Am I being punished for returning Netflix DVDs too quickly?

Some time ago – don’t ask me when! – there was a change in our Netflix movie mailings. It used to be we’d mail a movie to Netflix and they’d get it the next day and send out the next one in the queue. Then something happened that disrupted the system (nothing lasts forever!) and soon customer complaints went rolling into Netflix that customers were not receiving their DVDs as often as they used to. I did some checking around about this on the Internet shortly afterward to see what was going on and was alarmed that customers went days without getting the next movie in their queue.

I know that people joke about how slow the postal service is, but was it seriously that bad?

I called Netflix to find out what was up and they said they are aware of the problem and they are working on fixing it. Or, at least, finding a solution.

That solution turned out to be getting notified by the post office when a Netflix DVD comes in. I don’t know how they do it, but apparently they found a way to get a heads-up that a customer’s DVD was there. Then Netflix would mail the next DVD in the queue that same day, and that DVD usually arrived the next day. Sometimes, for us, it took a couple of days for our next DVD to get here, but it got here.

I was satisfied with this system and just went about my business.

Now, the thing about me and my Netflix account is that sometimes, it takes me FOREVER to watch DVDs from Netflix. This is especially true during the school year, when I am crazy-busy with everything going on. But during the summer, when things slow down, I have more time to watch movies and TV shows or documentaries or whatever other kind of DVD I am getting from Netflix. I actually make it a point to make time for it, because I really, really don’t want to add yet another year of my Netflix DVD queue containing over 400 DVDs!

So, yeah, I kinda want to try to get through them as fast as I can.

But it would seem that Netflix isn’t happy about my all-of-a-sudden quick return rate of DVDs. I have been watching DVDs at night and returning them the next day. Netflix was on top of things in ensuring my next DVD was shipped the next day because, like before, they were notified that I had returned another DVD. But I guess they didn’t get that memo today. I had returned a DVD yesterday but there was no next DVD shipped today. Bummer.

Of course, I am not going to get all broken up about it. It’s not the end of the world, or anything. But I can’t help but wonder if they stop sending out the next DVDs after getting the heads-up from the post office when a customer is sending back a DVD every day. Is this something that happens to other Netflix customers? Or is there a wrench in the system? Did they indeed get notified and send the DVD without updating my account or sending me an email about it like they always do?

I’m really curious.

I gotta wonder, though: Am I being punished for sending back a Netflix DVD too quickly?

I won’t be able to watch anything tonight because we have a scheduled power outage and then it’s almost the weekend so I won’t be able to see if this happens again too soon, but I’ll definitely be paying attention next time to see if it happens again. If it does happen again, I guess I will have an answer to that last question.