Behind The Scenes At Netflix
Aug 11, 2009
Returned DVDs
Returned DVDs await opening and inspection at Netflix's Carol Stream distribution facility, where employees, called "associates," begin shifts as early as 3 a.m.
Inspected
Employees remove discs from their mailing envelopes before studying each surface.
Trash
Associates throw away the used mailing envelopes. 
Detailed inspection
To inspect each disc, employees rip open the envelope, toss it, pull the disc from its sleeve, check that the title matches the sleeve, inspect the disc for cracks or scratches, inspect the sleeve for stains or marks, and clean the disc with a quick circular motion.
Closer look
After reviewing a DVD, employees insert it back into the sleeve and file it in one of two bins: one for acceptable discs and one for damaged discs or ones that weren't returned in the proper sleeve.
Inspection time
Employees must inspect a minimum of 650 discs per hour.
Company goals
Signs hanging in the 28,500-square-foot warehouse remind workers to carefully look over every disc for problems.
Cleaning up
A Netflix employee sweeps the floor.
Decor
Every Netflix warehouse looks like every other Netflix warehouse, down to the same flat, bright wattage of its light bulbs. It's not attractive, which might explain the hasty mismatch of promotional posters taped to its walls like college dorm decor---a poster for "Atonement" alongside a poster for the direct-to-video "Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief" alongside a horror flick poster.
Stretch
Carol Stream Netflix employees take a break every 65 minutes to do a round of calisthenics.
Work it out
A team leader directs the staff exercise routine.
Lean back
Employees mirror the leader in lower back stretches during their calisthenics break.
Calisthenics
Netflix employees stretch out their arms.
Inventory
Returned DVDs are "checked in" after they are inspected.
Checking in
A mail sorter inventories the returned DVDs.
Scanning machine
Inspected discs are scanned back into the inventory by a machine that reads 30,000 bar codes an hour. Many discs are scanned a second time to sort them by ZIP code for shipping back out.
Zipping through
Around 95 percent of titles get rented at least once every 90 days, so keeping tabs on the inventory is key
Scanning
The entire inventory of the building is recorded daily, so other warehouses know the location of all 89 million discs owned by Netflix.
Storage
Rows of inventoried DVDs are kept at the Chicago-area hub.
DVDs
DVDs are stored in a warehouse that's nearly as large as a football field.
Sort
Outgoing DVDs are scanned, labeled and sorted by zip code.
Sorting
An employee sorts DVDs by zip code to prepare them for shipping
Stuffing
An employee stuffs outgoing mail envelopes with DVDs.
Inventory
Stacks of stored DVDs at the Netflix warehouse, which holds several million discs.
Organized
Boxes are used to sort outgoing DVDs.
Empty bins
Empty USPS bins are on hand to fill with outgoing DVDs, which are taken to the post office every evening.
Ready to mail
Outgoing DVDs are placed into sorting bins.
Outbound DVDs
Trucks are loaded with cartons of DVDs to take to the post office, where they'll get shipped off to Netflix subscribers.
57 comments to “Behind The Scenes At Netflix”
It's amazing how much work goes into it! I hope they don't actually throw out the empty envelopes, they should recycle them.
I prefer to support my locally owned video store, who has been in business for nearly 20 years and even beat out Blockbuster video when they moved in our area.
I would have thought the process was entirely automated... Robots don't need stretch breaks.
netflix is p o o p!!
How can they do 650 an hour, that's 65 a minute, more than one a second....what a crappy job, I'm signing up for the crab boat.
NetFlix is the ish...every few months I'll report one as missing and keep it. Ha ha. F' blockbuster, F' Hollywood, F RedBox!
650/hour means a little over 10/minute! Learn some math!
i can appreciate netflix because its cheaper than blockbuster, and i can get free movies by reporting my new receives as missing every now and again, but also, i like to cuss out people that scratch my dvd, and then get a brand new on on NF and send back my scratched on, but still get a new dvd from the person i cussed out, and make it something i dont have already. its an imperfect perfection that i will continue to use
It is not 650 in ten minute, but an hour. So they have 60 minutes to do 650, or over 5 seconds each, and just under 11 per minute. Fast, but certainly not unreasonable.
Dude, 650 an hour is about 10.8 per minute, not 65. Where did u learn math?
Anonymous @ August 13, 2009 10:55 AM
"How can they do 650 an hour, that's 65 a minute, more than one a second....what a crappy job, I'm signing up for the crab boat."
650/hour = 65/minute?? You're saying there are 10 minutes in an hour? Really?
more like 10 a minute, but sure...
Actually it is one about every 6 seconds not 65 a minute
Your Math needs some work - 650 an hour is 10.8 a minute, or one disc every 5.5 seconds...
I think someone needs a calculator ... there are 60 minutes in an hour ... 650 discs every hour means basically 11 every minute. NOT 65 every minute. Still impressive but not ridiculous.
650 an hour is 11 a minute, not 65
It's only 10 per minute, you idiot
retard go back to school, 650 / 60min in a hr = 10.8 dvds a min, that's 0.18 dvds a min. And you wounder what is wrong with the world?
...get a life you two...jeez! What a bunch of friggin DORKS! Who gives a crap about how many each hour.... OY VEY!
Do any of you retards read more than 1 comment? He has been corrected 20 times, let it go, you're not that smart.
What's more retarded than a person so obviously failing math, is 20 people correcting him one after another. I guess once wasn't enough eh?
what i want to know is what they make a hour,hope free movies come with the job
how did walk thru with netflix end up in bickering over arithmatics? lmao
vagina
spam sucks
September 13, 2009 3:19 PMHi John! Thank for your useless spam! It is relevant to this topic and we can all benfit from your shameless crap!
yay promo codes! that's relevant to this topic!
LOL, troll
thebeancounter41
September 17, 2009 11:21 PMQuote"How can they do 650 an hour, that's 65 a minute, more than one a second".
No it's not it is 65 every SIX minutes 6X10=60minutes
65X10=650peices
That's a tad over 10 per minute,certainly not THAT onerous a quota.But it DOES explain why broken and/or badly scratched discs get through,they have about 6seconds to examine each 1 which isn't a whole lot of time to do more than check to make certain the right disc is in the labeled sleeve.
suzannabanana
September 18, 2009 11:45 AMI think people that steal the DVD's are disgusting. I'm sure they steal whatever they can get away with and make prices higher for the rest of us. Just don't let me know your name because I'll turn you in to the DA for theft.
still nobody posted the right calculation:
650(hour)/60 = 10.83(minute)/60 = 0,18(second)
so it's 1/0.18 = 5,56 seconds for one dvd
techniques
September 18, 2009 9:15 PMI would totally download a car.... if I could
I don't condone the sneaky stealing either. 'he he i'm pulling one over the system'. More like being obnoxious.
Another dot.com sweatshop. Hideous.
I like how most of the math correction posts are riddled with spelling and grammar errors.
LOL @ techniques: I would download a car too if I could.
So it's settled on the math. They do roughly 1 disc every 4-5 seconds lol. Count it out loud... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. It's really not that fast. Forum troll says redundant.
With the high wattage bulbs they have and the white walls, it's not hard to make out scratches seeing how the reflection in the disc would be high.
Having used Netflix before, the selection is still greater on p2p and it's cheaper. Netflix sucks because they throttle your downloads. Read their "Terms of Use". They've got so many reasons to prevent you from getting more movies then they're willing to send you. That's why they were sued. Because they lie. The max they're willing to give you is 11 but for the last 2 months, I've only received 7 per month. They do this on purpose and that's why I'm going to cancel at the end of the month.
robb
September 21, 2009 1:04 PMgotta need robot for this thing.
I like Netflix because with the ROKU box, we get the instant queued movies sent to our TV.
I can't believe how fast they are! 650 an our is like 18 per 4 seconds!! Those people are so fast. (oh, and I love Spam)
shopped
It's incredble! 650 per hour is 17 every second! That's fast, and they should paid more.
w0wie
September 22, 2009 8:07 PMI use the ROKU with Netflix and its great but the selection is very small. Soon I think the internet delivery will take over and the disk mailings will stop, but for now there just isn't anything to rival Netflix. I sure do get a lot of cracked disks though. Wonder why they don't make those sleeves thicker? Seems like it would save money in the long run.
And i thought i had a crap job......
Wow... that looks and sounds a lot like the post office...except for the calisthenics breaks. =P
Netflix math. 650/hour = $6.50/hour
So let me get this straight...they sort 12.5 per second if I'm not mistaken. When do they go to the bathroom? Toilet breaks would throw off the numbers and then I don't get my Hannah Montana movie on time. Unacceptable!
I work for netflix in arizona and we start at 2 am. Pays great for such an easy job but the hours suck. Free movies though! :)
Netflix is one of the great values and great entertainment services there is. These will always be people willing to steal, I reckon, but why they feel the need to come here and brag about it, I will never understand. Stinking thieves. Why can't you just pay for a great product at a great price and let it go at that?
spriggig
September 28, 2009 3:07 AMZOMG! I can't believe how fast they are, 650/hour, that's like one every 1/4 second!
/American
sir jorge
September 28, 2009 7:04 AMthat is really cool
I love how many people think they do more than one disc a second..but I'm just being redundant..
"...i like to cuss out people that scratch my dvd..."
Or you could ask politely, caveman. Also, the person on the phone was not the one that scratched it. I didn't realize that kind of redneckisim still existed.
Also, good job stealing DVDs. That's what 13 year old kids to in supermarkets to get a thrill.
ROKU is the future. Precisely because of the low, no value activity in storing and distributing this product. Track, check, log in, store, retrieve, mail...and continue over and over again.
vs. A single building with a few IT guys, managing a fleet of servers to distribute the product digitally. No contest.
My only complaint with RoKU is two...they don't have that big a catalog available yet and 20 my connection sometimes creates buffering issues. But, it really is the way of the future.
Plus, Netflix is really taking advantage of the tax-payer funded mail system. The USPS is really the physical distribution arm of Netflix....seems like a sweet deal for them.
I wish that Kandy the Embezzler would be recycled by Netflix into an unplayable disc.
wow!!! GREAT thread! my eyes are tearing up.... i laughed i cried... i just stumbled upon this website and i have loved every word in this thread!! i dont capitalize my "i's" please someone rip me for that. stealing is easy. spam is sometimes informative. and the USPS gets paid their $$$ for every piece of mail netflix sends. Netflix might be the only thing keeping the post office in business. and if you are so worried about your tax dollars, just join netflix already. then at least it is a service you are paying for ;)
you all are dumb. fuck
i fuckn work at one of the netflix warehouses,in california we get paid 9.75 an hour. The shifts are terrible, we come in at 4 am everyday except Tuesday and work for no more than 2 hours
Netflix service -- just like almost every other company out there -- continues to get worse as they try to wring every penny out of the pockets of consumers. However, Netflix is a little worse than most because they have almost no quality control and have no qualms about taking your money and not providing what they should.
The easiest way to solve this quality problem would be for every one that encounters a scratched and unplayable DVD to BREAK THE DVD IN HALF and report it as being delivered that way. Otherwise, that same scratched DVD WILL be just sent to the next person.