Please note: this is a complete satire.
There is a lot of uproar lately about Netflix’s price increase. People got comfortable paying $8.00 a month, and it was raised to $9.00 a month last year.
Beginning in September, the Netflix price increased by separating their DVD and streaming services and charging about $16.00 for the pair.
This, naturally, got many people upset. In fact, I’ve recently heard that Netflix lost about 600,000+ subscribers as a result of this price increase, and the Netflix stock value has dropped 36% in the last month and 48% since July!
But are we over-reacting? I’ve been a huge critic of the Netflix price increase, but I realize that I may have been quick to judge.
Netflix Price, Where Is The Value?
This whole time, I’ve been very critical of Netflix prices because I was under the impression they were supposed to offer value in the form of quality content.
I dislike the quality of their instant queue, and have always had to order DVDs to balance out that deficiency. The problem wasn’t Netflix though, the problem was me! I was looking for Netflix’s value in the wrong place.
I was looking for quality in the content, when I should have found the value in storage costs. Sure, most of the new releases are worthless pieces of B-rated film, but at least they are worthless pieces of B-rated film I don’t have to store!
Netflix: Think Storage Savings
Netflix Streaming Library has roughly 20,000 titles, and while I’m sure 90% of those probably have less than a 5.0/10.0 rating on IMDB, can you imagine how much space you would need to store that many terrible films? You would pay a fortune in storage fees if these were placed in a storage unit and forgotten (as they probably should be).
Netflix does you the favor of storing this vast library of awful films so it doesn’t take up that space in your home, much like a garbage can allows you to allocate your household’s waste to someplace other than your kitchen. Yes, you won’t watch most of the films in the Streaming Library, but you also won’t have to let them collect dust on vast movie racks in your living room.
Netflix Price Should Be Double!
With my new-found view on the true value of Netflix prices, I not only feel they are justified in charging $16.00, I think they would be justified in charging double that: $32.00! I think of the value this way: They would be charging you $8 for the quality content (basically all the DVDs by mail) and $24.00 for storing the terrible films so you don’t have to (basically, most of the streaming library).
Find me a storage place that would store 20,000 awful DVDs for only $24.00 a month! You couldn’t do it, and this is where the streaming library has its value. But the Netflix price isn’t $32.00, they are charging half of that because they have huge giving hearts and would never think of doubling prices on their customers during one of the worst recessions any of us has ever seen.
Netflix would never gouge their customers during this economy just to have a larger bottom line. Netflix is a for-profit business, yes, but they have a big enough conscience to know that now is not the time to raise their prices by 100%, or even 60%! I thank Netflix for putting their customers first! I just hope that everyone else is thankful that Netflix was benevolent enough to not charge the $32.00 a month, or even $1,000 a month they are worth.
