The DVD service, which still delivers films and TV shows in the red-and-white envelopes that once served as Netflix's emblem, plans to mail its final discs on Sept. 29.
But the DVD-by-mail service still has die-hard fans who continue to subscribe because they treasure finding obscure movies that are aren't widely available on video streaming. Many subscribers still wax nostalgic about opening their mailbox and seeing the familiar red-and-white envelopes awaiting them instead of junk mail and a stack of bills.
The service’s history dates back to 1997 when Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph went to a post office in Santa Cruz, California, to mail a Patsy Cline compact disc to his friend and fellow co-founder Reed Hasting. Randolph, Netflix’s original CEO, wanted to test whether a disc could be delivered through the U.S. Postal Service without being damaged, hoping eventually to do the same thing with the still-new format that became the DVD.
“It was planned obsolescence, but our bet was that it would take longer for it to happen than most people thought at the time,” Randolph said in an interview with The Associated Press last year across the street from the Santa Cruz post office where he mailed the Patsy Cline CD. Hastings replaced Randolph as Netflix’s CEO a few years after its inception, a job he didn’t relinquish until stepping down in January.
Even subscribers who remain loyal to the DVD service could see the end coming as they noticed the shrinking selection in a library that once boasted more than 100,000 titles. Some customers also have reported having to wait longer for discs to be delivered as Netflix closed dozens of DVD distribution centers with the shift to streaming.
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