Stellar Snippets
The Netflix DVD-by-mail service revolutionized video renting, putting blockbuster video stores out of business when they began in 1998.
The five remaining distribution centers in California, Texas, Georgia, and New Jersey will be mailing out the final envelopes on Friday.
The less than one million Netflix DVD subscribers can keep these final deliveries, with some loyal ones getting up to 10 discs as a going-away present.
Reports state that the DVD service had over 20 million subscribers at its peak, with more than 100,000 titles to choose from.
The DVD service generated only $146 million in revenue last year, leading to its inevitable closure.
Marc Randolph, Netflix’s CEO, tested out mailing DVDs by mailing Patsy Cline’s greatest hits in a pink envelope to cofounder Reed Hastings, paying just 32 cents for the stamp.
At one point, the novel idea of a DVD rental subscription was so popular that Netflix was the U.S. Postal Service's fifth largest customer.
Netflix shipped its first DVD "Beetlejuice" in April 1998. CEO Marc Randolph calls it "miraculous" that this day "didn't come 15 years ago."