Court Rules Against Netflix in Netflix-GameFly Postal Dispute

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shloader

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Why? And put what in its place? I know it's showing age but we need a solution that would still fit the times for everyone.
 

rpgplayer

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[citation][nom]iknowhowtofixit[/nom]The USPS needs to be removed from existence.[/citation]
If you remove the USPS there would be two detrimental effects to the market; 1) FedEx and UPS couldn't keep up with the increase in demand, and 2) The prices from FedEx and USPS would double over night.
 

ddpruitt

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So Netflix does everything in it's power to make it easy for the postal service (presorts, mailers specifically designed for postal equipment, labels that are easy for machines to read, etc) while Gamefly does what it can to make the postal service's life difficult (different size mailers, various types of labels, etc) and they're complaining about preferential treatment? Guess what make your business partners life easier and they charge you less, that's the way the world works. I can't believe the court actually agrees with GameFly.

Time to revamp the court system, decisions like this and others (Apple, Patents, etc) show that Judges really don't have any idea how it works out here.
 

ssd_pro

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If UPS and FedEx took over it could be a disaster. Right now neither have an equivalent to USPS First Class or bulk pre-sort. Can you imagine your cost of Netflix if each DVD/Blu-ray needed ground service for $6.12? Or what about the economy with $600,000 people put out of work?
 

sykozis

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[citation][nom]ddpruitt[/nom]So Netflix does everything in it's power to make it easy for the postal service (presorts, mailers specifically designed for postal equipment, labels that are easy for machines to read, etc) while Gamefly does what it can to make the postal service's life difficult (different size mailers, various types of labels, etc) and they're complaining about preferential treatment? Guess what make your business partners life easier and they charge you less, that's the way the world works. I can't believe the court actually agrees with GameFly.Time to revamp the court system, decisions like this and others (Apple, Patents, etc) show that Judges really don't have any idea how it works out here.[/citation]
None of that makes a bit of difference. Fact is that the USPS goes out of it's way to show favoritism towards Netflix without charging extra....like they would if you or I were to ship a package of any type. THAT is the issue Gamefly has.
 

g00fysmiley

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[citation][nom]iknowhowtofixit[/nom]The USPS needs to be removed from existence.[/citation]

usps is one of the best companies out there in terms of cost of service. the only reason they are having money problems is an unfair policy required under the bush administration lobbied by private companies to force them to pay up front retirment costs for its employees many decades in advance thanks to the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 when it was already able to handle its current obligations just fien and stay profitable
 

plattyaj

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[citation][nom]ddpruitt[/nom]So Netflix does everything in it's power to make it easy for the postal service (presorts, mailers specifically designed for postal equipment, labels that are easy for machines to read, etc) while Gamefly does what it can to make the postal service's life difficult (different size mailers, various types of labels, etc) and they're complaining about preferential treatment? Guess what make your business partners life easier and they charge you less, that's the way the world works. I can't believe the court actually agrees with GameFly.Time to revamp the court system, decisions like this and others (Apple, Patents, etc) show that Judges really don't have any idea how it works out here.[/citation]
So I can't comment on the accuracy of this since I don't use either service. But USPS does have bulk-mailing rules and it seems to me that if both sides comply with those rules they should be treated the same. And if USPS wants to create another service with tighter rules that have preferential treatment that should be it's right.

But two courts have found that this isn't the case ...
 

plattyaj

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[citation][nom]itchyisvegeta[/nom]Shouldn't they be suing the post office, not Netflix?[/citation]

They did. That's this case.
 

slabbo

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[citation][nom]rpgplayer[/nom]If you remove the USPS there would be two detrimental effects to the market; 1) FedEx and UPS couldn't keep up with the increase in demand, and 2) The prices from FedEx and USPS would double over night.[/citation]
That's wrong, that's not how competition works. It would allow others to come in and try to provide a better service for maybe even less. If FedEx charged double everyone would just to to UPS, FedEx might even lower prices to get more customers, or another new company would come in to provide that service. If prices double, it's because of price fixing by all companies.
 

alidan

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[citation][nom]slabbo[/nom]That's wrong, that's not how competition works. It would allow others to come in and try to provide a better service for maybe even less. If FedEx charged double everyone would just to to UPS, FedEx might even lower prices to get more customers, or another new company would come in to provide that service. If prices double, it's because of price fixing by all companies.[/citation]

if the bulk of the mail got shifted from usps to fedex or ups, either could raise their rates as much as they please, but they would have to stay even.

lets say ups was 1$ and fedex was 5$ in this example
people would shift to ups,
they would fold under the pressure, and packages would get later and later
people would than realise that fedex is faster and pay for the faster service
usp would increas their cost to compensate for the extra crap they are dealing with
things would even out, and fedex would raise rates again, and the cycle would continue.
-------------------
now
imagine this
you have a business partner, and they use your service so much, so often, that it benefits you to give them a reduced rate, and even ship their crap faster. gamefly i cant imagine is anywhere near as big as netflix, so they dont get the special treatment.
 

millerm84

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[citation][nom]slabbo[/nom]That's wrong, that's not how competition works. It would allow others to come in and try to provide a better service for maybe even less. If FedEx charged double everyone would just to to UPS, FedEx might even lower prices to get more customers, or another new company would come in to provide that service. If prices double, it's because of price fixing by all companies.[/citation]

When demand goes up and/or supply goes down prices go up. Removing a major service provider would generate more demand then either company could handle (unless we're talking about a slow phase out of the USPS) and would remove a major supplier. FedEx and UPS would likely keeps rates the same or raise them to allow them to build the infrastructure to accommodate the new demand thus increasing supply.
 

ddpruitt

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[citation][nom]plattyaj[/nom]So I can't comment on the accuracy of this since I don't use either service. But USPS does have bulk-mailing rules and it seems to me that if both sides comply with those rules they should be treated the same. And if USPS wants to create another service with tighter rules that have preferential treatment that should be it's right.But two courts have found that this isn't the case ...[/citation]

There's a difference between complying and making it easy. I've worked in the industry and I can tell you that you get a HUGE discount if you make it easy on the carrier. Bulk mail requirements are fairly simple low volume (500 once) and presorted by zip code, this gives a commercial rate. Now let's say you go farther you presort (put everything destined for a specific zip code in on truck going that direction), pay for guaranteed high volume (even if you don't use it, say 10,000 pcs/day), and create packaging designed specifically for a carriers (in this case USPS) equipment they will give you discount for going the extra mile.

GameFly does the first, Netflix does the second, and that's why they get discounts.


None of that makes a bit of difference. Fact is that the USPS goes out of it's way to show favoritism towards Netflix without charging extra....like they would if you or I were to ship a package of any type. THAT is the issue Gamefly has.

It's amazing as to how uneducated you really are.
 

ven1ger

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[citation][nom]iknowhowtofixit[/nom]Quite literally, USPS lost a package of mine today. Too big to fit in my mail box, nothing at my front door (been here all way since I work from home), and no notifications in my mail box. Yay, now I get to wait a couple weeks for an "investigation" to conclude before I can get new stuff sent or my money back...... yay.USPS, go @#$% yourself.[/citation]

Well, then I suggest that you select either UPS or FedEx to ship your packages, and accept the cost. UPS and FedEx also loses packages, its actually scarier when I get FedEx packages, because they don't like walking down my steps to my house. Many times I've found stuff left by FedEx (don't get too many items via UPS) in my carport or at the top of the steps where the sidewalk is. I'll say this for USPS, any packages that don't fit in the mailbox, the mailman walks down the steps (29) and drops it off on my porch if no one is home. Have yet to experience USPS failing to deliver a package to me, though same is true for FedEx just don't like how they leave packages. Though a co-worker lives in the same neighborhood, lost two Fedex packages recently.
 
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