Fairness algorithm
I’ve been a Netflix customer for about four months now, and I’ve rented thirty DVDs in that space of time, an average of 7.5 DVDs a month. That’s not a whole lot (although I’ve gone through several periods of inactivity from being out of town so damn much).
But it seems that Netflix is penalizing frequent renters with a “fairness algorithm” that puts their shipments at a lower priority than shipments to customers who rent fewer DVDs:
“In determining priority for shipping and inventory allocation, we give priority to those members who receive the fewest DVDs through our service,” Netflix’s revised policy now reads. The statement specifically warns that heavy renters are more likely to encounter shipping delays and less likely to immediately be sent their top choices.
This doesn’t affect me, since I don’t rent that many DVDs (and the ones I rent tend to be artsy-fartsy foreign films, so I’m not competing for the most popular titles), but I still don’t like it. I understand why they’re doing it, but I still don’t like it.
(via Slashdot)
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February 14th, 2006 @ 17:02
I use netflix a lot more than you do and I’m not at all happy to read this. I assume they won’t care, but I’m going to complain.
February 16th, 2006 @ 09:35
I’ve been complaining about the inexplicable lag times in getting my movies for awhile now. Apparently in their algorythm I rent more than is profitable for them, and that too many equals less than 8 a month. Not fair.
And to add to the fun, now post office workers are in the mix: http://newyorkmetro.com/news/i.....index.html
February 18th, 2006 @ 11:46
I’ve been having unusually bad luck with Netflix all of a sudden. Out of my last seven rentals, one got totally lost in the mail (although I blame the post office and not Netflix for this) and two were in such rotten condition that they were totally unwatchable (constant picture distortion/pixellation, picture freezing, skipping). People must use their Netflix DVDs for coffee-table coasters or something. I’ve already made it a policy to clean with Windex every DVD that arrives, first thing, as soon as I take it out of the envelope.
And it’s not at all surprising that some postal workers might be tempted to help themselves. I wonder how many discs, and how much money, Netflix is losing because of that. I don’t guess there’s much they can do about it.