 movies seemed to incure a one day delay.
I don't claim to know their algorithm, but it seems like functionally it is near: delay time = (# of movies shipped) - 1
So my recommendation would be figure out how many movies you want on hand, and add two, and that would be the plan to get.
I'd love to hear if other people had the same or differing experiences.
During that year and a half, I noticed that my movies started coming slower. I figured they had an algorithm to keep the flow of DVD's at a rate that kept their profits at a certain point. This didn't seem like a big deal to me, all you can eat... isn't... unlimited bandwidth... isn't... so it would stand to reason unlimited rentals would follow the same pattern.
However if Netflix was using an algorithm, that would mean that by changing my behavior I could maximize my return. Now I didn't try to make a thesis, or even write down data, so take my results with a grain of salt.
I learned that how many movies you send is the most important variable. I had a three at a time account and then went to a five at a time account to see if that would get me faster results. What I found is that the recieving time didn't change. I recieved my "We got the DVD" email from Netflix no matter how many DVD's I sent back. This allowed me to factor out the post office.
I have a taste for indy movies, weird Japanese movies, and Samurai flicks, so I never had any notice for waiting times as my movies were not in as high demand. When I wanted more popular movies it was not irregular to have a notice saying there was a short or long wait. So I could factor out other user demand.
So I tryed various schemes from sending one movie a day to sending all five at once, but only once a week. Effectively this is almost the same thing. The first method was sending 6 movies a week the second was sending 5 movies a week. One movie a day kicked once a weeks butt. When I sent one a day, Netflix would send me a message the next day that it had recieved my movie, would ship it out that day, and I'd recieve it the day after. To be more clear, I put it in the mail on Monday, recieved emails on Tuesday, recieved DVD on Wensday. So one day there, one day back.
When I sent 5 movies I would recieve the email notices from Netflix the next day that they were recieved, but typically would not have any movies shipped for two to three days, and that would be one or two, the rest would trickle in after. To make that more clear, I if I put them in on Monday, I recieved email on Tuesday, a movie or two Friday, a movie or two Saturday, and typically what was left on Monday, but sometimes not till Tuesday. This means 10 movies equals something like two and a half to three weeks. Remember I was sending them all together to test response times, so I wouldn't finish watching the last movie until Tuesday or Wensday. Sending them every day 10 movies equals about a week and a half. So sending them all at once was twice as slow.
The delay from sending the mean average of 3 movies at once seemed to be on par with sending 5. What I mean by that is it tended to be two days delay rather than three days at 5. 2 movies seemed to incure a one day delay.
I don't claim to know their algorithm, but it seems like functionally it is near: delay time = (# of movies shipped) - 1
So my recommendation would be figure out how many movies you want on hand, and add two, and that would be the plan to get.
I'd love to hear if other people had the same or differing experiences.
