Gamefly Complains of Poor Treatment From USPS...

[Zim Hosein]

Gamefly, the popular video game rental service that operates through the mail, has filed a complaint with the Postal Regulatory Commission about the high number of games that are lost or stolen in the mail.

The complaint (PDF) asserts that the postal service's automated sorting machines have a tendency to break a small percentage of discs, and that preferential treatment is given to DVD rental services like Netflix and Blockbuster.

"According to Gamefly's numbers, it mails out 590,000 games and receives 510,000 games back from subscribers a month. The company sees, depending on the mailer, between one and two percent of its games broken in transit. ... Even if you assume the number is one percent, and a game costs $50 to replace, that's an astounding $295,000 a month in lost merchandise. ... That's not the only issue ? games are also stolen in transit, which has lead to the arrest of 19 Postal Service employees."

Gamefly Complains of Poor Treatment From USPS

This makes sense IMO considering that as a member of both GameFly & Nf, GameFly loses more of my returns when I mail both at the same blue USPS box outside my house! :|

 

[ballmode]

hmmmm

 

[ric1287]

what if people keep a game longer than a month?

 

[SpunkyJones]

Hmm, my sister works for the USPS, I'll have to find out why I haven't been getting any games from her, the selfish bitch.

 

[Zim Hosein]

Originally posted by: ric1287
what if people keep a game longer than a month?

As a GF member, you have an unlimited time to keep a game, but once you mail it back, after seven days it is considered lost if you are not notified that they received it.

 

[Newbian]

Are the shipping packages any different between the netflix and gamefly versions?

I have never tried gamefly so no clue on what theirs are like.

Also does anyone have a stat like this for netflix?

 

[TheVrolok]

Isn't GF pretty expensive? It seemed quite a bit more costly than NF. I'm a HUGE NF fan.. and once I got a PS3, I thought I'd be all over GF.. just seemed a bit costly.

 

[Colt45]

They mail 590k games a month? Christ that's a huge waste of resources.


Ah well, I'm sure it will be rendered obsolete soon enough. The internet is good for the environment, i guess. 😉

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: TheVrolok
Isn't GF pretty expensive? It seemed quite a bit more costly than NF. I'm a HUGE NF fan.. and once I got a PS3, I thought I'd be all over GF.. just seemed a bit costly.

Well it's obviously going to be more expensive cus games are more expensive. It does save money though as games aren't cheap and most only offer a couple hours of play time.

 

[TheVrolok]

Originally posted by: zerocool84

Originally posted by: TheVrolok
Isn't GF pretty expensive? It seemed quite a bit more costly than NF. I'm a HUGE NF fan.. and once I got a PS3, I thought I'd be all over GF.. just seemed a bit costly.

Well it's obviously going to be more expensive cus games are more expensive. It does save money though as games aren't cheap and most only offer a couple hours of play time.

Wouldn't renting games at your local video rental store be much cheaper? Or is this for those that are looking for older/rarer games?

 

[BabaBooey]

And yet they banned me 3 yrs ago when the $10 xbox360 game they never got back to them,they blamed me.
I know I personally dropped it at the post office.

fuck'em I hope they go out of business.

 

[novasatori]

Originally posted by: TheVrolok

Originally posted by: zerocool84

Originally posted by: TheVrolok
Isn't GF pretty expensive? It seemed quite a bit more costly than NF. I'm a HUGE NF fan.. and once I got a PS3, I thought I'd be all over GF.. just seemed a bit costly.

Well it's obviously going to be more expensive cus games are more expensive. It does save money though as games aren't cheap and most only offer a couple hours of play time.

Wouldn't renting games at your local video rental store be much cheaper? Or is this for those that are looking for older/rarer games?

renting a game local here is 10 bux, i don't have gamefly but their site says 22.95 for 2 games out at a time

seems pretty comparable to me, plus you wont get late fees like the local shops

 

[jlee]

Originally posted by: novasatori

Originally posted by: TheVrolok

Originally posted by: zerocool84

Originally posted by: TheVrolok
Isn't GF pretty expensive? It seemed quite a bit more costly than NF. I'm a HUGE NF fan.. and once I got a PS3, I thought I'd be all over GF.. just seemed a bit costly.

Well it's obviously going to be more expensive cus games are more expensive. It does save money though as games aren't cheap and most only offer a couple hours of play time.

Wouldn't renting games at your local video rental store be much cheaper? Or is this for those that are looking for older/rarer games?

renting a game local here is 10 bux, i don't have gamefly but their site says 22.95 for 2 games out at a time

seems pretty comparable to me, plus you wont get late fees like the local shops

$10? For a rental?

:Q

 

[rbV5]

This can't be true, USPS said Cash4Gold was stealing the packages...right?

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: JLee

Originally posted by: novasatori

Originally posted by: TheVrolok

Originally posted by: zerocool84

Originally posted by: TheVrolok
Isn't GF pretty expensive? It seemed quite a bit more costly than NF. I'm a HUGE NF fan.. and once I got a PS3, I thought I'd be all over GF.. just seemed a bit costly.

Well it's obviously going to be more expensive cus games are more expensive. It does save money though as games aren't cheap and most only offer a couple hours of play time.

Wouldn't renting games at your local video rental store be much cheaper? Or is this for those that are looking for older/rarer games?

renting a game local here is 10 bux, i don't have gamefly but their site says 22.95 for 2 games out at a time

seems pretty comparable to me, plus you wont get late fees like the local shops

$10? For a rental?

:Q

thats nuts

ill just keep an eye on steam deals. orange box for 9.99 ftw. i dont even like steam but...thats impossible to beat.

 

[LegendKiller]

I don't believe it. The USPS does not lose that many packages.

 

[Wreckem]

Originally posted by: TheVrolok

Originally posted by: zerocool84

Originally posted by: TheVrolok
Isn't GF pretty expensive? It seemed quite a bit more costly than NF. I'm a HUGE NF fan.. and once I got a PS3, I thought I'd be all over GF.. just seemed a bit costly.

Well it's obviously going to be more expensive cus games are more expensive. It does save money though as games aren't cheap and most only offer a couple hours of play time.

Wouldn't renting games at your local video rental store be much cheaper? Or is this for those that are looking for older/rarer games?

Its like $5 per game for 5 days at brick and mortar rental places.

 

[waggy]

to rent a game around here its $7.99 for 5 days

 

[KLin]

Originally posted by: LegendKiller
I don't believe it. The USPS does not lose that many packages.

Sounds like they're being stolen rather than "lost".

 

[DayLaPaul]

Originally posted by: Wreckem

Originally posted by: TheVrolok

Originally posted by: zerocool84

Originally posted by: TheVrolok
Isn't GF pretty expensive? It seemed quite a bit more costly than NF. I'm a HUGE NF fan.. and once I got a PS3, I thought I'd be all over GF.. just seemed a bit costly.

Well it's obviously going to be more expensive cus games are more expensive. It does save money though as games aren't cheap and most only offer a couple hours of play time.

Wouldn't renting games at your local video rental store be much cheaper? Or is this for those that are looking for older/rarer games?

Its like $5 per game for 5 days at brick and mortar rental places.

Maybe back in like 1993.

 

[msi1337]

Originally posted by: waggy
to rent a game around here its $7.99 for 5 days

in Maryland too

I don't bother renting..just research what I like and buy it when the price is right.

Assuming you don't have to have the title the day it comes out.

 

[mugs]

I'm sure a lot of members keep discs and report them as lost in the mail as well.

Originally posted by: ric1287
what if people keep a game longer than a month?

Doesn't make a difference in the statistic.

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: msi1337

Originally posted by: waggy
to rent a game around here its $7.99 for 5 days

in Maryland too

I don't bother renting..just research what I like and buy it when the price is right.

Assuming you don't have to have the title the day it comes out.

Sometimes its fun to go through bargain bins of year old titles. Unfortunately, if you wanted to play the game online, by then the user base is probably tiny. I had Gamefly for a while, it was a nice way to burn through games.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: msi1337

Originally posted by: waggy
to rent a game around here its $7.99 for 5 days

in Maryland too

I don't bother renting..just research what I like and buy it when the price is right.

Assuming you don't have to have the title the day it comes out.

Best way to rent is with Rent 1 Get 1 coupons from Coke's rewards site. My wife gets tons of box ends from her office. I'm not sure if they're still doing the rent 1 get 1 deal or how many points it costs... they've been making that deal progressively worse since the program started unfortunately.

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: JLee

Originally posted by: novasatori

Originally posted by: TheVrolok

Originally posted by: zerocool84

Originally posted by: TheVrolok
Isn't GF pretty expensive? It seemed quite a bit more costly than NF. I'm a HUGE NF fan.. and once I got a PS3, I thought I'd be all over GF.. just seemed a bit costly.

Well it's obviously going to be more expensive cus games are more expensive. It does save money though as games aren't cheap and most only offer a couple hours of play time.

Wouldn't renting games at your local video rental store be much cheaper? Or is this for those that are looking for older/rarer games?

renting a game local here is 10 bux, i don't have gamefly but their site says 22.95 for 2 games out at a time

seems pretty comparable to me, plus you wont get late fees like the local shops

$10? For a rental?
:Q

Yup. Last time I went to a Blockbuster they wanted 10 bucks a pop.
When I was little NES and SNES rentals cost 2 bucks for old stuff and 3 bucks for new stuff.

Also, I am pretty sure within 10 years there will be no more discs. I bet all games, console & computer, will be streamed over the internet. Its not what I want, but what I want is unimportant. Publishers are going to want to do it this way.