The DVD-by-mail service was launched by the company shortly after it was founded. It's easy to forget how it began.
With over 220 million subscribers worldwide, the company has ballooned into a streaming giant, having ushered in the era of binge watching.
The DVD segment is still a part of the service, and it still sends physical discs to customers in the US who have a separate subscription for that.
William FitzGerald, a visual artist, told Insider that he watches weird movies and research before buying.
He has a large collection of movies.
The basic $10-a-month plan gives you one disc at a time, the $15 plan gives you two, and the $20 plan gives you three.
You get the next ones when you send them back in the envelope. The plans come with free shipping and returns.
Some loyalists say they subscribe to online forums because they can find obscure movies that are hard to find online. It attracts the biggest film buffs or those in rural areas who don't have fast internet.
Last month, the number of originals on the service surpassed the number of licensed ones. Renting DVD's is the best way to get classic movies and TV shows that aren't available in a streamers' back catalog.
One person said last year that "So much good stuff isn't streaming anywhere or is streaming at prohibitive prices."
Another user said he didn't know they still did that. Since I live in a rural area with bad internet, it might be a good idea.
It might have a questionable future.
The number of distribution centers in the US decreased from 50 to 17 by the end of the year.
One user said that the speed has slowed down. The company used to have many distribution centers. They have a small number. It would take two days to get a new disc. It looks like it's two days each way.
The person said, "If you watch a lot of stuff, you can balance it out by having a 3-disc program and have them travel back and forth in the mail."
The company had 2.15 million members by the end of the year, a loss of over half a million, and down from the 3 million it had in the previous year.
Revenue for the segment has gone down over the years. It brought in $182 million in 2021, less than the $30 billion in streaming revenue and less than the $300 million in DVD revenue two years prior.
The DVD segment could last another five years according to Reed Hastings. He said that he is not in a hurry to get rid of it.
The story was not responded to by the company.
FitzGerald has an alternative in mind if the DVD offering is scrapped.
He said he would get a subscription to the channel.
He hopes that physical media will always have a place in the entertainment landscape.
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