How'd they do that?

[elora_c]

Netflix has some weird deal going on with the post office. On Saturday, word_geek and I sent back two discs. Yesterday, when the post office is closed, I get an email saying they have received the discs. This morning, I get an email saying my next 2 movies are on their way and will be here on Wednesday. This afternoon, word_geek checks the mail... and there are

Comments

[shiny_bauble]

It probably has to do with the volume of mail that Netflix does with the northeast. Once you get above a certain volume of mail, it pays to do your own hauling, and just use the Post Office as the last 10 miles delivery system. If I was Netflix, I'd probably do something like drop a service center in NJ, and run a truck route each day from DC -> Jersey late at night, and then Jersey->DC early in the morning, picking up discs addressed to my personal zip code and dropping off palettes of discs at the major post offices on the way, presorted down to the carrier route for easy handling.

I think this is what we used at my previous employer: http://www.g1.com/Solutions/Business/Mailing-Efficiency/

The scary part is once you've exhausted the capabilities of a program like this, you can then get complicated... :)