DVD Rental by Mail or Post FAQ

• Sign up for the service on the companies website.
• Select movies you'd like to see by adding them to your rental queue.
• DVD on your list is sent Freepost to you.
• You watch the disc and can usually keep them as long as you like.
• Once you send a disc back in the prepaid envelope another will be sent from your queue.
• A typical service allows you to have 3 DVD's out at any time.

• No due dates. At your local video store normally you get 2 or 3 nights hire. With dvd-by-post services you can keep them for weeks and not feel rushed to watch and return them. As a result, you have more time to watch dvd extras if they interest you.
• No late fees. Since there's no due dates you won't pay any fines.
• Huge range. Your video store maybe has 2000-3000 dvd's on offer. Compare this to some of the dvd-by-post services that have 20,000 dvd's in stock. This means they cover far more genres of films.
• No hassle of returning to the store or wondering what to choose. At your own convenience you can prepare your rental queue with movies you want to see, sit back and start receiving them - also add future films which go into your queue when they become available for rent. This is far better than browsing at your video store! When you finish a movie returning it is as simple as posting a letter.
• Ability to save money. At your video store it might cost £7 for 3 films to be returned in 2 nights time. With a 3-dvd at a time rental plan (costing about £15 a month) 12-15 films a month is easily possible.

Most companies advertise 'unlimited' by nature. Some offer a certain amount of rentals for a set price a month. The 'unlimited' should really be dropped by these companies as it creates a false sense in customers that they should expect a never ending super-fast turnaround of dvd's. The reality for all companies is the same. They are in this game to make profit and have a breakeven point for every customer. Usually on a £14 a month plan this would be 10 rentals a month. The first month or two might be great - you get 15-20 rentals and think it's great. Only problem is you are costing them money so they will start to delay the turnaround of discs to try to make you a profitable customer. With a 3-disc plan you'd be doing fabulous if you get around 12 disc rentals a month. Of course, this all depends on your postal service.

UK - the dvd-by-post has been a huge hit in the UK due to the size of our island and the ability to have first class mail arrive anywhere in the Uk 90% of the time in 1-2 days. Every month it appears another company springs up and another dies or merges.

US - the difference in USA is that unless you are a member of a larger company that has several distribution services scattered around the country, depending on where you live the turnaround of a single DVD could be anywhere from 3-10 days.

Remember that these companies are out to make a profit. If you are renting 20 discs a month on a 3-dvd at a time plan you are costing them money. The break-even point for a plan that costs say £15 a month is in my estimation around 11 dvd's - postage costs for 1 dvd are about 50p, then you've got overheads like packaging, the inherent costs of buying the discs and wages etc etc. So it's understandable why limits get placed. These companies aren't charities and want to make profit from every subscriber.

DVD Rental by post is actually a strange concept. The better the companies serve you in sending you more discs, the bigger the losses they will incur. It is at a business level a very hard task, so what you see many doing is providing good service the first few months and depending on how many you are renting delays WILL BE PUT IN when sending you discs. I've yet to find a company who will not do this and I've tried most of them out there.

If you believe Bill Gates, expect none of us to have a dvd player next decade!

I believe they will be around for a long while. Video stores are certainly trying to combat the rise in postal-services. Blockbuster in the US recently introduced their monthly movie pass scheme which is similar to the by-post services. For $25 a month you get to keep 2 DVD's out at a time with no late fees, so its probably a better option for people who live close to a store and usually just rent recent releases.

There are other options like movies-downloaded from the net (movieline.com) or services like Sky Box Office which offers films about 3-6 months after they go to DVD rental for £2.99 a viewing. It's about 2 years away before HighDef DVD's come out which should keep the by-post services going for a while.