Netflix Sends Its Last Red Envelopes, Finally Drawing Curtains On DVD Rentals

Yes, you read that right. While you have been binging on Beef on your Netflix app, the company has still been sending out its famed red envelopes to eager fans waiting for hard copies of their favorite shows and movies.
 
But the end of an era is nigh, and Netflix will send out the last DVDs on September 29 of this year.
 
Picture this: You’re a movie buff in the late 90s to the 2000s who loves to curl up on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and lose yourself in a great film or television show. With this subscription-based rental service, you can rent DVDs and Blu-ray discs of all your favorite movies and television shows through the mail. You could even create a queue of all the shows you would like to watch so that once you mail the disc back, a new one will be sent to you.
 
This format of consuming entertainment eventually paved the way for Netflix to become one of the big streaming giants where instead of waiting for your next DVD to arrive, you just had to wait for the app to update or for your favorite show.

“Those iconic red envelopes changed the way people watched shows and movies at home—and they paved the way for the shift to streaming. From the beginning, our members loved the choice and control that direct-to-consumer entertainment offered: the wide variety of the titles and the ability to binge watch entire series,” notes CEO Ted Sarandos. “DVDs also led to our first foray into original programming—with Red Envelope Entertainment titles including Sherrybaby and Zach Galifianakis Live at the Purple Onion.”
 
Now, after 5.2 billion shipments—according to the blog post—the last red envelopes are being sent out into the world. Reuters points out that in 2011 when Netflix first tried to pivot into a streaming service under a different name, Qwikster, fans pushed back on the decision and complained about the move. It was eventually scrapped.
 
Though standing in the present, it is funny to reflect on how the public protested when it’s almost unimaginable to live without streaming services.
 
 
 
[via Mashable and Reuters, images via Netflix]