For everyone complaining about Netflix, you are free to move to Vudu or Blockbuster streaming. Of course, you're talking $3.99 PER MOVIE. So yeah, streaming 2 movies off Vudu or Blockbuster and you've reached your DVD shipping costs. True, Vudu and Blockbuster have better streaming offerings than Netflix, but you PAY for that content selection.
You want physical DVDs, shipped directly to your house, for cheaper than you could stream those same movies from Vudu or Blockbuster? I would say Netflix kept their prices too low for too long. NO, I don't work for Netflix or own stock, and I've never used their DVD service. However, I do recall a story not too long ago about how Netflix barely made any money off their DVD service (something like 8-cents a rental), back when it was $15/mo unlimited and $9.99/mo for 1-disk-at-a-time, and they didn't have to pay the studios for access to their streamable content back then. So the fact that you now have to pay $8 for DVDs and $8 for streaming still sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Yes, it sucks if you can't afford it anymore, that's life. Netflix isn't a charity, they're a business.
Prices ALWAYS go up. I remember when Burger King used to have $1 Whopper sales when I was a kid, now the damn things are $3.99. Remember when Wrigleys gum was 25-cents (stamped onto each package none the less). It's something like 35-cents now, and I'm not sure they even bother advertising the price anymore. Did we get MORE whopper when the price went up, did we get more sticks up gum? No, but things cost more to produce, ship, etc.., and that price gets forwarded on to the customers. Netflix needs more money just to KEEP the content it already has, and you selfish simpletons are bitching that they aren't offering next seasons episodes of American Idol yet.