One thing to consider is that as time goes on, the disc population
'ages' - probably discs are only replaced when they are completely
broken, or enough people complain.
-Arlo James Barnes
I think there may be a little more going on than this. It feels like a
soft "tragedy of the commons".
Disc-based Netflix is going on at least 8 years old now, it seems
unlikely that the halflife of discs being shipped around and handled by
random people is more than months, rather than years.
I think the *only* way discs get retired is if they are reported
nonfunctional by a customer. I don't think there is anything more than
casual inspection happening at the remailing centers (our closest may be
ABQ?).
It seems likely that something more subtle (or blunt?) is going on.
Perhaps many people are depending mostly on streaming movies (as we are)
and many may not bother to report a bad disc and simply return it in
frustration. A positive feedback loop could emerge with the more bad
discs they find, the more likely they will just send the movie back
without watching.
Another aggravator may be if the remailing centers have changed their
inspection and possible automatic cleaning policy. I would imagine that
they might have a process for very simply cleaning the DVDs when they
come in or before they ship out.
It seems likely that the "tragedy of the commons" may be a hard one to
resolve.
- Steve
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