Cry Me a River

So, I’ve been noticing these “articles” about how everyone hates Netflix now. I don’t get it. What’s the problem? I’ve had Netflix for a couple of years now and am quite the happy subscriber. The hubbub seems to be centered around the recent price increases. Seems that the initial $9.99 per month for unlimited DVDs (one at a time) and on-line streaming has been done away with and in its place you have the option of $7.99 for unlimited DVDs or unlimited streaming. Lower price, but only one or the other. If you want the combined package, you have to pay $15.98 now. Six bucks more. This is what all the fuss is about.

I’ve been on the same plan since I initially signed up. I get unlimited DVDs (3 at a time) and unlimited streaming. I was originally paying $18 and now I’m paying $24. When I got the email notice, I didn’t bat an eyelash. I read it, made a mental note to adjust my excel spreadsheet for my monthly budgeting, and then deleted the email.

I think that anyone who knows me knows that I’m not made of money. I don’t have limitless bags of cash stashed anywhere. I’m not married to some sugar daddy. I have a job that pays the bills and leaves me enough to – when carefully budgeted – inject various forms of entertainment and indulgence into my life. Let’s look at the plan that I have. I chose three DVDs at a time for one very simple reason. On Monday I watch DVD 1. On Tuesday I watch DVD 2 and return DVD 1. On Wednesday I watch DVD 3, return DVD 2. On Thursday I watch DVD 4 which starts the cycle all over again. Mathematically, I can watch one movie per day without counting Sundays (no mail service) all month.

Let’s talk round numbers. On a 30-day month, that means 30 movies, minus the four Sundays which brings us to 26. But wait. Remember, I get unlimited streaming. If I were jobless, needed no sleep or had a house full of people all on some rotating schedule to watch movies, we could argue that streaming could happen 24 hours per day. At a 30-day month, that’s 720 hours. Again, using round numbers (I’m not one to get too prickly about exacts) if we imagine that the average movie is an hour and a half, you could – technically - watch 480 movies in one month. If you add the 26 that you got on DVD, and that’s 506 movies. For 24 bucks. That’s about 4.7 cents per movie.

But I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking there’s no need to get hyperbolic about this. No one watches movies round the clock. Ok. So let’s be a little more realistic, while still being indulgent. Assuming the aforementioned 26 DVDs per month and one streamed movie per day (all 30 days), you could rack up 56 movies. That’s a whopping 42.8 cents per movie. That’s if you’re on my very frivolous $24 monthly plan. If you were less inclined, you could do similar damage on the $16 per month plan, getting DVDs less frequently and making up for it with more streaming. If you still stick to the two movies per day, you’re getting 56 movies for 28.5 cents.

By the way, I haven’t even mentioned that you could always make up the lost Sunday delivery with another streamed movie, therefore, getting your full 60 movies per month. But we’ll leave that alone.

Forty-two cents for a movie is pretty good. Last weekend I went to the movies with a friend and paid 12 bucks. No one seems to have a problem with that. Yeah, I know: Netflix doesn’t have the movies that are out NOW. You gotta pay for that with the big bucks. But I’ve had no problem waiting two months more for it to come to my home. I’ve suffered no pain or embarrassment for watching a movie after many have already seen it. And when I do go to the movie theaters, it’s still fun to do. I still factor it in for the stuff I think is worth it. So why is a six dollar increase such a catastrophe? In a whole month the entire extra spending you are doing is six dollars. You can barely get a hamburger for that. Most people spend more than that on their daily lunch.

Netflix is easily the most economically sound expense in my budget. If things get really ugly and I have to cut out the theatrical productions, the dinners out, the coffee dates with friends, or even the specialty groceries for experimental cooking days, I can still fit in the $24 for all the movies I can watch. I can still get a month’s worth of entertainment for about the cost of six gallons of gas.

I think we need to stop complaining and realize that Netflix provides a non-essential service. If this were about potable water in a third world environment, yes, I’d have a problem with price haggling. But we’re talking about the fringe benefits of a stable economy. Yes, I said stable. When you have the luxury to complain about non-essentials at these prices, you clearly have food on your table and a roof over your head. There is economic stability when you can think of entertainment. Don’t tell yourself otherwise.

I don’t think Netflix’s prices are at all unreasonable. I think the opposite is true. I think we got away with some extraordinary prices before the price increase and we should shut up and be grateful that the ride was as good as it was for a while. And now, I think we should acknowledge that $16 is an embarrassingly small amount of money to be whining about when we live in a world of $300 phones and $200 jeans. Perspective, people. Don’t lose it.