Court says post office must do better by Gamefly
WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal court says the U.S. Postal Service must come up with a better solution to its questionable pricing structure affecting Gamefly's video game DVDs and Netflix's movie DVDs.
Gamefly must pay extra to mail its rental DVDs because they can be damaged by automatic mail sorting systems for first-class mail. But DVDs sent by Netflix Inc. don't go through the automated sorting process and it doesn't pay extra for hand-sorting. Gamefly was denied the same treatment and sued.
The Postal Regulatory Commission agreed that the practice was wrong, but came up with a scheme to make it cheaper for Gamefly but still force it to pay more than Netflix. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned the commission and sent the case back.
Gamefly must pay extra to mail its rental DVDs because they can be damaged by automatic mail sorting systems for first-class mail. But DVDs sent by Netflix Inc. don't go through the automated sorting process and it doesn't pay extra for hand-sorting. Gamefly was denied the same treatment and sued.
The Postal Regulatory Commission agreed that the practice was wrong, but came up with a scheme to make it cheaper for Gamefly but still force it to pay more than Netflix. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned the commission and sent the case back.
And Netflix is fast - and Gamefly is slow.
 @starshadowÂ
That's a function of the companies.
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netflix had about 6 distribution centers, Gamefly has two.
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 @Repoman  @starshadow Try again, there are 3+ in WA/OR alone.  I believe each state has at *least* one center, if not in the 3-4 range.
That's odd, as the way Netflix tells its employees, they designed the new equipment to allow automatic sorting for their DVDs...interesting.
That's a shame. Gamefly is a terrible company that seems to take pleasure in screwing its customers over. I had a subscription, sent the games back to them, had confirmation of receipt on their part, cancelled my subscription, and come to find out 6 months later they sent my account to collections for nearly $300 in "sub fees, and games." After calling them they dropped the collection but still claim that I would need to pay the full amount owed if I wanted to renew my subscription. I say anything that helps put them out of business is good in my eyes.
 @Ramsesthegreat File a complaint with FTC on them.. and tell them so! Don't send any mail to them they do not have to sign for either. You have the proof (never send them the originals, always copy's of).Â
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Nothing click the federal government trying to scalp its customers and help ensure some are winners and others are losers. Glad to see the court system is not going to let them get away with it hopefully...
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Sad that even has to get to the courts though... after all they are supposed to be working for us.
Yeah not fair.Â
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I tried Gamefly and I did end up with a damaged disk. I thought it was just bad luck. I stuck with Netflix though. Maybe had i gotten a disk that worked I would have stuck it out?
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@Repoman I enjoy it, but I'm only interested in video games, including buying used ones on occasion. Netflix just doesn't do it for me.
Good!