Seriously Considering Giving Netflix the Boot

I’m seriously considering giving Netflix the boot. It seems to take forever for them to obtain the rights to ship out DVDs for new releases and when a movie finally becomes available it seems to take forever for them to actually mail it to me. My queue is filled with notes reading ‘long wait.’


My husband and I currently subscribe to the 2 DVDs out-at-a-time plan, which costs $14.99 a month to receive Blu-rays. We originally had access to streaming video as well, but once Netflix started charging for that service we got rid of it. Most of the available movies are relatively old and we really only watch older films when we’re at the beach house in North Carolina, which isn’t very often these days.

Rather than waiting for extended periods of time to receive new releases I’ve recently starting renting them from Amazon. I noticed a few months ago that Amazon discounts the prices of a select set of movies each week. The selection varies, but there always seem to be at least three or four movies available for 99 cents at any one given time.

For the price of a monthly Netflix membership I can watch 15 movies at 99 cents a piece. A newly released HD movie typically costs $4.99, so if I didn’t rent any discounted movies I could only rent three movies in a month for the same price as my Netflix membership, but in a typical month I probably only watch three or four movies anyway.

Some people may suggest that I downgrade to the Netflix 1 DVD out-at-a-time plan if I rent so few movies, but a lot of times I hold onto a movie for a few extra days so my husband can watch it with me. Then I use the second DVD as a rotating wish list for chick-flicks he wouldn’t be interested in.

I think I’ll place my Netflix account on hold for now and try to rent exclusively through Amazon. Right now the cost of membership just doesn’t seem worth it.

6 thoughts on “Seriously Considering Giving Netflix the Boot”

  1. I'm glad I don't own stock in Netflix. They've gone downhill fast. I cancelled my DVD plan and kept streaming when they jacked up their prices. If you have Redbox or the blue Blockbuster Express kiosk near you, sign up for their email or text alerts and you'll get a handful of free rentals every month. That's how I satisfy my new movie cravings (assuming I didn't see the movie at the dollar theatre).

    Keep us posted on your Amazon experience as it's something I might consider.

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  2. we cancelled netflix bc we just don't have the time anymore. plus i couldn't justify that expense on rentals. if we ever want to rent a movie–we usually do Redbox. Do you have those in your neighborhood? 99 cents a movie. and you can reserve online.
    we now spend about 99 cents every month or two on rentals. one time i forgot to return it and they charge you every day, so i spent $3 but that was still better than netflix.

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  3. You all convinced me to cancel! Unfortunately we just made this month's payment and Netflix doesn't provide partial credit, so we'll wait until a day before our next payment is due. Amazon and Redbox here we come!

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